By Kavita Mistry 
Brilliantly written by Kent Hauf, this is the second in the three-part Plainsong series that begins with “Plainsong.” And, yes, you need to read them in order because there are spoilers in this second book that you don’t want to know if you haven’t already read the first one.
This novel is the story of three groups of people living in the fictional rural setting of Holt County, Colorado. While they are very different, they have one thing in common: They are all emotionally damaged, but through their interactions with each other they achieve a level of healing:
• Raymond and Harold McPheron are elderly brothers who live 17 miles out of town on a cattle ranch. Orphaned at a young age, the two have always lived together and neither ever married. Two years ago, they “adopted” the then 17-year-old pregnant Victoria Roubideaux. The three became a family, and Victoria’s little girl Katie is like a granddaughter to Raymond and Harold. And while they are proud and supportive of Victoria going away to college in Fort Collins, they desperately miss her.
• The Wallace family: Married couple Luther and Betty and their children Joy Rae, 11, and Richie, 6, are poor. Very, very poor. The parents are disabled and don’t work so they live on welfare and food stamps. Rose Tyler, a devoted social worker, follows them closely, monitoring much in their lives. But Betty’s Uncle Hoyt, a violent deadbeat, comes to live with them in their small, dilapidated, and (very) messy trailer, and nothing good comes of this.
• Mary Wells has two little girls, Dena and Emma. Mary’s husband took off for Alaska, and as she gives up hope of ever seeing him again, she slides into a deep depression. Meanwhile, an 11-year-old boy down the street named DJ Kephart, who lives with and takes care of his grumpy, old grandfather, develops a deep friendship with Dena that may be the only thing that gives either of them a measure of happiness.
The writing, which is spare and sparse, reflects the equally spare and sparse landscape of Holt. But there is magic here. This spare and sparse writing seemingly transports the reader vicariously to become part of the spare and sparse setting. The plot is minimal. This is a character study about the deep truths of being human—the joys, the sorrows, the everydayness—but at some point just when you think nothing has happened, you will realize all that has happened.
I think this is a literary masterpiece.