Tough Luck by Sandra Dallas

TOUGH LUCK by Sandra Dallas (Little Souls) is historical fiction set in the West with a strong female protagonist. Dallas has been writing excellent fiction with similar themes since 1990 - look especially for The Persian Pickle Club, Alice’s Tulips, or The Diary of Mattie Spencer. Her latest takes place in 1863 and features Haidie Richards, a teenager girl who has promised to take care of her younger brother, called Boots. Their mother has died recently, and they set out from the middle of the country towards Denver in order to find their father who left in search of gold. Along the way, they team up with a variety of characters: a freighter named Jake, former orphanage resident Teresa, two tough spinster sisters, and a card shark named Corny. Haidie dresses and passes as a boy in this adventuresome tale which offers humorous observations and homespun wisdom such as when dealing with animals on the wagon train: “it is all right to swear at them, because they don't understand it and it helps your soul. But you’ll get more cooperation with kindness than meanness. I believe that's a lesson for life, with mules and with folks both.” TOUGH LUCK received a starred review from Library Journal which described the novel as being “full of humor, heart, and hope.”