Synopsis:
1863. After their mother dies, Haidie Richards and her younger brother, Boots, are put to work in an orphanage. Their father left the family four years earlier to find a gold mine in Colorado territory. Since then, he’s sent only three letters. Haidie is certain that he’s alive, has struck gold, and will send for them soon.
But patience is not one of Haidie’s virtues, and soon she and her brother escape from the orphanage. Boots and Haidie, disguised as a boy, embark on a dangerous journey deep into Western territory. Along the way, Haidie quickly learns how to handle mules, oxen, and greedy men, and comes to understand that you are better off in a community. Hers includes a card shark, independent “spinster” sisters, and a very fierce dog.
Once she arrives in Colorado and discovers the truth about her father, Haidie will need all of her new friends in order to pull off a get-even plot.
Tough Luck by Sandra Dallas is an homage to True Grit filled with vivid period detail and colorful characters told in the irreverent voice of a scrappy young heroine. It’s a celebration of the tenacity of youth and the persistence of the heart in the great American West.
Review:
Since switching her focus from nonfiction to fiction in 1990, author Sandra Dallas has published eighteen novels and four young adult books. The numerous accolades bestowed upon her work include the Women Writing the West Willa Award (six times), National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s Wrangler Award (three times), and the Western Writers of America Spur Award (four times). She and her husband live in Denver and Georgetown, Colorado, and have two grown daughters.
Tough Luck is her nineteenth published novel. She does not recall what inspired her to write it nor does she remember doing so more than a dozen years ago. After she finished the book, she set it aside, moved on to other projects, and completely forgot about it. Recently, her agent’s assistant discovered the draft and brought it to her agent’s attention, who also could not recall why it had been abandoned. Dallas says reading it again after so long was like “reading somebody else’s book.” She had even forgotten how the story ended. After some polishing, Tough Luck was published and became “found treasure” — for readers, as well as Dallas, who loves “writing in first voice, using period slang and politically incorrect language, such as ‘spinster.'”
Dallas notes that her more recent books have had a serious tone, “with a lot of death.” But she aptly describes Tough Luck as “light-hearted” fare that has been compared not only to True Grit, but also The Sting.
The story opens in 1863 and is told in the distinct voice of fourteen-year-old Mary Haidie Richards. Within an hour of their mother’s burial, Haidie’s brother, Cheet, nineteen years old, sells the Illinois family farm for nine hundred and fifty dollars. Haidie is furious because, unlike Cheet, she believes their father is still alive and will eventually return. He set out for Colorado territory in 1859, and they received only three brief letters from him, the last having arrived almost two years ago. Worse, Cheet claims that the farm was his to sell, and gives Haidie and their younger brother, Boots, a mere forty dollars from the proceeds of the sale. “You are fourteen and a girl and have no rights. Tough luck,” he tells her. Cheet returned home from the war after serving only two months in the Union army, claiming he was wounded. Haidie believes he is a deserter. And now he plans to become a riverboat gambler and has arranged for Haidie and Boots to board at a home for orphans and foundlings.
At the orphanage, Haidie discovers that Cheet, posing as a priest, lied to the matron, who believes Haidie to be only twelve years old. And the matron disregards Haidie’s insistence that she and Boots are not orphans. But Haidie tells readers, “I’m going to inform you of something you ought to know about me. I lie. I do not do it to be ornery or because I am wicked. I lie because it is to my benefit, and . . . it is an easy thing. I can look a person right in the eye and lie myself silly. I see no harm in it at all.” She adds that readers should also know “I can be a sneak thief if I want to be.” And demonstrates her skill. She is already plotting. In the spring, she and ten-year-old Boots are going to escape the orphanage and go find their father.
Haidie’s time in the orphanage is brief. She looks out for Boots, and fends off bullies and thieves. She befriends Sister Teresa, “a nun-in-training” who was sent to the orphanage for being “an incorrigible.” Her baby, born out of wedlock, was placed with her sister and Teresa refused to reveal the identity of the child’s father. But Haidie knows Teresa and Billy Stover, who delivers laundry, are in love. She devises an ingenious and hilarious scheme to escape from the orphanage with their assistance. The last time Cheet comes to visit Haidie and Boots, he tells her he’ll return in a month. “Tough luck,” I thought. “Me and Boots won’t be here.”
Free from the orphanage, their adventure begins in earnest. It isn’t long before Teresa has had enough of Billy, and she agrees to travel with Haidie and Boots to Colorado to find their father. Haidie plans to hire on with someone headed that way, and although she’s fairly sure that travel would be easier for just her and Boots, she promised Teresa back at the orphanage that they would stick together. Even though she has only known her for a short while, she thinks of Teresa as her friend. “I may be a liar, but when I give my work, I keep it.”
Disguised as a boy, Haidie convinces Jacob “Jake” Crowfoot to take them as far as Omaha with Haidie and Boots helping him with his team of six mules and Teresa doing the cooking. From Omaha, Jake advises they can likely join a wagon train with which to make the rest of the journey to Colorado. Teresa is petite and pretty, and Haidie is grateful that her presence sealed the deal with Jake. Luckily, Jake is an honest, honorable man who isn’t fooled when Teresa claims to be Haidie and Boots’ mother. And figures out exactly why it would be best for all of them to leave town as early as possible in the morning. Jake and his dog, Tige, become the next members of Haidie’s extended family and support network.
The journey is fraught with distinct types of danger, and the group encounters some colorful characters along the way. One of them is Cornelius Vander who is on the run after being caught cheating in a poker game. With soft hands (to feel the edges of the cards he has shaved), a slew of aliases, and gentlemanly airs, “his stories were whoppers,” according to Haidie, but they “livened up the evenings.” He teaches Haidie new ways to gamble that even Cheet didn’t know. They also run into criminals intent on harming them. But at last they arrive in Omaha and say goodbye to Jake and Teresa. Before they part, Jake helps Haidie and Boots join a wagon train on the condition that Haidie will drive a wagon while the scout, Ben Bondurant, is on the lookout. With the wagons being pulled by oxen, instead of mules, it’s a slow-moving train and they only progress about ten to twelve miles per day. The travelers are an eclectic bunch and include two “old maid” sisters (aged twenty-seven and twenty-nine). Miss Lizzie and Miss Arvilla are on their way to join their brother, Edwin, who owns a bank in Denver, and set up a school. They could well afford to travel by stagecoach, but “are determined to prove we are every bit as capable as men” and have an “adventure.” Of course, the wagon train begins “to come across Indians,” not all of whom are friendly and they find themselves in peril, the sisters’ wish for adventure exponentially fulfilled.
At times, Haidie almost forgets she is a girl because being a boy is “more fun. Nobody told me to mind my manners or keep to the wagons or that young ladies shouldn’t run across the prairie the way I did.” Haidie is extremely self-aware – yes, she will lie if it furthers her agenda, but she is also loyal and honest most of the time. She looks out for Boots, as she promised their father she would, and her determination never falters. She believes to her core that their father is alive and she will search relentlessly for him until she learns his fate. Most of the people she meets along the way immediately recognize her kind nature, intellect, and generous spirit, and, like readers, take her into their hearts, happily providing support, assistance, and protection to the young woman – few are fooled by her disguise – and her little brother.
Eventually, Haidie learns her father’s fate and with the help of generous and, in some cases, influential folks she has met during her journey, a plan is devised and executed to get justice for him.
Tough Luck is a quintessentially American story. Dallas whisks readers back to 1863, immersing them in a fast-paced narrative that is full of surprises. Her main characters – Haidie, Boots, Jake, Teresa, Cornelius, and the “old maids” – are vividly imagined and come to life believably. Their dialogue is crisp and credible, appropriate for the time period in which the story is set if not entirely acceptable today. All of them are flawed in their own ways, but lovable. Especially, of course, Haidie, who is inarguably the centerpiece of the tale.
Comparisons to both True Grit and The Sting are inevitable, but Tough Luck stands on its own merits as a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable story of a young woman who refuses to have others design her life or decide her fate for her. She remains true to herself and unwavering in what her gut tells her about her father. All Haidie really wants “is to be a family again.” Her dogged pursuit of the truth yields the answers she travels all the way to Colorado to find. But will she get the happy ending she wants so badly? Finding out is a delightful experience.
