Kent Haruf

National Book Award Finalist
A heartstrong story of family and romance, tribulation and tenacity, set on the High Plains east of Denver.
In the small town of Holt, Colorado, a high school teacher is confronted with raising his two boys alone after their mother retreats first to the bedroom, then altogether. A teenage girl—her father long since disappeared, her mother unwilling to have her in the house—is pregnant, alone herself,...

In a small town where people encounter each other frequently, destinies entwine easily--and surprisingly. The McPherson brothers see the single mother they'd taken in move away to college; a young boy living alone with his grandfather helps a neighbor whose husband has left her alone to raise their daughters; a child of a disabled couple suffers indignities at school.... A novel about survival, resilience, and, ultimately, hope's triumph over despair....

A cloth bag containing eight copies of the title. The interwoven lives of a community in Colorado. The characters include two cattle farmers who take in a girl, thrown out of her house for becoming pregnant. The novel describes the girl's impact on their lives, both men being bachelors.