A great title for a book! In fact, I was thinking of using it for the title of the book that I intend to write some day but it looks like writer H. Norman Hyatt has beat me to it! "A Hard Won Life: A Boy on His Own on the Montana Frontier" is a beautiful presentation based on the hand-written memoir of Fred Van Blaricom from sweetgrassbooks, a division of Farcountry Press. Just released in February, "A Hard Won Life" is the true story of a life of hardship & hope in the Montana & Dakota Territories during the late 1800's. When he is just 7 years old, Freddie's mom dies of typhoid fever & her 9 children are scattered like chaff on the wind. Freddie & his younger sister Alice go to live with a cousin & her abusive husband in a shack 5 miles west of Forsyth. As the beatings escalate, Freddie realizes he has to escape & go for help. In the middle of February 1883, Freddie sets out to cross the frozen Yellowstone River & follow the Northern Pacific Railroad tracks toward Glendive. Told in Fred's voice, "A Hard Won Life" is the story of his adventures & of the remarkable lives of the earliest settlers, men & women, of the Lower Yellowstone. It's a page turner for sure & is available at local bookstores & gift shops, through online retailers, or from distributor Farcountry Press at 1 800 821 3874, www.farcountrypress.com. Farcountry Press has another WINNER on their hands!

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