A murder in a remote part of Wyoming in 1870 sets the stage for this powerful story about loneliness, sin, betrayal, survival, forced friendships, redemption and forgiveness.
It is beautifully told and the melody of the words held me captive until the last page. I would like to thank Net Galley for the ARC.

A rather haunting book about the lives of two families who are forced together after a terrible tragedy. The characters are beautifully drawn, as is the landscape and the harsh reality of life in remote Wyoming.

The broad sweep of this book makes it difficult to categorise - it's a romance, it's historical fiction and literary fiction and there's a touch of magical realism but it's also a dark tale. Still, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to fans of any of the above genres.

This book is in many respects a raw and unforgiving read. The landscape of Wyoming and the general feeling of an unfriendly environment is a wonderful backdrop to a story that embodies unfriendliness. The three female characters are all cut from a different cloth and the discomfort that's caused by the events at the beginning of the story is palpable. It's a story of survival and mothers and how bonds can form and love can bloom in the most barren of places. It's a great read.

Literary fiction at its best the writing the story the characters drew me right in.This is a book that will stay with me a book I will be recommending to all my friends who love a beautiful book.#netgalley #lakeunion publishing

“One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow”, will stay within your very being, even as you put the book down to continue reading later. Olivia Hawker’s descriptive skill of bringing a character to life, to set each one before you to know and “get” and feel, is powerful. Beautifully written and elucidated and whole heartedly enjoyable. Thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read and read review this ARC.

Beautifully written story. The words immediately draw you into the characters lives and leave you with a sense of longing upon reading the final page. Definitely one of those rare books which will forever hold a piece of my heart. Excellent read and can not wait to recommend as a must read.

Beautifully written with the most evocative, descriptive prose . Quite dark and harrowing in parts. This book made me feel the same as I did when I read To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time. A real talent and I will be looking out for more books from this gifted author

A truly addictive book.

Beulah Bemis is a young twelve year old girl living with her loving family. She knows things but can't explain how she does. Her Mother loves her husband, she really does, but living in the wilderness has taken it's toll and when she does the unthinkable, life changes for everyone. If only Beulah hadn't told her Father of the missing calf, he would never have taken up his rifle.

The Webber family were the only neighbours for 20 miles. Substance, Nettie Mae and Clyde didn't really have much to do with the Bemis' and after the death of Substance and the loss of Ernest, the two families find themselves in the unthinkable position of having to co-habitate. The lives of all concerned change drastically from what they were used to before the loss of the two men and Olivia Hawker tells a wonderful story of love, loss and redemption.

I enjoyed everything about this book and strongly encourage all to read it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Surviving; not thriving on the prairie; cowering beneath the distant Bighorn peaks, Cora Bemis allows her boredom to determine her actions. More accustomed to society-life in St Louis, where her grandfather sacrificed much in the hope of securing her a prosperous future, she feels constricted by the landscape and a complete absence of social interaction: "It was a wilderness of inhuman things, wolves and bears come down from the mountains, the unsettling movement of wind across the grass, that never-ending motion like the stirring of a great beast's flank, a steady inhale and exhale. She and her youngest daughter-all of her children- were no more than fleas on the prairie's hide."
In true literary fashion, an idle mind is the devil's workshop, and Cora becomes entangled with the neighbour’s intemperate husband, Substance. Upon their discovery, her own husband, Ernest, shoots Substance dead and is consequently incarcerated for two years.
Meanwhile, Nettie-Mae, finds herself widowed. Worn down by the loss of many children, she is a hardy, unyielding , dragon of a woman, whose son reflects; 'Mother was the strongest person...stronger than fear, stronger than father's fists...stronger than the winds that blew down the Bighorns...stronger than the Wyoming range, and what was more powerful than that?"
At 17, Clyde himself is "Suddenly, violently, torn from what remained of his childhood in a blink, in a burst of gunfire." and catapulted from horse trainer and farm hand to land-owner as the bullet enters his father's bitter heart.
So the stage is set: Two neighbouring homesteads without their men to work the land, and two warring women at the mercy of the seasons with only one another to turn to. As Cora's daughter, Beulah, blooms towards womanhood, her mother resolves to return to town life as soon as possible, but not before a friendship with Clyde, presents an alternative route to shape all of their futures.
Olivia Hawker excels as she employs her pen to shape the landscape and Nature (with a capital N) as the most formidable characters; mercilessly determining every action and decision. As Beulah reflects; "Before the power of Nature, its inescapable presence and fixed dominion, all men and women are as mice in the talons of a hawk." And through the seasons she writes about the land as a great crouching beast flexing and snorting and wielding its power over those who reside there; "the great hill towered above the homestead, its long flank sere and brown, dotted here and there with pockets of sage.'
With this backdrop, the actions of the two households take on a feeling of inevitability. With days shaped by the care of animals, crops and fences and preparations for the next season, it is no great surprise that Hawker creates a repetitive thread and rhythm to the narrative. Time and time again she uses the modal verb "ought" to insist the importance of the characters' actions and their lack of personal choice in making those decisions. So Clyde and his mother "ought to lend a hand over at the Bemis place", "any proper family ought to have been up and out of doors", he "ought to have cut sounder pieces", she "ought to have let the sheep out herself" and "the sheep ought to graze". On and on the list of expected behaviours reels out despite the fact that there is no-one there to check or admonish or even comment. Before the omnipresence of God and Nature, the fatherless families struggle on, constantly checking themselves and one another for appropriate behaviours in a totally unprecedented situation for which there can be no predetermined pathway.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I feel Hawker's strength at descriptive narrative is sometimes let down by her weaker dialogue. It is also true that, about two thirds of the way through, I felt the momentum wain. However, overall, this is an impressive novel that offers panoramic views that should be enjoyed by many.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for sharing an advance copy with me in return for my honest opinion.

The writing in this was gorgeous. I mistakenly thought it would be somewhat similar to the Ragged Edge of Night in format, but this book was more like a day-by-day, moment-by-moment walk with the two main characters through things that needed to be done, looks and thoughts showing in body language and on faces, and the slow but sure progression of two teenagers growing into adulthood. Normally this would sound just like a literary work that has too much prose and not much story, but that's not the case at all here. Everything introduced matters and brings the story forward. If you're a writer, this would be a great writing study beyond the pure joy of reading it

From the first line I knew I was captivated by a talented and accomplished writer. The characters and setting are so vivid. As you read, you will feel that you too are involved in this struggle. Cora and Nettie Mae did what they had to, in order to take care of their families.
Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

It has been a long time since I have read a book that captivated me as much as this one. Every word was poetry and every page made me want to hurry and get to the next one, yet, I had to savor each one I was on.

This is a book about sin, and redemption and wounds and healing and love and an awareness of everything the under the sun. Simple people, broken dreams and the beauty of the world around and its healing touch.

Read this book.

Hawker has a powerful book of friendships that come out of necessity and the hardships of living in a remote area of the country. This novel had more than one interesting theme carrying the reader on the winds that rushed through these pages; female friendship, loneliness, parenting, and even a bit of other-worldliness. Highly recommend to readers of Sharon McCrumb's books set in Appalachia and Western women's fiction.

I was a huge consumer of historical fiction at one point in my life and many of the paperback books I have tucked away are from this genre. When I had the opportunity to read One For the Blackbird, and One For the Crow, I couldn’t say no. In fact, I thrilled at the potential behind the pages after I read the description of the story. Women. Frontier. Overcoming together? Amen!

One thing about this book that I found difficult to do – was put it down. The hardships that the characters face and the desire to find out the outcomes kept me up late at night, pushing forward, reading more. At times, it was a difficult process. There is enough hardship that the characters face – and a few twists and gasps along the way – that it’s easily a page-turner.

I got bogged down sometimes by having too much description and not enough action… but that may well be my personal preference for more dialogue to drive a story.

The story itself drove me and not so much the characters. I really had a hard time connecting with all four of the main protagonists. And don’t even get me started on Substance’s portions in this book.

Beulah

Beulah’s character draws the reader further into her world and insight when her point of view is being shared. It was easy to understand why Nettie Mae disliked her so much. Beulah is annoying. I also think she was a bit too tropey. However, she’s got a voice that drives a good portion of the narrative that the author is trying to present to her readers. So, dreamy Beulah’s a doe-eyed dreamy-headed bimbo. That’s okay.


Clyde

Clyde has been handed the most hardship out of the entire character set and he never once complains. He’s a boy of sixteen who is thrust into the position of taking over for his not-so-awesome father. His journey was rather satisfying to read – he grows up well and fast.


Slowly, slowly, Clyde turned in place, presenting everything to the creature he held. First sight, last sight, the only and sweetest sight of the world and all that lived upon it.

Nettie Mae

Nettie Mae is an unending Ball of Rage. Sometimes I found her point of view to be hard to consume. I could do without taking on a fictional character’s pain and rage as much as I did with Nettie Mae.


She snapped at Beulah, “You’re just a stupid child. A witless prairie rat. You know nothing of me – or my heart, or my fears. And you certainly know nothing of Clyde.”

Cora


Like Nettie Mae’s rage, Cora is plagued by uncertainty and depression. Her fear, her loneliness, her sadness. It’s all-consuming. It makes her hard to relate to – you want to shake her and push her throughout the book.

This isn’t a book that’ll leave you wishing for more of the character’s stories. It has a satisfying, if somewhat predictable, ending and the journey that each character takes along the way leaves you content at the end. The struggles of living on a frontier are well highlighted and real in the rawness of the truth in this book.

I’d rate this book a 3.5 out of 5 and I’d recommend it to any historical fiction lovers. It’s clear the author researched her content, she gave a detailed explanation at the end of her book about the personal connection to this story. I enjoyed her writing style enough I would likely read more of her books.

Wyoming, 1870 and a murder. When Ernest Bemis finds his wife indecently attending to the sexual needs of his neighbor, Substance Webber, there is nothing to think about as he shoots the man dead. Now Nettie Mae Webber is a widow and Cora Bemis is alone as her husband will be serving time in prison for two years. Both women face the prospect of being alone on their farms, alone facing the coming winter without the men in their lives. Nettie Mae's son Clyde, a mere 16 year old will be there for his mother, while Cora has four children, the eldest daughter Beulah at age 13, is no match to take over her father's chores or duties of the homestead. How will both families fare, both emotionally and physically? Told from different perspectives, the story unfolds.

With winter coming and no husbands available to work the farms and take care of their families, Clyde Webber and Beulah Bemis, the children of Nettie Mae and Cora, suggested that both families live under one roof. Begrudgingly Nettie Mae opens her house to the Bemis family wanting to make it easier for her son Clyde who was working both farms. How would they find common ground, how would the two women respond to each other? Nettie Mae despising not only Cora, but her daughter Beulah. Under one roof, would they survive the winter together? There was a harshness living on the prairie, you had to be strong in order to live there. Yet, what was the comparisons between the prairie and the tension and hatred surrounding both Nettie Mae and Cora, both as equally difficult.

Then there was Beulah, Cora's daughter. At 13 years of age, she was wise beyond her years, Attuned to nature, she sees things no one else sees, she hears and knows things that come natural to her. This character was mesmerizing, I think she was beautiful, not in the ways of her facial quality, but as a young person with the wisdom of the sages.

Ms. Hawker has brought us an incredible story, a story that held me from the first page to the last. Her description of the landscape of 1870 Wyoming was vivid, as if that too was a character in this book. The development of the protagonists, intense, volatile, indefensible couldn't be better, it was outstanding. This novel will resonate within me for some time, making it almost difficult to pick up another book after this. I have always been a fan of Olivia Hawker, there are not enough words to describe the fantastic feeling you have when reading her. The book ends, you want more! But, who was the blackbird and who was the crow?

My thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is an amazing read. I absolutely loved every minute of this book. The words floated effortlessly across the pages, and my thoughts of these characters traveled with me throughout my days. Missing Beulah already....

Review of One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow by Olivia Hawker

Before sharing my thoughts on this novel, I want to thank Lake Union Publishing (via NetGalley) for allowing me the pleasure of an early read of this wonderful piece of historical fiction.

This novel hooked me from the first words from Beulah’s perspective. The story unfolds from the varied perspectives of the four main characters...Beulah, Cora, Nettie Mae, and Clyde. There are a few more characters who are crucial to the story, but these are the ones who tell the story. These four characters could not be more different from one another, and this keeps the story moving along in such a way that I constantly wished for more time to read. I am a retired mathematics professor and strict rules and organization are part of my DNA. The organization of this novel was a delight to me. I was able to settle into the book quickly and read without having to figure out what was going on when I left off. I read a lot and, more times than not, I have figured out how the novel ends before getting there. As I approached the end of this novel, I had several possible endings jockeying for position in my head. These made for pleasant thoughts when I was away from the book. I have always thought that ending a book well must be one of the hardest things for an author to get right. I was not disappointed at the end of Blackbird. Ms. Hawker also did such a wonderful job of describing the desolate but beautiful land and the hardships of living on it. I am a city girl and have no conception of this kind of isolation, so reading about “simple” daily life was interesting to me. Even with the satisfying ending, I was still sad to finish Blackbird. I look forward to rereading it once I begin to miss it.

Oh...future readers...do not skip the Author’s Note. Ms. Hawker kindly shares a thorough explanation of her family history that helped create this wonderful work of fiction. In fact, this is a note that you might consider reading first. Doing that will not ruin the book. It would just give you some interesting background even though the story is different from the historical facts. I do love a good Author’s Note.