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Hard Ground
Paperback
ISBN13: 9781977295521
Publisher: Outskirts Press
Published: Sep 24 2026
Pages: 258
Weight: 0.77
Height: 0.54 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Kansas, 1958. The world works in funny ways. - Gus Sinclair
Trying to get away from heartache and your past isn't easy to do. There is always something to make you remember.
As a third-rate rodeo company travels the Mid-West, two strangers meet by accident, each trying to get away from, and forget, painfully harsh circumstances. For the older man, there is a spark of recognition at seeing the other, while the younger man - still a kid, really - is just glad that someone is willing to step up and watch out for him while he has a big dream of becoming a champion bronc rider. He figures that if he can make his dream come true, then he'll only be remembered for that, and the things that went wrong before will be long forgotten.
When the truth came out as they gradually confided in one another, they found out that what had driven them from their homes was surprisingly similar, and they also came to realize that they were two halves of a whole and were in the exact right place and at the exact right time to help each other.
One of them needed a son to take care of, and the other needed a father to do just that.
And then, living miles apart from each other, there are two women, left to stew in their own juices at home. Both are hurting in their own ways, but they blindly refuse to see that their problems were of their own making. Their own self-righteousness led to issues that they could have - and should have - handled better, and they say to themselves, I didn't do anything wrong!
And those two men won't ever forgive or forget their actions.
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