Half Broke Horses

Jeanette Walls tells the amazing story of her grandmother in Half Broke Horses.  Lily Casey Smith grew up on a ranch in Arizona.  She helped her father break horses at 6 years-old and at 15 she rode on horseback to a small frontier town many miles away from home to teach school.  Later she marries and helps her husband run a large ranch in Arizona living through the Great Depression, droughts, and tornadoes.  This is an engaging story about a strong willed woman.  She even learned how to fly an airplane. This is by the same author who wrote The Glass Castle which is about her dysfunctional family.  I had already read that book.  Toward the end of this book you are introduced to Jeanette Walls’ father.  At first he is the boyfriend of Lily’s daughter, and Lily sees that he is a charmer who cannot be relied upon.  There is nothing she can say.  The girl is smitten.  After reading this book I came to the conclusion that the author took after her grandmother.  I highly recommend Half Broke Horses.