The Wide Horizon

In this second installment of the Texas Panhandle saga, Loula Grace Erdman tells the story of the middle girl, timid, artistic Katie.

Melinda is recently married and living in Amarillo 30 miles away with Dennis Kennedy, a name familiar to those who have read the first in this series, The Wind Blows Free. Before Katie can quite accustom herself to life without Melinda, word comes that grandmother has been seriously injured in a fall, and mama must go back to East Texas to care for her. This leaves Katie in charge, Katie, who had always relied on these two for initiative and now must take the lead. Keeping house for papa, her two older brothers and her younger sister, is not an easy task. And besides this arrangment has delayed Katie's entrance into the highschool back in East Texas, the school that will perfectly fit her interests. But despite these difficulties, the year progresses, and so does Katie's ability. Overcoming her baking troubles with the help of her younger sister, taking care of two small children in addition to her own family and fighting her way through a fierce blizzard are but a few of the difficulties Katie must try her hand at. But, like her older sister Melinda, Katie doesn't give up and finally conquers her fears and inablilities in this story of pioneer life in the Texas Panhandle.