One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow: A Novel

Two farms on the austere Wyoming prairie, in the shadow of the Big Horn Mountains, are the setting for this story of hardship, forgiveness, redemption and love.In order to survive the perils of the impending winter two women must put aside a most serious grievance, which is that one woman’s husband is serving two years in jail for killing the other’s husband over a ‘dalliance’ between his wife and said husband.The only remaining adult male on the land is Clyde, the 16 year old son of the murdered man, who takes it upon himself to offer help to 13 year old Beulah with the harvest and the care of the animals on her family’s farm. Because there are three small children who through no fault of their own are also fatherless, Clyde realizes that without both families working together, the children will likely not survive the harsh winter. The story revolves around these two very strong characters and their mothers.Beulah’s sensitive and somewhat clairvoyant nature gives her a maturity beyond her years and her deep connection with the farm animals, the land, the harsh prairie, the wind, the sun, the waving grass, the river, the birdsong, the wildlife is beautifully portrayed. The chapter about the coyote brought tears to my eyes.This is a many layered story filled with metaphoric meanings, the circle of life being the central theme.I loved this story.

This was a well written book, but depressing. What I liked: descriptions of the setting, descriptions of the work and effort and hardships encountered while living there. What I didn’t like: Beulah’s frequent talks with a dead man she didn’t know and no one liked. It was weird. It served no purpose in my mind and I completely skipped these conversations. There was a lot of focus on death. It seemed the author took every opportunity to create and address it in her writing. This author has talent, but I didn’t care for the story.

A story that was both intriguing and incredibly thought provoking. With such eloquence that I feel is rare, the author has described beautifully the intricate web of mutual dependency for survival faced by early settlers of the Wyoming plains. The struggle to eke out an existence in the wild, to not just survive but thrive. Weaving truth with fiction (read author note at the end), it's depth was really appreciated. Such a great read! Thanks!

When we take the time to listen and smell as well as to look our sense reward us with the ability to see the connectedness of all living things.Two families on the prairie are colder than its air. One child of intensity awakens them from the drama of a tragic event, and each member of both families give two properties a rebirth never expected.

Loved this book. Well written. Compelling characters. This is a book that you find yourself racing through because you want to make sure that everyone is OK. Have already downloaded another book by this author.

I genuinely warmed to and liked all the characters (despite occasionally wanting to shake a couple of them really hard). This story gave me a wonderful look at life on the prairie during the Western expansion and made it feel so very real. And better yet, it was the best story about love and forgiveness I've read in a long time. This story has gone straight to the top of my favorites list and I can't recommend it highly enough

So well written you can actually feel the winter cold or warmth of sunshine as you read through these parts of the book. The character development is so believable. The prose explaining the connectedness of our lives and deaths with nature is awe inspiring and thought provoking

Olivia Hawker is my new favorite author. She writes so beautifully, I long for more. I didn’t think I would be interested in the storyline of this book, but the way she writes captures my imagination and the characters truly come to life.

I tell you right now – I have read a considerable amount of booksin my 74 years.But this one absolutely left me gurgling with admiration.This book took me to a place that no other book ever came close to.This book left me stunned with disbelief, as page after page of themost beautiful prose, description after description wrapped in wordsthat defied poetry itself, left me in a state of utter dissatisfactionwhen I had to put the book down.The beauty of the words, introducing us to two farmhouses In 1876Wyoming, simply wrapped this tale in magical cotton-wool, and Ifelt privileged to go along with the ride.The story you could possibly write on the back of a postcard, but thatis to deny the true worth of this glory ride: the reader lives each momentfrom the aspect of the three main characters, and we are hit with all theemotions that each of them go through; life and death is explored tenderlyand the past, future and present are pathways opened up by this extraordinaryauthor.If you’re looking for action-packed adventure – forget it.If you’re looking for an eye-opening glance at our world, and the meaningsthat sprout from a simple tale such as this – go get it!

My first review after having read a lot of ripping yarns and some reasonably well written ones too. But this is what I have been looking for – superb writing. A book of substance. I have to focus on the American (USA) aspect in this novel as there are so many echoes of other great US writers – and this book is all the better for it. If you like Steinbeck, Conroy, McCarthy, Faulkner perhaps, then you may well enjoy Blackbird and Hawker’s prose. The character of the people, the character of the landscape and the character of the animals, flora and fauna is superbly observed. I felt I was there as a real time observer of events. It is a hard read in places yet full of the resilience of the human spirit. A novel you are likely to remember. A masterpiece.

This book was beautifully written, I enjoyed it very much, but for me it went on for about 100 pages too many, there were constant repeats of where the characters were and what they were doing, which after a while just seemed to be padding the book out, and I became bored at times with the over flowery descriptions, which I just skipped, which is something I hate to do, but I would read the author again, the subject matter was very original and I learned a lot of interesting facts about prairie life, should I ever want to take it up!

What an unusual story. I thought i wouldn't enjoy it at all . How wrong could i be, i loved it. So different and unusual but interesting, sad, beautiful and so well written. You dont just read it, you live it. i wish there were more books like this on. Thank you olivia hawker.

I very rarely pay for fiction by authors I haven’t read before but when I saw this book on the Kindle bestsellers list a few weeks ago I made an exception after reading a short excerpt. Making an exception was most definitely worth it as this novel is exceptionally well written. I find it hard to imagine that I’ll read equal or better fiction this year. Olivia Hawker’s feel for and ability with language is outstanding and I could have enjoyed reading the book for that reason alone. The author really is a true natural talent when it comes to putting words on a page, and the beauty of her prose blew me away. If she doesn’t start winning literary awards before too long, there must be something wrong with the system.However, it wasn’t just the gorgeous writing that I enjoyed, but the story itself pulled me in. It is told from the points of view of the four main characters, and Ms Hawker uses each successive chapter to build the plot as well as to show us each character’s take and attitude to the events. It is quite a slow-moving book, but I really didn’t want it to end. The subject and the way that the author handles some aspects in particular are quite unique. I can truthfully say that although I have read books which take place in similar settings, I have never read anything like this before. On top of all that, when I reached the end, I discovered that the novel is loosely based on some of the author’s ancestors which give an added twist. With beautiful writing, interesting characters, and an unusual story this book was bound to be a winner in my opinion. My only disappointment is that, so far, Olivia Hawker has only written one other book. I imagine that we’ll be seeing a lot more of her in the future though.