Where Coyotes Howl

February 27, 2023
Dallas (Little Souls) delivers a sprawling and immersive story of homesteaders carving out a life in Wyoming. Seeking adventure, 23-year-old Ellen Webster leaves her Iowa home in 1916 to teach in a one-room schoolhouse in the small town of Wallace, imagining a Wild West adventure of bronco riding, cowboys, and pine-covered mountains. Though the brown, flat plains are a disappointment to her, rancher Charlie Bacon is not. The two are smitten at first sight, and after they marry and settle on a small ranch, Ellen tends to the batten-and-board house and garden and Charlie oversees a neighbor’s cattle and a few of their own. Soon a baby is on the way, though prairie life proves difficult, with blizzards, scorching summers, drought, and disease. Ellen and Charlie’s relationship, meanwhile, is tested by a series of losses, but their love is strong. So are Ellen’s bonds with other prairie women, among them Gladys, whom Ellen stands by despite the risk of scandal when Gladys returns to prostitution after her children die. Another friend, Ruth, is abused by her husband, and despite warnings from Charlie that interfering would make things worse, Ellen helps spirit Ruth out of town to safety. Well-rounded characters, convincing period details, and a sumptuous setting make this sing. Readers will be hooked.

Starred review from February 1, 2023
Dallas' (Westering Women, 2020) blunt, brutal latest explores the mythic soul of the American West and the endless flatlands of early-twentieth-century Wyoming through a female lens. Ellen arrives from Iowa to teach school but quickly falls in love with ranch hand Charlie Bacon. Affable by nature, she befriends women for miles around: Ruth, a talented quilter hiding her bruises; Gladys, a generous former prostitute with a green thumb; Frances, a loner whose blunt nature belies her desire for human connection. In time, Ellen bears quiet witness to both their small joys and overwhelming sadness, including her own, as motherhood eludes her in deeply tragic ways. Where Coyotes Howl relies on its characters rather than on its plot, but it works. The women aren't parodies. Their hardships pile up as thick and fast as a Wyoming blizzard, and readers can't help but develop empathy for their trials. Life's cruelties run the gamut: domestic violence, mental illness, sexual assault, suicide, and the deaths of many children. These numerous trigger warnings shouldn't dissuade a potential reader; they simply depict the misfortunes that punctuate lives filled also with love, kindness, and grace.

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