Hill Country: A Novel

When Laura Hoge Woods died in 1966, at the age of ninety-six, she left her granddaughter a cardboard box labeled "For my Janice when I'm gone." In the box were her thin gold wedding ring, her old blue Olivetti portable typewriter, and all of her fading notes for the "Hill Country" manuscript. Using her grandmother's exquisite notes, Windle creates a remarkable portrait of 100 years of life in Central Texas, home of the Texas bluebonnet, swamp rabbits, Yellow Dog Democrats, and terrifying renegade Apaches and Comanches. At the heart of "Hill Country" are two courageous, impassioned, and ambitious women: Laura and her close friend, Rebekah Baines Johnson, mother of President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Capturing the passions of a woman's heart and the universal struggle of women seeking to make a difference in a man's world, Windle transforms historical fact-including little known stories about the Johnson family -- into page-turning fiction.