Love and Lust rec: 'A Place to Call Their Own' by Dean Pace-Frech
A Place to Call Their Own by Dean Pace-Frech
What it's about (courtesy of JMS Books):
Frank Greerson and Gregory Young have been discharged from the Army and are headed to their childhood homes. They both defied their parents in 1861 when they joined the Army. After battling southern rebels and preserving the Union of the United States of America, the two men set out to battle the Kansas Prairie and build a life together. Once they find their claim, they encounter common obstacles to life on the Kansas Prairie in 1866: Native Americans, tornadoes, wild animals, and weather.
When a prairie fire destroys their crops and takes their neighbor's lives, Frank and Gregory are instructed to find their young son's aunt. Faced with leaving a destroyed claim, the railroad coming through their land, and dwindling funds, Frank and Gregory must decide whether to leave the place they have worked hard to make their own or fulfill their friends' dying wishes.
Why you should read it: A Place to Call Their Own is the debut novel of historical fiction writer Dean Pace-Frech. I read the second edition, published in May, and I was blown away by the power of this story of the settling of America after the Civil War.
Frank and Greg are gay veterans of that war and after returning home realize that in order to be true to themselves they need to make a fresh start where they won't be judged or hated for who they love. After saying farewell to their families, they begin the trip across a largely unsettled continent to establish claims to their own farm in the new state of Kansas under the Homestead Act. The trip by wagon goes relatively well, although at one point it is interrupted by villains who harass them and steal something critical to their expedition. I loved how Frank and Greg determined when they got where they were going — they stood on a hill, looked out at the vast prairie, trees and river, and just knew they were home.
The novel covers three years, during which they overcome many merciless difficulties also encountered by the real men and women who took this journey. Frank and Greg establish their farm, make friends, are accepted by those they meet and seem on their way to a successful future as plains farmers. Despite the pitfalls and an almost insurmountable disaster, their love for each other carries them through. Their integrity and personal honor even bring them a son.
This is a romantic love story wrapped in a historical saga of a time not really that long ago chronologically but a distant, almost unimaginable past in terms of the progress of technology since the 1860s. For example, Frank and Greg delay filing their claim due to the unacceptable amount of time it would take to leave the farm and cover the overwhelming distance to the nearest claims office: 40 miles.
For those looking for an erotic story, you need to know there is no on-page sex in this romance novel. It is not missed because the story of Frank and Gregory's love is so real and timeless. The book begins with a quote from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie about two bachelors living together in one house and brought to my mind the innocent stories told by Garrison Keillor about the modern-day Norwegian bachelor farmers in A Prairie Home Companion. I highly recommend this wonderful, heartwarming novel.
Becky Condit is a widow, mother of three and grandmother of 10 who reads all kinds of books, but her go-to comfort books are erotic romances. A romance novel coupled with just-out-of-the-oven chocolate-chip cookies and a glass of cold milk is her idea of heaven. She reads and reviews more than 250 books a year, so you won't often find her without her Kindle in hand, but when you do, she'll probably be gardening, doing needle crafts, working in her upholstery workshop and spending time with her family.