Homestead

In 1964 Annick Smith came to Montana with her husband, Dave, and their boys. In a fertile valley where meadows tip downward toward the Big Blackfoot River, they found what they had dreamed of: 163 acres of ranchland with a view of a creek, hills, and the Rattlesnake Mountains. The Montana of which Annick Smith writes in this spirited and generous book is the not-so-distant West of outlaws and pioneers, range inspectors and cattle thieves.

From her friendship with Norman Maclean, author of A River Runs Through It, to a tragedy that forced her to make her life anew in the open spaces of her home, Annick Smith’s powerful spirit and her devotion to the land she loves shine through in a remarkable memoir.