Buffalo Ridge: A Novel

The Buffalo Ridge is a 150-mile outcrop of rocks and glacial drift nearly a thousand feet above the prairie, traversing eastern South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota. It withstood a torrent of glacial meltwater twelve thousand years ago and still survives. Like the ridge, a young family struggles against an onslaught of near glacial proportions: drugs, debt, past mistakes, injustice, betrayal, and the forces of nature. The prose of Buffalo Ridge is clear, original, and G-rated—cross-over fiction suitable for teens and adults. The plot deals with conventional versus organic agriculture, the scourge of drugs—in this case meth—injustice, child welfare, and salt-of-the-earth, ordinary people trying to survive. The characters are believable. Readers can identify with their struggles and triumphs, trying to make a living, facing temptation, showing strength, weakness, humor, and are sustained by community, religious faith, and the importance of family.