Backlands

McGarrity's hefty middle title is part of the trilogy set in the American West, after Hard Country. Emma Kerney, dying from a bad heart, lives in the frontier town of La Cruces, New Mexico, with her eight-year-old son Matthew during the 1920s. Divorced from her "backlands%E2%80%9D rancher husband, Patrick, for spousal rape, she arranges a substantial trust plan administered by the town banker Henry Bowman and lawyer Wallace Claiborne Hale to provide for Matthew after her demise. Patrick (aka "Pat Floyd%E2%80%9D) has a checkered past as an inmate at Yuma Prison, though the Arizona territorial governor later grants him a pardon. He also serves with military distinction as a member of Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders, but after Emma dies and leaves Patrick as the sole guardian, he is less successful at establishing strong emotional bonds with Matthew. Headstrong father and son quarrel over whether Matthew should stay to work on the Kerney ranch or leave to continue his high school and college education. Matthew goes on to have an ill-fated romance with Beth Merton%E2%80%94who is stricken with tuberculosis%E2%80%94while the Great Depression leaves him in dire financial straits to gut it out and survive the bad times. By the time the Second World War breaks out, Matthew feels as if he is ready to make several life-altering decisions. McGarrity's narrative is picturesque and enjoyable, and sets the stage for the trilogy's final installment. (May)