Honor Song

Satisfactory Revenge is not Obvious

Date of Review:  14, January, 2008 -  4, February, 2008
Romantic Western, Multiformat Ebook, Softcover  
No Illustrations


Being a doctor practicing at OHSU, "Pill Hill", in Portland, Oregon doesn't really equip David Turnbull to deal with raising horses in the Palouse.  David and his wife are about to find out you can't run from your own family history. Nor the evil acts other people will go to simply to prove to themselves they are better than everyone else.

Synopsis: 

Returning to the old "homestead" is never a strong suit of anyone from Idaho.  Certainly Dr. David Turnbull is no stranger to this phenomena.  However, when his grandmother dies, he and his wife from New Jersey are forced to  address returning to the ranch in the Palouse.

Plagued by not so comfortable memories of his stern father abusing alcohol, a brother who could not understand his drive to save life and an enabling mother who lived for the horse drives; David's journey is not towards a funeral but the reason his family shattered.

Groping in the proverbial dark, step by step David rebuilds the ties with his family which can only come from an adult view of childhood memories.

An animosity over horses, dating back to his grandfather's time with the neighbor sets nerves on edge; just when it looks like the family is rallying to become whole.  Finally David realizes the questions he should be asking.  What is the secret his grandfather left behind and why does the neighbor want the family land at any illegal cost?

Honor Song portrays the serenity of the Palouse, the injustice which continues, and a man coming to terms with his own family heritage.  How David overcomes all to triumph over nearly insurmountable obstacles is a reverbing shout of praise to all which makes mankind the thinking and caring animal he truly is.

Impression: 

Make room on your bookshelf ... somewhere between To Kill a Mockingbird, and Finding Moon, this current generation's contribution to the life experience which defines what it means to be human; belongs to Honor Song. Harper Lee painted life caught between bigotry and kindness in the deep south, Tony Hillerman painted the angst of slowly losing your spouse to cancer in the arroyo of the South West, and Wendy Henson paints the recovery of a lost soul to his family in the Palouse.

It would be too easy to portray this book as yet another in the long line of nothing here but the American Indian Experience.  Such efforts miss the underlieing social and human life expose which touches every human regardless of our race. Society at its best is the interaction of family units, for only there will each of us find what we search for most in our hearts.

Beware Wendy Henson's writing, for in finding her own voice she has touched on the early elements of Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, and others; an easy indication her work will only improve with every book and story she releases.  She has the ability to wrap the reader up and convey them to a place and time that is both now and yet ageless.  She invites you to join her in the Palouse.

Tell a friend, tell a co-worker, bring your family, complain to the librarian.  Honor Song deserves to be discovered by everyone.

RATING:  10 Campfires

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Citations:

Link to Whiskey Press Front Page

Author / editors / anthologists:

Wendy Jame Henson

Title & length: 

Honor Song
134 pages

Publishing House & date:

Whiskey Creek Press;  December 2007
Casper, WY  82605
(http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com)

ISBN & LCCC :

ISBN:         978-1-59374-093-6

Additional publications:

N/A at the time of writing

Targeted readership:

Young Adults 16 and all groups older.  

0 Flames for sexual content.

Author's credentials:

(curteousy of Whiskey Creek Press)
Wendy Jane Henson

Wendy Jane Henson grew up in Lewiston, Idaho at a time when Indian people still lived who were part of Chief Joseph’s run for Canada. As a child, she learned about Nez Pierce history and customs, as well as their struggle to survive in the years that followed the epic journey (A struggle that continues to this very day.).

Wendy, who began writing for print when she was in high school, has published poetry, articles and essays. Her passion for drama goes back nearly as far as her passion for writing. A produced playwright, she has written screenplays that garnered some awards and film options. Living near Portland, Oregon, she has taught creative writing and theater arts for Portland Community College, Marylhurst University, and Portland State University. She is the author of a college textbook, Screenwriting: Step by Step.

Reviewer & reviewer credentials:

MD Johnson is a mountain northwest regional -- freelance author, living in Payette, Idaho. His writing interests include poetry, romance, westerns, science fiction, travel, and history. His work has appeared in a diverse range of publications including True Romance and Ballyhoo Stories. He has republished the 1935 western classic historical novel, “The Bitterroot Trail” as the anthologist.  In early 2008, Mr. Johnson was nominated to join the National Book Critics Circle.

If you have a book or an ARC, you would like Mr. Johnson to review, please address your questions to him at queries@pencraft.biz.