1952. Chicago socialite Bettye Grafton flees her abusive husband for a Nevada divorce. She holes up on a gritty-glamorous Reno dude ranch at the foot of the Sierra Nevada to endure the state's six-week residency in a menagerie of wealthy ex-wives-in-waiting. By day, she finds solace riding the High Sierra-and by night, in a bottomless bottle of bourbon and a stack of books. But she's back in the land she left behind as an Indian School runaway, and the past is not done with her. Nor are her powerful husband and his Las Vegas mob cronies. After a shocking reunion reveals her identity to exactly the wrong people, a wary Bettye must put her trust in unlikely new allies. Together they concoct an audacious scheme to win her freedom-one that may also enable her to reclaim her lost family.
The Better Half: A Novel of the Nevada Divorce Ranch Era
1952. Chicago socialite Bettye Grafton flees her abusive husband for a Nevada divorce. She holes up on a gritty-glamorous Reno dude ranch at the foot of the Sierra Nevada to endure the state's six-week residency in a menagerie of wealthy ex-wives-in-waiting. By day, she finds solace riding the High Sierra-and by night, in a bottomless bottle of bourbon and a stack of books. But she's back in the land she left behind as an Indian School runaway, and the past is not done with her. Nor are her powerful husband and his Las Vegas mob cronies. After a shocking reunion reveals her identity to exactly the wrong people, a wary Bettye must put her trust in unlikely new allies. Together they concoct an audacious scheme to win her freedom-one that may also enable her to reclaim her lost family.