Lonesome Animals was named as a Best Book of 2012 by both The Seattle
Times and Slate, a literary debut sparking with beautiful language
set against the rugged landscape of 1920s Washington state. Holbert
returns with The Hour of Lead, an epic family novel and coming of age
story that is once again imbibed with the mythology of the west.
After losing both his twin and his father in a brutal, unexpected
snowstorm, Matt Lawson must take over the family ranch. As his mother
disappears into grief, Matt learns the hardest lesson the west has to
teach: he is on his own. The necessity of work stabilizes young Matt
against the pitfalls of first love with Wendy, the daughter of a local
grocer, and their ragged end will sent Matt on a journey across the
county, leaving Wendy to tend the ranch with local schoolteacher Linda
Jefferson and her unwieldy son Lucky. It will take decades for Matt to
learn his way back home, and that long journey will have great impact on
all of those around him.
Invoking the same beautiful landscape and language of his
critically-acclaimed debut, The Hour of Lead is a wider, more
expansive novel, less violent but just as affecting, another important
contribution to the literature of the west.
