The Fence My Father Built

By Linda S. Clare

Description:

The Fence My Father Built, by Linda S. Clare: Muri Pond has always longed to know her biological father, who left when she was a small child. Years later, she’s still reeling from learning that it’s too late: Her father, a half-Nez Perce Indian named Joseph Pond, has died, leaving her an inheritance of property in Central Oregon. As Muri and her two children, Nova, 16, and Truman, 11, make their way from Portland out to the tiny town of Murkee, Muri has lost a lot: her librarian job, her marriage and her faith in God. When she arrives at her newly-inherited property, she’s shocked: it’s little more than a ramshackle trailer, surrounded by a fence made from old oven doors. As she tries to make the best of things, she grapples with Joe’s charismatic sister Aunt Lutie, her husband, Tiny, who keeps potbellied pigs and mountains of bicycle parts for needy kids and Linc Jackson, a conniving neighbor who threatens to sue over water rights. Muri struggles to accept her father as he was and in doing so rediscovers the faith he somehow never abandoned.

Book Takeaway:

Everyone needs someplace to belong, to call home

Why the author wrote this book:

All my life I wondered who my birth father was. When I located him just a few years ago, I was amazed to learn I have about 1/16 Cherokee blood. I'm thrilled.