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Title details for Stormy Weather by Paulette Jiles - Available

Stormy Weather

by Paulette Jiles
Colleen Delany
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

From Paulette Jiles comes a poignant and unforgettable story of hardship, sacrifice, and strength in a tragic time—and a desperate dream born of an undying faith in the arrival of a better day.

Oil is king of East Texas during the darkest years of the Great Depression. The Stoddard girls know no life but an itinerant one, trailing their father from town to town as he searches for work on the pipelines and derricks. And in every small town, mother Elizabeth does her level best to make each sparse, temporary house they inhabit a home.

But the fall of 1937 ushers in a year of devastating drought and dust storms, and the family's fortunes sink further when a questionable ""accident"" leaves Elizabeth and her girls alone to confront the cruelest hardships of these hardest of times. With no choice left to them, they return to the abandoned family farm.

It is Jeanine Stoddard who devotes herself to rebuilding the farm and their lives. But hard work and good intentions won't make ends meet. In desperation, the Stoddard women place their last hopes for salvation in a wildcat oil well and on the back of late patriarch Jack's one true legacy, a dangerous racehorse named Smoky Joe. And Jeanine must decide if she will gamble it all . . . on love.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    May 8, 2007

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780061449970
      • File size: 343988 KB
      • Duration: 11:56:38

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Colleen Delany brings out the strength of character in three women who struggle to survive the Depression in Texas. Delany's drawl rings as true as the author's research, and her narration adds to the local color that is so much a part of the story. Delany differentiates the Stoddard daughters with varying tonality. Writer Bea is dreamy; Mayme is practical. The focus character is Jeanine, beloved by her late father, a charming, alcoholic gambler. Delany portrays Jeanine as a complex character, showing her determination when she fights for her family and her confusion as she tries to choose what she really wants in life. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      March 12, 2007
      Jiles's eloquent, engaging sophomore novel celebrates four strong women toughing out the Great Depression in the Texas dust bowl. As the book opens in 1927, Elizabeth Stoddard and husband Jack have three daughters: the pretty Mayme, the tomboyish Jeanine and the writerly Bea. Jeanine, resented for being daddy's favorite, soon becomes the novel's primary point of view. After the disgraced Jack dies in 1937, the four Stoddard women move back to the 150-acre homeplace on the Brazos River in Central Texas. Drought, hail and dust storms, land-tax debts and grinding poverty make life a struggle; radio shows, horse-racing, wildcat oil well speculation and stuttering news reporter friend Milton Brown provide diversions. Jeanine falls in love with local rancher Ross Everett; Mayme dates soldier Vernon. Visceral detail of the 1930s rancher life and the hardscrabble setting add authenticity, particularly in the characters' feel for horses. While forthright, some of the dialogue is less than believable (as when Ross compliments Jeanine on her "furious bloody purple" dress), but it serves the characters' greater-than-usual emotional bandwidth. Jiles winds this gritty saga up on the eve of WWII with a patchwork quilt's worth of hope.

    • Library Journal

      December 15, 2007
      Like the oil desperately needed during the Great Depression, "Stormy Weather" is a slow gathering of hope underneath the surface. The Stoddard women's story coalesces after the death of the sole male in the family, who has left them little besides a wild racehorse named Smoky Joe, a tenuous belief in wildcat oil wells, and the ability to fend for themselves in the dustbowl of East Texas. Daughter Jeanine is the true heroine of the tale, but her mother and sisters provide a strong portrait of the diverse women of the era. Well read by Colleen Delany, the novel straddles romance and history and is recommended for audiences who prefer those genres.Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo, NY

      Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from April 1, 2007
      While their father was alive, the Stoddard family followed him to the booming oil towns of Texas. Then came the dust and drought of the 1930s, and the family crawled home to its abandoned farm in central Texas. To survive, Elizabeth Stoddard and her three daughters concoct two schemes that go beyond hardscrabble farming: shares in a wildcat oil well and ownership of an untrained racehorse named Smokey Joe. Told mostly from the perspective of the plucky middle sister, Jeanine, Jiles's follow-up to her highly praised debut, "Enemy Women", whips up high hopes for the Stoddard family's survival and success as Jeanine matures before our eyes. Readers will be proud of her horse sense, her skills with a needle, and her determined practicality. Despite the hardships of the Great Depression, the Stoddard women do not go without love or romance. A deeply satisfying novel with wide appeal; recommended. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 1/07; reading group guide available at www.harpercollins.com.]Keddy Ann Outlaw, Harris Cty. P.L., Houston

      Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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