MADreads

Blackbelly sheep

January 29th, 2009 Lesley - Central

Heather Sharfeddin’s first novel Blackbelly follows the life of Chas McPherson, a rancher in contemporary Idaho who raises sheep which are bred for food rather than wool. The McPherson homestead in rural Sweetwater is badly in need of repair and Chas’s father’s Parkinson’s Disease has progressed to its final stages.

Mattie Holden, a home health-care nurse from Spokane, is hired to care for Chas’s father, Franklin. He is a former charismatic preacher whose disease has resulted in his immobility and an inability to speak. A romance blossoms between Mattie and Chas as they attempt to survive on the stark, remote ranch during the bitter winter months.

The story takes a major turn when Chas discovers that Sweetwater’s only Muslim family can’t afford a lamb for Eid, an Islamic religious feast day. He leaves them one in secret and later refuses to acknowledge the gift. Unfortunately the sight of the rancher’s truck at the Teleghani property close to the time of a fire implicates Chas in the crime. Because of past history the citizens of Sweetwater are quick to judge Chas guilty.

Heather Sharfeddon, a sheep rancher herself in Oregon, has written a new type of Western which I highly recommend, one full of secrets and contemporary issues set in the isolated world of sheep ranching in northern Idaho.

Entry Filed under: Recreational Fiction