William Haywood Henderson, Augusta Locke

Augusta Locke

William Haywood Henderson

Viking, April 2006, $24.95

ISBN: 0670034916

Augusta "Gussie" Locke is born in 1903 in a remote section of the northern Minnesota woods. Her mother Leota always wanted a daughter to share dainty things with, while her father is trapper Brud Tornig, who enjoys the outdoors. To Leota's regret and shame, Gussie is not pretty and precious, but more like her dad with a love for the woods. She runs away from home whenever the need to breath reaches her soul.

When Gussie catches her dad sleeping with a woman other than her mother, she and Leota leave. They move to Colorado where Leota meets Mr. Locke and marries him. On the day they wed, Gussie leaves for Wyoming to hide amidst the mountains. She obtains work in the Great Divide Basin, and meets a man on his way to fight overseas during WWI. They make love, and nine months later with her lover gone off to war, Gussie gives birth to Anne. Soon Gussie will find things have gone full circle as Anne begins running away from home.

The historical tidbits, and the background settings make for a superb early twentieth century saga. Gussie is an intriguing protagonist as she enables readers to see a remote part of 1920's, an early 1930's Wyoming rarely if ever used in novels. The irony that the woes she gave to her mom, her daughter provides to her, will seem real to parents. Though insight into her needs for space is deep, readers never truly see what else motivates her; for instance her selection in males. Still this is a deep look into a bygone era.