Claiming Ground

By: Laura Bell

Narrated by: Laurie Birmingham

In 1977, Laura Bell, at loose ends after graduating from college, leaves her family home in Kentucky for a wild and unexpected adventure: herding sheep in Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin. Inexorably drawn to this life of solitude and physical toil, a young woman in a man’s world, she is perhaps the strangest member of this beguiling community of drunks and eccentrics.

So begins her unabating search for a place to belong and for the raw materials with which to create a home and family of her own. Yet only through time and distance does she acquire the wisdom that allows her to see the love she lived through and sometimes left behind.

By turns cattle rancher, forest ranger, outfitter, masseuse, wife and mother, Bell vividly recounts her struggle to find solid earth in which to put down roots. Brimming with careful insight and written in a spare, radiant prose, her story is a heart-wrenching ode to the rough, enormous beauty of the Western landscape and the peculiar sweetness of hard labor, to finding oneself even in isolation, to a life formed by nature, and to the redemption of love, whether given or received.

©2010 Laura Bell (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

“Bell’s extraordinary ability to impart a true sense of place on each page reveals a stark and stunning landscape populated with a playbill of peculiar personalities.” ( Publishers Weekly)

Eloquent and real description of ranch life

I thought Ms Bell did a lovely job of describing the people, animals and places. Rarely does an author capture both beauty and harshness.

very much enjoyed

I listened daily as i walked my dog. looked forward to continuing each time. finished the last chapters on a plane. Laura's lead an interesting life since Hiram. knew she would!

Beautiful writing

A beautifully written memoir but at timres disjointed and confusing. But so beautifully wtitten it is still a delight to read.

Very good read

Ms. Bell’s story is captivating and raw. Her truth, her grit, her guilt, her regret, her growth, it’s all woven into a well written story about a life that easily relatable.

Wonderful memoir

I am a long time reader of Laura’s work, first time listener. It gets better every time. Laura’s language will astound you. I would have preferred that she had been the reader, but lovely just the same. Hurry up and write your next book Laura Bell!