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Maud's Line
Written by Margaret Verble
Narrated by Carla Mercer-Meyer
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Eastern Oklahoma, 1928. Eighteen-year-old Maud Nail lives with her rogue father and sensitive brother on one of the allotments parceled out by the U.S. government to the Cherokees when their land was confiscated for Oklahoma's statehood. Maud's days are filled with hard work and simple pleasures, but often marked by violence and tragedy, a fact that she accepts with determined practicality. Her prospects for a better life are slim, but when a newcomer with good looks and books rides down her section line, she takes notice. Soon she finds herself facing a series of high-stakes decisions that will determine her future and those of her loved ones.
Book Actions
Start ListeningBook Information
Maud's Line
Written by Margaret Verble
Narrated by Carla Mercer-Meyer
Description
Eastern Oklahoma, 1928. Eighteen-year-old Maud Nail lives with her rogue father and sensitive brother on one of the allotments parceled out by the U.S. government to the Cherokees when their land was confiscated for Oklahoma's statehood. Maud's days are filled with hard work and simple pleasures, but often marked by violence and tragedy, a fact that she accepts with determined practicality. Her prospects for a better life are slim, but when a newcomer with good looks and books rides down her section line, she takes notice. Soon she finds herself facing a series of high-stakes decisions that will determine her future and those of her loved ones.
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Reviews
MAUD’S LINE by Margaret VerbleMaud, her father and brother live on Maud’s mother’s allotment in the former Indian Territory. Her family is (mostly) Cherokee. Maud has a desire for better things. Electricity, a refrigerator, an inside toilet. It is 1928.This tale of Cherokee families living in Oklahoma after enduring and surviving the Trail of Tears is filled with fully realized characters, Indian traits, hard scrabble lives on dirt farms, snakes galore, family and mean neighbors. Richly told, Verble has created a world complete. Maud is a captivating heroine. Her family is filled with abundant well-developed characters. The plot, while simple, is richly detailed. An absorbing and thought-provoking novel, especially for a first novel. Very satisfying.5 of 5 stars
Rating: 5[Maud's Line] by [Margaret Verble] takes place in 1928 in the former Cherokee Territory (North Eastern Oklahoma). When the book opens Maud, her brother Lovely, and their father Mustard, all live in a ramshackle house a few miles from Fort Gibson. Of Cherokee heritage, Maud's mother had received the land allotment when Cherokee Territory was eliminated prior to Oklahoma statehood. Maud's relatives live on the neighboring "poor farms" through allotment as well. Maud is an intelligent and attractive young woman living in a house with no running water or electricity, dreaming over the Sears catalog of a finer way of life away from the hardscrabble farm. Mr. Singer, a wealthy older man living within walking distance, fuels Maud's dreams by loaning her books from his extensive library. One morning after Lovely and Mustard have gone to work Maud sees a wagon with a blue canvas coming down the road. (It was a pretty blue, deeper than the color of the sky and brighter than a heron, a better blue, something new). It was not only the blue that was new, so was the driver, Wakefield Booker, summertime peddler and wintertime teacher in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is from this meeting Venable launches the plot that will cover the next year of Maud's life. Over the year she will experience profound sorrow, the continued daily hardship of a poor existence, loving support from relatives in the same circumstances and the chance for a better future.I know the history of the people and of the place where Maud lived. I am not of Indian heritage, my ancestors were those that migrated into Western Arkansas (a river's width from Cherokee and Choctaw Territories) enticed by cheap/free land in the 1850s. Venable doesn't live in this area but her ancestors do, and she has written a believable account of a young woman's life during that period and place in our country's history. I don't know if the author plans a sequel but I'd like to have one to know what happens to Maud as her life, and I hope her fortunes, go forward. I received this book as an Early Reviewer but I'm late getting to it, publication date was July.
Rating: 4I loved the story and Maud's character right up to the end, where I was hoping for more.
Rating: 4Maud Nail is a young Native American woman living on her family's "allotment" in 1920's Oklahoma. Her mother died years before and her father is suspected of killing some neighbors and is on the run. She and her teenage brother are running their farm with help from surrounding family. Maud falls in love with the traveling salesman who promises a life of indoor plumbing and electricity somewhere else. Her brother contracts rabies and apparently kills himself, the traveling salesman takes off without leaving word, and Maud realizes she is pregnant. She takes up with a local beau to cover her transgressions, but then the traveling salesman returns and whisks her away from her sad and backward life. Predictable, but still enjoyable. The dynamics of Maud's extended family is interesting and Maud herself is an aspirational character that you want to see succeed.
Rating: 4This book was nominated for a Pulitzer, yet I had never heard of it, nor is it available in my local library. A friend recommended it, and I am so glad I tracked it down and read it. It is extremely well written, with characters and the setting presented colorfully and realistically. Maud - see plot description in review below - is self sufficient in so many ways. Yet, she longs for a life somewhere else, but where and how will she get there? Too bad, but not surprising, that she relies on a lover from somewhere else to take her away.
Rating: 5Maud's Line is a wonderfully crafted, well written story of the times and hardships facing people in the early 1900s. It's just beyond belief how some people had to live and how they survived the situations they found themselves in. This story is very vivid and believable. I'm pleased LibraryThing allowed me to read and review this book.
Rating: 4Very interesting and well written....descriptions well written......holds your interest on her life...not sure about the ending? Or maybe it was just me wanting a different ending....:)
Rating: 5Set in the late 1920's of Eastern Oklahoma, "Maud's Line" is a gritty, compelling fiction debut from author Margaret Verble. A vivid blend of American history, the author's own Cherokee legacy, and Maud's well-imagined story, the novel takes place in the government land allotments parceled out to the Cherokee people when their own lands were confiscated to enhance the statehood process. Maud Naill is an attractive young woman who works hard, accepts more than her share of family responsibility, and for all practical purposes, knows that a routine life, based around the land, will be her future. A newcomer to the territory, a peddler with good looks and books, will change forever change Maud's life and expectations. A green-eyed widower with a pleasing manner and the allure of travels and experiences Maud has never known, Booker Wakefield captures her attention and turns her thoughts to more than her everyday existence. But as he steals her heart, is theirs meant to be a permanent relationship, or will the peddler's wagon continue its journeys? A story as raw and real as Oklahoma territory itself, "Maud's Line" is an entertaining tale featuring an intriguing heroine who will leave a lasting impression with readers. Review Copy Gratis Library Thing
Rating: 4It is a dismal existence. Her mother has died, her father has hit the skids and her brother is slowly losing his grip on reality. Such is life on Oklahoma's Cherokee land in 1928. Yet hope does spring eternal and Maud Nail dreams of bigger and better things. Hers is an iron will and she manages through the support of extended family and no small amount of cunning. That is until a stranger comes to town - an educated peddler in a blue canvased wagon who shares Maud's love of books. Her heart finds love and her escape seems certain until a family entanglement grows into a crime and finally a betrayal. Maud stands to lose everything. It appears that even she cannot withstand this conspiring of circumstances and less-than-wise choices but with a remarkable lack of self-pity Maud does what she has to in order to make it through.It is a story that sticks with you. Very raw and uncompromising, you cannot help but admire Maud's strength and fortitude. Although she will then turn around and do something completely boneheaded and self-sabotaging (at age eighteen I suppose that's a thing). Interesting glimpse into this time period and situation especially as far as culture and race are concerned. I would not have thought that someone could write about this amount of tragedy and have it be believeable but Margaret Verble did a terrific job. If you are at all into grit lit this is definitely on you want to pick up.
Rating: 5This is an engaging book, with a protagonist reminding us of our own hormonally driven teenage years and aspirations. Maud keeps house for her father & brother in 1920's Oklahoma--a 2 room shack with cardboard covered walls, wood cookstove & no plumbing. But life leaves her with enough time for dreaming of escaping. A half-blood Cherokee, Maud has been raised to value learning and emulating the white society. When a handsome and engaging peddler stops by she gets support for her love of reading. This could be the story line for a Harlequin, but this novel has more depth. Maud's extended family is close, helping each other thru hard times or, sometimes, getting into trouble together. When their neighbors ramp up a feud, killing Maud's milk cow, her father & uncle take revenge. With the law after him, her father disappears. Maud struggles to right things, but life keeps getting messier. She turns to her great-aunts for help at first, then retreats into depression. No, the novel doesn't drag us into her daily depressed state, but collapses the months' dull retreat and then brings in her grandma with a solution.When her grandfather passed on the title to Maud's mother's allotment and with Maud's use of it, and again when her aunt spoke of all the ways white people have killed Indians, I felt the pull of all the elders who try to pass on what they have learned is of value, and all the young adults who make their own choices.While the cover description compares Verble to Louise Erdrich, I think a closer comparison could be made to another of my favorite authors, Linda Hogan. Her [Mean Spirit], also about Oklahoma just a decade earlier but focused on the Osage tribe.
Rating: 5Maud Nail is living a very hard life on her family’s allotment in Oklahoma with her brother Lovely and her father Mustard. Her very extended family live in the immediate area generally within walking distance. Her father cannot be counted on – he drinks and really cares only about himself. There is a feud of sorts going on with another family in the area that provides one of the main story lines. Another involves an itinerant peddler Booker, who rolls through town selling this and that – and books. Maud has a weakness for book. This, if nothing else endeared her to me. For I am sure that by now you know that I have a serious book problem. The third details the slow decline into madness (depression?) of Maud’s brother. These stories all meet, circle, embrace and separate in some kind of elaborate dance.Maud is not happy with her current lot in life and longs to live in a place with electricity and running water. She feels that Booker can provide her with that life. She is used to men running out on her but she hopes that he will be different because he is not an Indian. But Maud is trying to keep the worst of her life from him and he realizes that she is not being forthcoming.Maud is not always a likable character; she can be abrasive. Her decisions are not always wise and she is selfish. This does make for fascinating reading. The time period – late 1920s – is not one I tend to read about all that often so it was interesting to be in that era. The use of bump to describe a pregnancy seemed anachronistic – from what I can find the term didn’t come into use until after 2000. All in all I enjoyed this character driven story. Maud’s extended family was full of truly entertaining people. They may fight but they came together when needed.
Rating: 4I normally don’t read literary fiction (I’m a genre reader through and through), but this story immediately caught my attention for its setting and the characters.
This is the story of a young Cherockee woman trying to find her path in life in the years immediately before the Great Depression.
Maud immediately hooked me as a character, although she gets two different incarnation in the course of the story.
In the first half, she’s a strong-willed young woman with very clear ideas about what she wants and the way to get it. What I really liked about her is that she always tries to get her way, so she’s willing to lie and to deceive in order to get her goals, but she’s always careful of the pain she may cause. This is particularly true for her romance with Booker who’s not an Indian. I particularly enjoyed the very subtle cultural differences between them and the way Maud handles it, with care and awareness. I liked the fact that while she is a manipulative woman, she always does that in a good way, and by this I mean trying to do the right thing.
This is true with her brother Lovely too (his arc is my favourite part in the novel, with him probably going mad and trying to handle it) and with the murder that happened in the very first part of story, which kept me reading.
The first part of story was full of mystery and secrets and I loved it. It was character- and plot driven. I read it without pauses.
The second part of the story is very different. A couple of character disappear. A couple of mysteries are swiftly ‘solved’ and that took away a big chunk of appeal for me. But above all, Maud changes enormously as a character as she progressively falls into depression and becomes more selfish and self-absorbed.
I won’t say this isn’t realistic, because it is. It just detached me from her, because she shifts from a relatable character (for me at least) to a less relatable one. In the second part of the novel, Maud becomes interested only in herself and I had a hard time watching her caring about no one but herself.
As I said, this is realistic, particularly in the place and time period of the story, but for me as a reader it was kind of a shame.
I still liked the book a lot. It’s very well crafted, and so vivid. The author set it in a place she knows very well (in fact that’s where her family has always lived) and based part of the story on real people and real events (thought most of the story is fictional). And you can feel this. Descriptions are so real, so vivid and so personal that you have no problem believing you’re there in Oklahoma with Maud, and I particularly enjoyed the family portrait, the different people, the way they relate to each other.
It’s a deeply involving story, whether you connect with Maud or not.
Recommended.
Rating: 4This is the story of a young Cherockee woman trying to find her path in life in the years immediately before the Great Depression.
Maud immediately hooked me as a character, although she gets two different incarnation in the course of the story.
In the first half, she’s a strong-willed young woman with very clear ideas about what she wants and the way to get it. What I really liked about her is that she always tries to get her way, so she’s willing to lie and to deceive in order to get her goals, but she’s always careful of the pain she may cause. This is particularly true for her romance with Booker who’s not an Indian. I particularly enjoyed the very subtle cultural differences between them and the way Maud handles it, with care and awareness. I liked the fact that while she is a manipulative woman, she always does that in a good way, and by this I mean trying to do the right thing.
This is true with her brother Lovely too (his arc is my favourite part in the novel, with him probably going mad and trying to handle it) and with the murder that happened in the very first part of story, which kept me reading.
The first part of story was full of mystery and secrets and I loved it. It was character- and plot driven. I read it without pauses.
The second part of the story is very different. A couple of character disappear. A couple of mysteries are swiftly ‘solved’ and that took away a big chunk of appeal for me. But above all, Maud changes enormously as a character as she progressively falls into depression and becomes more selfish and self-absorbed.
I won’t say this isn’t realistic, because it is. It just detached me from her, because she shifts from a relatable character (for me at least) to a less relatable one. In the second part of the novel, Maud becomes interested only in herself and I had a hard time watching her caring about no one but herself.
As I said, this is realistic, particularly in the place and time period of the story, but for me as a reader it was kind of a shame.
I still liked the book a lot. It’s very well crafted, and so vivid. The author set it in a place she knows very well (in fact that’s where her family has always lived) and based part of the story on real people and real events (thought most of the story is fictional). And you can feel this. Descriptions are so real, so vivid and so personal that you have no problem believing you’re there in Oklahoma with Maud, and I particularly enjoyed the family portrait, the different people, the way they relate to each other.
It’s a deeply involving story, whether you connect with Maud or not.
Recommended.
I was drawn to this book because of the place and time. Because I knew my grandparents life in their golden years I wanted a glimpse of what their young life might have been like. I loved the story, I loved the writing, and I?m not being sentimental. Maybe, but I love that in a story.My only disappointment is the cover of the book, the publishers did not portray Maud for the dark skinned woman that she was.
Rating: 5A novel set in Cherokee land in northeastern Oklahoma in the 1920s, featuring a young woman seeking to escape her hardscrabble life, written by a Native American woman who shows little respect for her ancestors.Margaret Verble has an Ed.D. In education and has written extensively about health education. She has published several stories, but this is her first novel. In her blurb, Verble identifies herself as a certified member of Cherokee tribe, and she claims that the book is based on the stories of her Cherokee grandmother. Yet I doubt I have ever read a book by Indigenous author as dismissive of their heritage as this one. Typically such authors value their past and their ancestors, even when they are torn about giving it up.Verble seems to know little about the Cherokees or northeast Oklahoma. Despite claiming her book is historical fiction, she does little to establish the particular history of the Cherokees or why they faced the problems they did in the 1920s. Instead she repeats stereotypes about them as violent, drunken, and given to casual sex. The only positive quality her characters exhibit is their close family ties, but such bonds are not unique to the Cherokee.SPOILERSMore disturbingly, the main plot line is Maud’s intense desire to get away from life she seems forced to live. In the end she achieves this goal by marrying a white man who will take her to live in Tulsa, a boom town where she can live in a house with a refrigerator and indoor plumbing. I hesitate to call this a love story, because Maud seems more motivated by a more comfortable lifestyle than by love. While Maud acknowledges she will miss her relatives, she never exhibits a sense of regret over what she is rejecting.I grew up in southeastern Oklahoma, in the Choctaw Nation, about 100 miles from Fort Gibson, where Maud’s Line is set. As a child, I camped in the Cookson Hills which are part of Maud’s story. Yes, poisonous snakes are present and deadly, but having grown up nearby, I was annoyed by her exaggeration of their abundance. As an historian I know the history of the place and its people. I am distressed to read a book which treats them so superficially.In addition, I care deeply about racial and ethnic diversity and how reading literature by people of diverse backgrounds can expand our understanding. I try to refrain from criticizing an author for not writing the book I wish they had written. But I am bothered by a book that limits our visions and defines Indigenous culture as something which people must escape—with the help of a white man. Perhaps Verble’s grandmother felt that way, but for a novel to celebrate such behavior seems shallow.I do not recommend this book.
Rating: 2Maud's days were made of wishing and hoping, hard work, and disappointment.Living with her father and brother in the early 1900's and being the only woman in the house left her little time for herself. Mustard, her father, was not a hard worker and was a trouble maker. Lovely, her brother, thankfully helped Maud, and they helped each other calm down their father. Maud did a lot day dreaming but also a lot of men's work.MAUD'S LINE is set in the Cherokee Lands of Oklahoma where each family had property lines and many relatives. I liked how relatives lived very close to each other and looked out for each other, but the violence between some families was difficult to fathom.MAUD’S LINE took us through her days as her thoughts wandered and as she had to make a decision that would change her life. Most were days of non-stop working, but Maud did manage to find time to read books thanks to her mother, a wealthy neighbor, and a traveling peddler's influence. The characters all had their own problems and ideas about things. Maud was the main character, and at times, she was "out of line" in terms of her relationships. Maud knew what she wanted and did whatever she could to get what she wanted. Maud did everything for her family even though her father was not the most loving and caring.You couldn't help but love Maud, but you will also question some of her decisions. Maud always seemed to be the first one on the scene of something gruesome and kept secrets that were t her detriment.Ms. Verble's descriptive, lush writing will simply pull you in along with the cover. I enjoyed MAUD’S LINE, and I hope you decide to read it. 4/5This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.
Rating: 4Maud Nail is living a very hard life on her family’s allotment in Oklahoma with her brother Lovely and her father Mustard. Her very extended family live in the immediate area generally within walking distance. Her father cannot be counted on – he drinks and really cares only about himself. There is a feud of sorts going on with another family in the area that provides one of the main story lines. Another involves an itinerant peddler Booker, who rolls through town selling this and that – and books. Maud has a weakness for book. This, if nothing else endeared her to me. For I am sure that by now you know that I have a serious book problem. The third details the slow decline into madness (depression?) of Maud’s brother. These stories all meet, circle, embrace and separate in some kind of elaborate dance.Maud is not happy with her current lot in life and longs to live in a place with electricity and running water. She feels that Booker can provide her with that life. She is used to men running out on her but she hopes that he will be different because he is not an Indian. But Maud is trying to keep the worst of her life from him and he realizes that she is not being forthcoming.Maud is not always a likable character; she can be abrasive. Her decisions are not always wise and she is selfish. This does make for fascinating reading. The time period – late 1920s – is not one I tend to read about all that often so it was interesting to be in that era. The use of bump to describe a pregnancy seemed anachronistic – from what I can find the term didn’t come into use until after 2000. All in all I enjoyed this character driven story. Maud’s extended family was full of truly entertaining people. They may fight but they came together when needed.
Rating: 4It is seldom I see a debut novel with a strong story line as well as being rich in history and cultural information. Verble’s Cherokee heritage and family lore about the property in Oklahoma help make Maud a compelling protagonist. The ending of the book would provide great fodder for a book club discussion. Verble has an ability to convey the emotions and thoughts of living in such a desolate area. Her characters are rich in dimension and the difference in personality between Maud’s two suitors intensify Maud’s dilemma. I hope to see more from this author. (LibraryThing review copy)
Rating: 4Maud's Line is a mostly well-written book with compelling plotlines. Still, my overall impression of the book is "meh." I finished it because I was interested enough to want to know how it ends, but otherwise didn't find anything special enough about it to hold my interest. Add to that multiple gratuitous sex scenes and historically inaccurate language usage, and I have to wonder how and why it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Rating: 4Page two, horrific act of violence against a defenseless creature. Unable to imagine how this was meant to make this story better, I stopped reading. What value can there be in the rest of the story if the author felt that the only way to grab a reader and draw them in was this horror.
Rating: 1