western Archives - Evanston Public Library

2019 Wrangler Award for Outstanding Juvenile Book Winner

2019 Spur Award – Western Writer’s of America Finalist

This is a nicely plotted, heartfelt Middle Grade Western that looks into the lives of folks homesteading in 1910 Colorado. Belle Martin is 12 years old and excited about the adventure of trying to farm the Colorado prairie. But when she and her large family arrive, the whole area has no trees and looks brown and unpromising. The Martins are hit by many disasters: grasshoppers, hail, blizzards, and disease away from any real doctors. However, times are changing; some of the settlers have cars and the women in the story are beginning to want more for their lives than their mothers had. A wonderful story of the West by an author who has won many Western awards. I was rooting for Belle and her sister Carrie!

Tim W. Brown is not an author to limit himself to a single genre. In Second Acts – Brown’s latest novel following Deconstruction Acres (1997), Left of the Loop (2001), and Walking Man (2008) – the long-time Chicagoan and current New Yorker effortlessly blends sci-fi and western elements into the comic historical tale of Dan Connor, a 21st-century slacker who time travels to 1830s America in search of his adulterous wife. Winner of the 2010 London Book Festival Award for General Fiction, Second Acts is a sly, satirical page-turner in the vein of Mark Twain that is guaranteed to leave readers laughing and thinking. On Thursday, May 5th, you can hear Mr. Brown read from Second Acts when he visits EPL’s 1st Floor Community Meeting Room at 7 p.m. along with local author Paul McComas. In anticipation of his visit, we recently spoke with him via email about his extensive research for Second Acts, Potawatomi berdaches, second chances in American life, and what he’s working on next.

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An Interview with Tim W. Brown