Mary's Place
A Novel
Published on 1. July 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
330 pages
978-1-4962-3805-4 (ISBN)
Description
Finalist for the 2025 Spur Award
Iron and Mary Barrett's farming family is rural royalty, their success symbolized by a magnificent three-story house, Mary's Place. Years in the building, the house is a testament to Mary's grit and organizational abilities. But when bank examiners apply new ratings for agricultural loans in the 1980s, the family's belief that its prosperity is a natural outcome of hard work is sent reeling.
Bank president J.C. Espy had never done anything crooked in his life until the FDIC changed the rules for agricultural loans. After becoming desperate to save his hundred-year-old bank, he worries that his resulting choice will cause his friend Iron to lose his land. Frantically J.C. works to convince Iron he will lose everything if he doesn't comply with the new standards. In the meantime, both Iron and J.C. must negotiate with sons who have contempt for their fathers' old-fashioned values. While Iron agonizes, Mary maneuvers to keep the family together and save the farm.
Mary's Place is an unforgettable tribute to the rural families who weathered one of the worst agricultural disasters in American history.
Iron and Mary Barrett's farming family is rural royalty, their success symbolized by a magnificent three-story house, Mary's Place. Years in the building, the house is a testament to Mary's grit and organizational abilities. But when bank examiners apply new ratings for agricultural loans in the 1980s, the family's belief that its prosperity is a natural outcome of hard work is sent reeling.
Bank president J.C. Espy had never done anything crooked in his life until the FDIC changed the rules for agricultural loans. After becoming desperate to save his hundred-year-old bank, he worries that his resulting choice will cause his friend Iron to lose his land. Frantically J.C. works to convince Iron he will lose everything if he doesn't comply with the new standards. In the meantime, both Iron and J.C. must negotiate with sons who have contempt for their fathers' old-fashioned values. While Iron agonizes, Mary maneuvers to keep the family together and save the farm.
Mary's Place is an unforgettable tribute to the rural families who weathered one of the worst agricultural disasters in American history.
Reviews / Votes
"Powerful, touching and real, Mary's Place is a deeply woven understanding of the human spirit, its strength and its will to survive."-Milana Marsenich, Roundup Magazine "A fresh look at the Wild West-1980s style-pitting a Kansas farming family against bankers, weather, governmental bureaucracy, the FDIC, and each other. Charlotte Hinger writes with passion and authority, telling a poignant story that is unpredictable, powerful, and terribly real."-Johnny D. Boggs, nine-time Spur Award-winning author "Mary's Place is a riveting, powerful novel, confidently twisty, that pits a beleaguered old banker against his lifelong friend."-Kathleen O'Neal Gear, New York Times best-selling author of The Ice Orphan "I was caught up with the real and powerful characters in Mary's Place and teared up at threats they might lose their farm. Then teared up again when something right and wonderful took place. I loved this book."-Irene Bennett Brown, award-winning author of the Nickel Hill series "What happens when a national farm crisis falls on the heads of a troubled farm family? As told in this beautifully crafted, compelling novel, the calamity produces panic, hostility, self-doubt, and betrayal, but it also spawns startling outbursts of courage, self-sacrifice, and grit. . . . Charlotte Hinger gives us a universal tale of human frailty and the struggle for virtue contained within a single family's fight to survive."-Richard Edwards, coauthor of The First Migrants: How Black Homesteaders' Quest for Land and Freedom Heralded America's Great MigrationMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Lincoln
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
485 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4962-3805-4 (9781496238054)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Charlotte Hinger is the award-winning author of a number of historical and mystery novels, including The Healer's Daughter and Come Spring, as well as the nonfiction book Nicodemus: Post-Reconstruction Politics and Racial Justice in Western Kansas.
Content
Prologue
1. Chapter One
2. Chapter Two
3. Chapter Three
4. Chapter Four
5. Chapter Five
6. Chapter Six
7. Chapter Seven
8. Chapter Eight
9. Chapter Nine
10. Chapter Ten
11. Chapter Eleven
12. Chapter Twelve
13. Chapter Thirteen
14. Chapter Fourteen
15. Chapter Fifteen
16. Chapter Sixteen
17. Chapter Seventeen
18. Chapter Eighteen
19. Chapter Nineteen
20. Chapter Twenty
21. Chapter Twenty-One
22. Chapter Twenty-Two
23. Chapter Twenty-Three
24. Chapter Twenty-Four
25. Chapter Twenty-Five
26. Chapter Twenty-Six
27. Chapter Twenty-Seven
28. Chapter Twenty-Eight
29. Chapter Twenty-Nine
30. Chapter Thirty
31. Chapter Thirty-One
32. Chapter Thirty-Two
33. Chapter Thirty-Three
34. Chapter Thirty-Four
35. Chapter Thirty-Five
36. Chapter Thirty-Six
37. Chapter Thirty-Seven
38. Chapter Thirty-Eight
Acknowledgments
1. Chapter One
2. Chapter Two
3. Chapter Three
4. Chapter Four
5. Chapter Five
6. Chapter Six
7. Chapter Seven
8. Chapter Eight
9. Chapter Nine
10. Chapter Ten
11. Chapter Eleven
12. Chapter Twelve
13. Chapter Thirteen
14. Chapter Fourteen
15. Chapter Fifteen
16. Chapter Sixteen
17. Chapter Seventeen
18. Chapter Eighteen
19. Chapter Nineteen
20. Chapter Twenty
21. Chapter Twenty-One
22. Chapter Twenty-Two
23. Chapter Twenty-Three
24. Chapter Twenty-Four
25. Chapter Twenty-Five
26. Chapter Twenty-Six
27. Chapter Twenty-Seven
28. Chapter Twenty-Eight
29. Chapter Twenty-Nine
30. Chapter Thirty
31. Chapter Thirty-One
32. Chapter Thirty-Two
33. Chapter Thirty-Three
34. Chapter Thirty-Four
35. Chapter Thirty-Five
36. Chapter Thirty-Six
37. Chapter Thirty-Seven
38. Chapter Thirty-Eight
Acknowledgments