Where Coyotes Howl

I enjoyed this books ability to transform me right into the book. The setting was very disruptive, and the hardships and relationship’s pulled at your heartstring. I appreciated the writing style, she definitely knows how to make you feel emotionally invested in the characters and her books.
I thoroughly enjoyed this one, overall!

In “Where Coyotes Howl”, Sandra Dallas has written a love letter to the Early American West, specifically the people that settled the plains of Wyoming in the early 20th century. She describes a heartbreaking, difficult life that was made more challenging, especially for women, due to poverty, societal norms and natural disasters.

I really appreciated that the author didn’t feel the need to add any unnecessary drama. The setting was dramatic enough. Instead, what we get is a colorful cast of characters separated by vast distances and very different circumstances coming together and relying on each other to survive.

There were reminders every now and then that another world was available to these homesteaders. Characters visit from big cities where there are good jobs, better medical care and modern conveniences like indoor plumbing. Instead, the characters in this story made the choice each day to stay and support each other.

I read this in one sitting, mostly due to the fact that I needed to find out what was going to happen. I will be read more by this author, and recommending this book.

Would be a 10 if it wasn't so damn sad.

“When I hear the coyotes cry at night, I cry, too. It is the saddest sound in Christendom. I fear I will spend eternity in a grave on the prairie, attended only by those dreadful beasts…You don’t know what it means to be out here. It’s the worst life you can imagine for a woman. And the best. You fight blizzards in the winter so bad you can’t see a foot in front of you. You can freeze to death walking from the house to the barn. And in the summer, there’s the heat. They like to tell about a man that went to hell and asked for an overcoat because he came from Wyoming and was used to real heat…You do whatever your man does–ride herd, brand, castrate…And you do the cooking and birth the babies, too.” “It was the best life…There’s nothing like sitting on the veranda…in the evening, watching a sunset like God’s set the sky on fire, listening to the cattle, looking out over your land, and knowing you did it all. Oh, your husband did his part, but you were right there. He couldn’t have done it without you. He might not admit it, but you know, and down deep, he does, too. Likely, he’ll be a good man. Cowboys are something special. There’s times Wyoming’s the most beautiful place in God’s kingdom. Sometimes I think He calls the toughest of us to Wyoming, because if you’re not tough, you don’t make it.” Schoolteacher Ellen and cowboy Charlie were an ordinary couple with an extraordinary love story. “What struck me about the small volume was how ordinary the couple’s life was. Theirs was the story of so many settlers in the West. They were decent people who worked hard to scratch a living from the land, but in the end, they died or moved away, leaving behind little to show they had ever been there.” While able bodied pioneers demonstrated resilience, Sandra Dallas spotlights the tenacity of special needs characters. “She never viewed Margaret as a trial but rather as a gift…I think she is the Lord’s doing, for she is the dearest and most helpful of all of them. I should not say so, but I believe I love her above the others.” Likewise, Where Coyotes Howl is one of Dallas’ favorites–perhaps the favorite–of all her books. She likes writing about the women who settled the West. “Ranchwomen supported each other in good times and bad. They would not have survived the prairie hardships without each other.”