One for the blackbird
One for the crow
One for the cutworm
And one to grow
This traditional proverb is a perfect description of Beulah Bemis’s philosophy of life in Olivia Hawker’s historical novel, One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow. Beulah, the wise, dreamy thirteen year-old daughter of Cora and Ernest Bemis, considers herself as one with the earth and with all that grows there. The novel is a Women Writing the West’s 2020 WILLA Literary Award Finalist.
Wyoming Territory, 1876, can be a dreary place when you have but one neighbor and no other settlers for miles. Ernest Bemis acts on impulse when he finds his wife, Cora, in a compromising situation with neighbor Substance Webber, resulting in one man dead, the other in jail. With her husband in jail, Cora Bemis and her four children are left without a husband and father, and widowed Nettie Mae Webber and Clyde, her only child, are left to manage by themselves.
Clyde, sixteen, doesn’t really grieve the loss of his father. Substance was a mean, harsh man who belittled Clyde’s gentle ways with their livestock. His mother, Nellie Mae, however, bristles with indignity and hate, though not particularly with mourning.
Winter is coming and it’s apparent that the Bemis family isn’t ready. Late crops are yet to be harvested, but the main worry is an adequate wood supply; without it the family will freeze in the harsh Wyoming winter.
Clyde is now the man of the Webber house and he takes this new responsibility seriously. Strong and capable, he tries to do the right thing by helping the Bemis family and tend to his own chores as well. Beulah steps in beside him and the two manage to get through the late harvest and prepare the stock for winter.
As winter bears down, it becomes clear that in order to survive, drastic measures must be taken. How the two families manage in the course of a year, and the surprising strong bond that develops makes One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow a memorable, remarkable novel. The author vividly describes the wild Wyoming landscape down to the tiniest detail. She paints each character with their individual personalities so perfectly I felt I’d know them in passing. I could feel the juxtaposition of love and hate as though it happened in my own family. I highly recommend One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow. It is a novel to cherish.