Tallgrass - A Novel [Paperback]

Sandra Dallas (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (2007)
• ASIN: B001FPCKH0
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Prize-winning author Sandra Dallas was dubbed "a quintessential American voice" by Jane Smiley, in Vogue Magazine. Sandra's novels with their themes of loyalty, friendship, and human dignity have been translated into a dozen foreign languages and have been optioned for films.

A journalism graduate of the University of Denver, Sandra began her writing career as a reporter with Business Week. A staff member for twenty-five years (and the magazine's first female bureau chief,) she covered the Rocky Mountain region, writing about everything from penny-stock scandals to hard-rock mining, western energy development to contemporary polygamy. Many of her experiences have been incorporated into her novels.

While a reporter, she began writing the first of ten nonfiction books. They include Sacred Paint, which won the National Cowboy Hall of Fame Western Heritage Wrangler Award, and The Quilt That Walked to Golden, recipient of the Independent Publishers Assn. Benjamin Franklin Award.

Turning to fiction in 1990, Sandra has published nine novels, including Whiter Than Snow, and the New York Times best seller Prayers for Sale. Sandra is the recipient of the Women Writing the West Willa Award for New Mercies, and two-time winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award, for The Chili Queen and Tallgrass. In addition, she was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award, the Mountain and Plains Booksellers Assn. Award, and a four-time finalist for the Women Writing the West Willa Award.

The mother of two daughters--Dana is an attorney in New Orleans and Povy is a photographer in Golden, Colorado--Sandra lives in Denver with her husband, Bob.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wisdom earned then learned, October 20, 2008

By 

Gayla M. Collins (Sheridan, WY) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tallgrass (Paperback)

After the surprise attack of Pearl Harbor during WWII, President Roosevelt signed an act that forced Japanese American's to be relocated to interment camps. One such camp, built on beet field land in Colorado, brought much change to the small town of Ellis. Rennie, 13, and her family of 5 own the beet farm close to the camp and through this innocent, yet wise little girl we learn the perils of such a blatant act of prejudice.

Rennie and her family find the Japanese American's to be good people, thus hiring them for farming and help within their home to the chagrin and chastising of many residents of Ellis. Much upheaval brews, including the rape and sodomy of a Susan Riddick, a young friend of Rennie's. Enraged that something this heinous hadn't happened in their little town before the "Japs" came, many Ellis residents blame the Japanese American internees. There in lies a mystery entwined into a book about people unnerved by change and riled by ignorance.

Sandra Dallas's characters are always "everyday" folk. Their wisdom comes from the college of hard knocks and how they learn is determined by their ability to process life as a burden or a gift. Adding a mystery to her plots keeps the reader engrossed, unsettled, angered and ultimately richer in knowledge. That is what a great book is suppose to do and Sandra Dallas delivers with a one-two punch.

I highly recommend this lovely book

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sandra Dallas' Masterpiece, May 14, 2007

By 

P. Lassak "Sheltie mom" (Sequim, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tallgrass (Hardcover)

This story, told through the eyes of a 13 year old girl caught my full attention from the first paragraph and never disappointed me throughout the entire story. When I picked up the book to read a new chapter I was immediately transported back to WW II Colorado (and America) and felt the characters were people I knew. This was a book that I did not want to end but, alas, it had to. I have read most of Ms. Dallas' other works and consider her a favorite author of mine because she develops her characters with such depth that one really feels they know them. Keep up the good work and I would not be at all surprised if this book was made into a movie.

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars terrific read, April 17, 2007

By 

ann (long island) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tallgrass (Hardcover)

this book was totally engrossing, very evocative of the time period and the attiutudes of some of the characters in the early world war 2 setting. it's told through the eyes of a young girl coming to terms with both the goodness and the ugliness in the world. i couldn't put it down.