Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Wall

An Excellent book about growing up in the American Southwest.  Lily Casey Smith faced many hardships as a child and adult, but she rose to the occasion every time.  She grew up on a farm where her father trained carriage horses and she was able to complete the 8th grade and start teaching in one room schools when she was just 15.  Later on, she went to Chicago and found work and a "crum bum " husband", who was a bigamist.  After her marriage was annulled, she went back to the souhtwest to teach and married a rancher, Jim Smith, who was her match in tenacity when it came to providing for their family. 

She was a remarkable woman who could put on her resume: rancher, bootlegger,  horse breaker and trainer, teacher, bus driver, maid, pilot, entrepeneur, mother, wife, and gardener.  Her life is an amazing survival story.  She was not one to keep her mouth shut when she saw injustices and she was not afraid to take a risk if it made her family's life better.  I can see why the author held her in high esteem.