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Sky Ranch

Reared in the High Country

Published by She Writes Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

About The Book

For fans of Tara Westover’s Educated and Ivan Doig’s This House of Sky comes a memoir about a girl’s isolated ranch childhood—and her adulthood journey to overcome grief and fear and discover the truth about her mother’s mental illness.

At the age of eight, Linda Lockwood moves with her family to an isolated ranch in eastern Washington State. Within two years, she’s patrolling the ranch on horseback alongside her border collie—herding sheep, killing rattlesnakes, and defending the ranch’s livestock from coyotes, bears, and even trespassing hunters—and working tirelessly to realize her dream of training horses. But her most daunting challenge is one hard work can’t overcome: her mother is descending into madness. And Linda’s deepest fear is that she might inherit the schizophrenia that threatens to dismantle her family.

At age twenty-five, Linda marries, but the joy of her first pregnancy is darkened by her mother’s suicide. Then she endures a painful miscarriage and the death of her beloved grandmother, traumatic events that send her back in time to the births and deaths of animals—domesticated and wild—that she loved in childhood. Eventually, her own family grows, but her happiness is haunted by questions people have tiptoed around all her life. How did her mother become schizophrenic? What did she endure as a patient in 1960s mental hospitals? Might Linda and even her children be next to battle that catastrophic mental disorder? Driven by the courage and will she sharpened as a rancher, Linda vows to find out.

About The Author

Linda M. Lockwood lived and worked on an isolated wheat, sheep, and cattle ranch in rural North Central Washington from the age of eight. She holds a BA with Honors in mathematics from Central Washington University, an MA in economics from the University of Michigan, and a Certificate in Literary Nonfiction from the University of Washington. Linda enjoys reading books and writing her own, going on nature walks, traveling, and time with her daughters and grandsons. She lives happily in Seattle, Washington, with her husband.

Product Details

  • Publisher: She Writes Press (September 10, 2024)
  • Length: 312 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781647426347

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Raves and Reviews

“Linda Lockwood’s memoir is a personable, heart-warming tale of life on a ranch—and a woman’s vividly told search for her disappearing mother who vacillated between psychotic paranoia and extreme depression. A richly rewarding read.” —?Scott T. Driscoll, author of Better You Go Home

“I learned so much from Linda Lockwood as she revealed her childhood. Very well written, and a page turner.” —?Linda Joy Myers, president of the National Association of Memoir Writers and author The Forger of Marseille

“Linda M. Lockwood’s setting in Sky Ranch is not a dude ranch—it is the setting for a family secret, one that haunted the author’s childhood. Just as she rode her horse through the hills rounding up the family’s sheep, as an adult she discovered and brought together the elements of a gripping story about her mother’s mysterious illness.” —?Christine Hemp, author of Wild Ride Home

“A poignant tribute to the joys and hardships of a caring but troubled ranching family that must navigate the rocky terrain of mental illness. Lockwood’s prose is rich. Sky Ranch is an intimate portrayal of a young woman’s vulnerability and tenacity as she comes to terms with an arduous physical and emotional upbringing. A deeply engaging and thought-provoking read.” —?Teresa H. Janssen, author of The Ways of Water: A Novel

“With a backdrop of vividly portrayed ranch life, Sky Ranch gives the reader visceral insight into what it is like for a child and a family when a parent is mentally ill and cannot or will not get the care they need—a problem as relevant today as it was decades ago. This book is an absorbing and insightful read, a must for any family touched by mental illness.” —?Patricia Grayhall, author of Making the Rounds

“Against the backdrop of the Pacific Northwest, Lockwood locks down a tale of survival of the fittest—one woman vs. one family. Forced to escape, forced to return, the writer’s only recourse is writing. Well written, well plotted, and well told—Sky Ranch records the author’s lifelong quest for purchase—a place to stand, a need to compromise, a chance to heal.” —?Robert J. Ray, author of Play or Die: Senior Tennis and the Art of Spin

“The ranch’s isolation provides a metaphor for the lonely journey loved ones of the mentally ill must traverse to find their way to truth and acceptance. A profound read for those who care for and about the mentally ill.” —?Linda Moore, author of Attribution and Five Days in Bogotá

“Linda M. Lockwood’s memoir, Sky Ranch, reads like a wonderful novel—one filled with excitement, drama, and mystery. Her evocative tale sweeps you into the rugged Okanogan Highlands of Washington state where Linda comes of age on a sheep and cattle ranch. Her adversaries aren’t just cougars, bears, and rattlesnakes—but her mentally ill mother as well. Linda’s struggle to trail blaze through a hardscrabble existence—largely on her own—makes for compelling reading.” —?H. W. “Buzz” Bernard, author of the When Heroes Flew series

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