Book Summary and Reviews of Maud's Line by Margaret Verble

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Becky H

Absorbing and thought-provoking
Maud, her father and brother live on Maud’s mother’s allotment in the former Indian Territory. Her family is (mostly) Cherokee. Maud has a desire for better things. Electricity, a refrigerator, an inside toilet. It is 1928.
This tale of Cherokee families living in Oklahoma after enduring and surviving the Trail of Tears is filled with fully realized characters, Indian traits, hard scrabble lives on dirt farms, snakes galore, family and mean neighbors. Richly told, Verble has created a world complete. Maud is a captivating heroine. Her family is filled with abundant well-developed characters. The plot, while simple, is richly detailed.
An absorbing and thought-provoking novel, especially for a first novel. Very satisfying. 5 of 5 stars

Robin M. (Newark, DE)

Great Historical Fiction
Historical fiction is my favorite read, and this (perhaps somewhat biographical?) book did not disappoint. Margaret Verble's descriptions of landscapes and events are rich, allowing the reader to easily form a mental image of the environment and plot, almost like watching a movie in one's mind. I don't know much about the lives of Native American's, but this book gave me an idea of what it was like in the 1930's. I imagine there was a great deal of research involved with the writing.

My great-great grandfather was a peddler with a horse-drawn cart in around the turn of the previous century. I don't believe he traveled as Booker did, but it gave me some ideas about a family member that none of my living relatives remember.

Josephine J. (Goshen, CT)

Wonderful
I requested this book because my father was born in Muskogee, OK, in 1916, and I wanted to know something about that time and place. I learned a lot from it, not in a didactic way, but in the well-told story of Maud, a young "mostly Cherokee" girl growing up on an allotment (land given to the Native Americans). Maud has two suitors, a white schoolteacher/peddler) and a full-blood Cherokee; a drunk and mostly absent father; and a beloved if strange brother. Their stories are enthralling, and this would make a great book club read. It is written with such immediacy that I felt swept into Maud's world - what more can a reader ask?

Gloria Ganderbilt

Outstanding!
This book exceeded all my expectations. The setting is eastern Oklahoma where I live, so I was particularly interested the book to start with. The writer's descriptions of locales were so vivid and realistic, it made this reader feel the starkness of Maud's life. I felt her loneliness and yearning for a better life. I loved Maud's colloquialisms, ie "difficult as a cow with a twitchy foot". Maud was real. She accepted life as it is but longed for something better. I didn't want the book to end unless it happened for her. The writer did such a good job of allowing the readers to get to know and understand her characters. Maud's sex life got a little more explicit that I felt was necessary, but considering her home life, it was perfectly natural. I read the final pages happy with the ending and satisfied that Maud had better things ahead for her. Congratulations to Margaret Verble for well written story.

Sharon B. (Rome, GA)

Maud's Line
I requested this book because I was born and raised in Oklahoma and like to read books that are set in that state. I was not disappointed with Maud's Line, the story of a young Cherokee woman's struggle to survive and make a life for herself on her family's small allotment of land. This little novel is full of historic details while weaving a story of love and the importance of family in difficult circumstances. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to learn more about Native American or Oklahoma history in a fictional setting.

Marci G. (Sicklerville, NJ)

Maud's Line
Maud's Line grabs you from the first few pages like a train wreck you can't turn away from. A gruesome act that sets off a series of events which leaves the reader(me) reeling. A fascinating time period and culture rich with family for better and for worse. The ties that bind. Does Maude's line speak of only the line of her government allotment of land or a line she can't emotionally cross? I would recommend this book! Fascinating!

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