Unbroken - Softcover

Jessie Haashas written four books about Nora and her grandparents: Hurry!, Sugaring; No Foal Yet; and Mowing. She is the author of a popular series of young novels about Lily and her mare, Beware, which includes Beware and Stogie; Be Well, Beware; A Blue for Beware; and Beware the Mare. The author's titles for older readers include Unbroken; Fire! My Parents' Story; Westminster West; and Uncle Daney's Way. Ms. Haas is a graduate of Wellesley College, a political activist, and a lifelong Vermonter. In Her Own Words...

"I grew up on a small Vermont farm. My childhood was full of haying, gardening, horseback riding, and animals. I trained my own horse. I was given a goat for my sixteenth birthday. My mother was the town poundkeeper, so we had an endless stream of stray cats and dogs coming through. Lots of them stayed.

"Along with animals, there was reading. Everywhere. Even in the bathtub. I read all the horse stories ever written, as first choice, and then anything else printed on a page. At Wellesley, influenced by Jane Austen and all those horse stories, I wrote my first novel, Keeping Barney. My teacher, Helen Corsa, suggested I send the book to Susan Hirschman, a former student of hers. Greenwillow rejected Keeping Barney with many useful suggestions. I took them, and the book was accepted a month before I graduated.

"That same month I married Michael Daley, and three years later we built a tiny cabin just uphill from my parents' cow pasture. We had one room at first, with no insulation, no phone, no plumbing, and no electricity-but a very small mortgage. The little house gave us-still gives us-the freedom to pursue our interests without having to get "real jobs." I've worked at a vegetable stand, a village store, and a yarn mill, all part-time, while concentrating mainly on my writing.

"I still live the same kind of life I did growing up. I ride a horse I trained myself. A cat sleeps on my desk as I work. I walk to my parents' farm every day, and I can pick out the exact spot in the pasture where my horse Josey gave me Beware the Mare.

"Writing is a lot like the other things I do. Sometimes it's like planting seeds, and rewriting is a lot like weeding! Then when a story is ripe, it's put in a book to preserve it. Other times, writing feels more like riding, a process of balance, rebalance, and profound concentration. A story can go sour, just like a horse. You have to push it, but not too hard, and keep it moving freely forward.

"I love the challenge of trying to put the truth down on paper. I want to make the words transparent, so that the page becomes an open window. I hope to pass along, through my stories, the joy and strength that others have given to me."

Haas's (Fire! My Parents' Story) exquisitely crafted prose is the driving force in this heartfelt story of family ties, as the author traces the emotional journey of an adolescent girl in rural Vermont at the turn of the century. The novel opens as Harriet Gibson?better known as Harry?is informed at school that her mother has had a tragic accident; she dies soon after Harry arrives at home. "I used to feel a strong line from Mother's heart to mine whenever I saw her, and love moved along it like a telegraph signal. Now the line was cut," notes the grieving Harry. Her mother's will states that Harry is to live with her father's sister?stern, disapproving Aunt Sarah. Haas convincingly evokes the rigors and beauties of farm life, the pettiness of small towns and the sometimes hopeless tangle of blood relationships that can as easily wound as they can comfort and heal. As Harry struggles to break her colt?also orphaned in the accident?so that she can ride to town and continue her education, she also struggles to tame her grief and to hold her ground against her aunt, whose stubborn, outspoken nature mirrors Harry's own. It's not until another accident occurs, seriously injuring Harry, that the two begin to approach a measure of mutual understanding. Haas has a gift for description and graceful simile ("Night after night I lay still and narrow, like a wrinkle in the blanket"), and her characters are sharply observed, especially honest and wise 13-year-old Harry who can coax compassion from even her frozen Aunt Sarah. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.