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The Personal History of Rachel DuPree

It is 1917 in the South Dakota Badlands, and summer has been hard. Fourteen years have passed since Rachel and Isaac DuPree left Chicago to stake a claim in this unforgiving land. Isaac, a former Buffalo Soldier, is fiercely proud: black families are rare in the West, and black ranchers even rarer. But it hasn't rained in months, the cattle bellow with thirst, and supplies are dwindling. Pregnant, and struggling to feed her family, Rachel is isolated by more than just geography.She is determined to give her surviving children the life they deserve, but she knows that her husband will never leave his ranch: land means a measure of equality with the white man, and Isaac DuPree is not about to give it up just because times are hard. Somehow Rachel must find the strength to do what is right - for her children, for her husband, and for herself. Moving and majestic, The Personal History of Rachel DuPree is an unforgettable novel about love and loyalty, homeland and belonging. Above all, it is the story of one woman's courage in the face of the most punishing adversity. Read more


Reviews

"...beautifully done, rendered in spare, un-showy prose as denuded as the Dakota earth." -Alfred Hickling, The Guardian

"...a stunning read, with more than a nod at Steinbeck, yet enough distance to place the writer in her own territory." -Trish Simpson-Davis, The Bookbag

What's New

* Listen to Ann's reading at London's Southbank Centre:

*Click here to see pictures of the Orange Prize Awards Ceremony in London.

* Rachel DuPree received the Steven Turner Award for Best Work of First Fiction. For more information, go to www.texasinstituteofletters.org.

About Ann

Ann Weisgarber, born and raised in Kettering, Ohio, has been fascinated by the gritty spirit of pioneer homesteaders ever since her first childhood trip to the American West. After graduating from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, she was a social worker in a psychiatric hospital before moving to Houston, Texas, with her husband, Rob. Read more