Rosanne Parry and I are going to share the stage at the Wordstock Book and Literary Festival in Portland in October so I wanted to read her novel before I met her. Heart of a Shepherd is a lovely book about soldiers and ranchers in Eastern Oregon, people and place that couldn’t be more different from me and mine. And she scooped me right up and made me care about these kind, honorable characters—not wizards or vampires, ghosts or mutants—but ordinary folks, good folks, who love each other and their homes and their country. I cared so deeply about them that I cried as I finished the book. If you live in or near Portland, come and see us on Sunday, October 11. And on Saturday the 10th, I’ll be on a panel with Susan Fletcher, Joni Sensel, Ellen Howard, and Mary Jane Beaufrand. Come and ask questions. I’ll let Susan answer the tough ones.
Wordstock Book and Literary Festival
- by Karen Cushman
