Waltzing Cowboys

by Sarah Honenberger

Aging cowboy Rhue Hogan can t remember falling off the wild mare, but the leg cast and the burial of his best friend are enough to send him back to New York City to find the son he s never met. When his son 40 year-old Ford Hogan leaves the city to bury his mother s ashes, he invites Evie Newton, a young woman he barely knows, to help him explore his Puritan roots. As Ford and Rhue chase their private demons, a midget psychic, two juvenile delinquents, a boy fisherman, and a cynical detective come to the rescue. Entranced by a desire to love and be loved, but scared of commitment, both father and son dance around the possibility of redemption until they discover that heartfelt words have the power to build bridges.

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

I like to say I write about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Pen/Faulkner chose my third novel, CATCHER, CAUGHT, for its Writers in Schools program. It was a semi-finalist in the 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest. My other novels include WALTZING COWBOYS, a 2009 nominee for the Library of Virginia Fiction Award, and WHITE LIES: A TALE OF BABIES, VACCINES, and DECEPTION, the story of one mother’s quest for the truth about the childhood vaccine that injured her son, and MINDING HENRY LEWIS, another river story about the unlikely alliance between the sister of a boy who drowns and her white neighbor recovering from cancer. Other prize-winning fiction has appeared in Antietam Review, New Millenium, SouthLit, Pedestal, the HooK, and other literary journals. I speak and teach creative writing at seminars and conferences to students of all ages. Oprah used my essay, ‘Gathering Rosebuds: A Working Woman’s Manifesto,’ in one of her book club segments.

Reviews

[Mathew Paust · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always make it a point to buy at least one book at book signings where I'm also pushing product. My motives are mixed. I joke that it's like priming a pump. I buy one of yours and you reciprocate. I did this at my first signing, with three other authors, and ended up spending more than I made even though the reciprocal theory bore some return. But it was in December and the books I bought were gifts--signed gifts, at that--which took care of the bulk of my Christmas shopping.

My most recent signing featured seven authors, too many to engage the reciprocal ploy without depleting my bank account even if my purchases generated any sales of mine. I bought one book, figuring it might start a rush to my table. It didn't, although I managed to sell one to a walk-in customer.

Deciding which book to buy was the rub. Cramped for space in the small store, I was positioned on the second-floor landing between two "Jessica Fletchers" who'd already each published several dozen of the kind of mysteries known as "cozies," which are distinguished from "hard boiled" mysteries at first sight by their titles and cover art suggesting a dearth of on-page violence. I wasn't in the market for a cozy. A third author, one of the four on the ground floor, was also peddling cozies.

I should note that had any of the three cozy authors bought one or both of my books I'd have reciprocated. It's the way I roll. But they didn't so I rolled on by. Two of the others had books I'd bought the previous year. This left Sarah Collins Honenberger. I almost rolled by her, too, as her books looked literary and I rarely buy literary without a proper introduction.

Yet, here we were, standing near one another in a small bookstore with her three novels arranged unpretentiously on a small table. She seemed relaxed and friendly. I politely asked her about her books and she talked about them enthusiastically but without any huckster's hype. Her sales savvy nonetheless zeroed in on the book she sensed most interested me--Waltzing Cowboys. I thought at first it might be a Brokeback Mountain-type story, but I didn't say this. She told me it was about an old cowboy who goes to New York to find the son he'd abandoned decades earlier.
Possibly without realizing it, although I suspect she sensed this somehow, too, she mentioned she saw the story as perfect for a movie starring my favorite actor.

"A friend of mine in L.A. knows Robert socially. I'm hoping she'll show it to him." She tried to restrain the excitement in her voice, but I picked up on it. It blossomed full blown when she saw she'd struck pay dirt with me.

I finished the book last night. A good read. Literary, oh yes, but a fascinating story and well-crafted, leaving me hungry for what takes place after the book ends. I'd buy the sequel in a New York minute. And, yes, Honenberger was right, Waltzing Cowboys is perfect for Robert Duvall.

So who does the waltzing? Would this be a movie Donald Trump might find excuses to avoid--or attend wearing an elaborate disguise, were that even possible? Perhaps the latter should the Orange One's, um, curiosity be aroused by the thought of the delicate dance cowboys and untamed horses do before they feel comfortable with each other. This occurs in beautifully intimate detail in the first chapter, which Honenberger had entered in a short story contest several years earlier, winning first place.

"Rhue's prairie dance with Delilah stood on its own as a story until [the cowboy's] past in New York City rose up like a ghostly mourner from Vince's funeral and begged me to explore Ford's life without a father," she writes in the book's acknowledgments. Waltzing Cowboys was the thoughtful, literary and deeply entertaining result.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah Collins Honenberger has an amazing skill with first chapters. It was reading the first chapter of “White Lies” online that persuaded me to buy her first book. And the first chapter of “Waltzing Cowboys” has a similar effect.

I’ve never ridden a horse, nor even really wanted to. Yet Sarah brings me alongside her aging cowboy, Rhue, and I hold my breath, trying to keep silent, as he stretches out his hand to the palomino. I want to feel that soft breath in my own palm, and I keep my eyes almost closed as I read, so as not to disturb her.

There’s a theme established in that first chapter and the rest of the novel stays true to it, eventually coming full circle with Rhue re-entering the broken relationship of his past. I hold my breath again.

Rhue’s story is interwoven with that of his grown-up son. Rhue’s love is seen through the eyes of a fascinating cast of characters, looking back on their own families’ pain. And Rhue’s quest becomes a journey as full of pitfalls as an old man’s stumbling in a crooked pasture.

There were places where the coincidences seemed a little too contrived in this story, but their contrivance contributed to a beautiful picture—-New York as wonderful as the Montana plains—-and each new event became part of an intricate dance. Full of glorious images and people and phrases, this book was a waltz with my own soul, through the footsteps of another, and I really enjoyed it.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rhue left his wife and baby son years ago to move to the West where he became a cowboy. Now he has been injured falling from a horse, so he cashes out and heads back to New York to find them. He has a big cast on his leg. Upon his arrival in New York, he falls in with two street kids who help him in many ways, not least by locating his wife's obituary and his son's address. When they are detained by the police, he intervenes. His son has never forgiven his father for leaving, so the book alternates between the current stories of the two men. The ending is somewhat unsatisfying, but all in all the book is a pleasant read.

[Sarah Honenberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

(I wrote this book). George Garrett, a prolific novelist and former chair of University of Virginia English Department, awarded first place to an excerpt from this book in 2004. It was nominated for the Libary of Virginia Fiction award and came in second place in the Virginia Press Women's contest in the novel category.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 2nd book that I've read by Sally who is a friend of mine. It kept me interested and was basically a happy story.

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aging cowboy Rhue and his son Ford are both chasing their private demons, separately.