Customer Reviews

Dance a Little Longer (Lucinda Richards Trilogy)

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The best book of the series, this story follows The Train to Estelline and A Place called Sweet Shrub. Set during the Great Depression in the bleak, gnarled landscape and drought of West Texas, the characters Josh & Lucy, now with a 4 year old son, settle into their jobs in a troubled school. The deprivation and desperation of the depression sweep over the reader on almost every page, but the high spirited, high minded scholars meet each challenge as it tumbles into the schoolyard. The characters are sketched with a light and usually loving hand, and the situations are not sugar-coated but realistic and often harsh. The "West Texas-isms" are accurate and amusing. The book moves quickly to a ending that is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. And completely true to this reader's experience.

The final book in Jane Roberts Woods' trilogy finds Lucy Richards Arnold in rural West Texas, during the depression. The harsh and arid landscape of the land is barely relieved by the people who populate the area,and the nearest town, Blue Bonnet. Lucy and her husband Josh are working for the area school, she is once again teaching and he is the principal....and neither are made welcomed by the populace. They do make friends within the community and are able to undersatnd the dermands on those around them,but nothing is heard from characters at home, except for a brief appearance by Jeremiah. Their son, John Patrick is a continuous light in their lives, but hard times and very little hope for relief have made the entire area weary and unwelcoming. Once again Woods has been able to capture a time and place in Teaxs history and populate it with believable and complex characters.The realities of small town life, especially in hard times,ring true. The whole book is suffused with the feel of the times, and is a wonderful look at characters we have come to care for.

Once again I picked up a book and read it, not knowing it was actually the last book in a trilogy. But the book was still very good even not reading the other 2. Lucy and her husband Josh have just bought a new farm and are going to start work in a West Texas school. While Josh works hard getting the farm in shape, Lucy spends every minute she can with their 4-year-old son John Patrick. Even tho times are tough, they help many others who are down on their luck. Some of the people in town do not want the school in town and try to run them off. But when tragedy strikes the Richards' family, the town pulls together to comfort them.

Even tho I know how this trilogy ends, I'm gonna see if I can find the other 2 in the series.

This review was written for Connie's Book Reviews and More on Facebook.

FTC disclosure: I bought my copy of this book.