Where Coyotes Howl (Hardcover)
Now a Denver Post bestseller
"Addictive. Highly recommended!"—Paulette Jiles, New York Times bestselling author of News of the World
Beautifully rendered, Where Coyotes Howl is a vivid and deeply affecting ode to the early twentieth century West, from master storyteller Sandra Dallas.
Except for the way they loved each other, they were just ordinary, everyday folks. Just ordinary.
1916. The two-street town of Wallace is not exactly what Ellen Webster had in mind when she accepted a teaching position in Wyoming, but within a year’s time she’s fallen in love—both with the High Plains and with a handsome cowboy named Charlie Bacon. Life is not easy in the flat, brown corner of the state where winter blizzards are unforgiving and the summer heat relentless. But Ellen and Charlie face it all together, their relationship growing stronger with each shared success, and each deeply felt tragedy.
Ellen finds purpose in her work as a rancher’s wife and in her bonds with other women settled on the prairie. Not all of them are so lucky as to have loving husbands, not all came to Wallace willingly, and not all of them can survive the cruel seasons. But they look out for each other, share their secrets, and help one another in times of need. And the needs are great and constant. The only city to speak of, Cheyenne, is miles away, making it akin to the Wild West in rural Wallace. In the end, it is not the trials Ellen and Charlie face together that make them remarkable, but their love for one another that endures through it all.
Advance Praise for Where Coyotes Howl:
“Rich character development and memorable secondary plotlines…a charming tale of love.”
—The Denver Post
"A poignant love story that brings to life both the brutality and the beauty during the turn of the century in the rugged, American West."
—Lee Woodruff
"Dallas' blunt, brutal latest explores the mythic soul of the American West...through a female lens."
—Booklist (Starred Review)
"Dallas delivers a sprawling and immersive story. Well-rounded characters, convincing period details, and a sumptuous setting make this sing. Readers will be hooked."
—Publisher's Weekly
"Anybody who writes about a cowboy with a 'spotted devil horse' and a woman who 'loved him more than the sunrise' has a great story to tell. Where Coyotes Howl is addictive. Highly recommended!"
—Paulette Jiles, New York Times bestselling author of News of the World
“What an extraordinary story done by a master storyteller. So many characters fully rendered, lives that grip the heart. I could feel the Wyoming wind in my face and smell the dust.”
—Francine Rivers, New York Times bestselling author of The Lady's Mine
"Dallas writes with a great sense of place and understanding of the harsh climate, isolation and loneliness women faced as Wyoming evolved in the early 20th century. This is not your traditional love story...it has far more grit and reality."
—Candy Moulton, Executive Director, Western Writers of America
"Dallas’s poignant love story exposes authentic life on the brutal but beautiful western frontier."
—Betsy Randolph, author and 2021-2022 President of Women Writing the West
"Paints an honest portrait of life on the Wyoming frontier in the early 20th Century, heartwarming, heartbreaking, and filled with the best and worst of human nature. This is the best Novel of the American West I've read since, well, the last Sandra Dallas novel I picked up."
—Johnny D. Boggs, Western Writers Hall of Fame author of A Thousand Texas Longhorns
"Sandra Dallas is an American treasure. She knows the history of the American West — its beauty and hardship -- like few other writers. That's why her fiction rings so true. Where Coyotes Howl is one of her best novels, a howling success."—Tom "Dr. Colorado" Noel
Praise for Sandra Dallas:
"[Dallas is] also a Colorado literary pillar, having appraised nearly every Colorado book worth reading in recent years—and writing more than a few of them herself." —The Denver Post
"Exhilarating and hard to resist." —The Washington Post on Westering Women
“Putting down a Sandra Dallas novel is nearly impossible.” —Daily Camera (Boulder, Colorado) on Prayers for Sale
“A born storyteller, Dallas excels not only at plot but also at peopling her novels with memorable individuals.” —Richmond Times Dispatch on True Sisters