COMPULSION READS BOOK REVIEW
5 OUT OF 5 STARS
Andy Vincent-McKay is an
underperforming suburban teen who suffers beneath the expectations of
demanding, helicopter parents. He doesn’t have movie star looks; he doesn’t
know how to fit in at school; and he definitely doesn’t know how to fulfill the
promise he made to his grandfather, Myles Vincent, to write down the story of
Vona, Colorado and the coyote winds.
Coyote Winds seamlessly blends Andy’s modern-day struggles with the
story of Myles and his family as they worked their small farm in Vona and
watched it all blow away, along with so much else during the darkest days of
the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.
The two stories are connected
by the shared blood between Andy and Myles and the new purpose and strength
that Andy discovers within himself as he digs deeper to uncover the story of
Myles and the coyote winds that stop for no man.
Coyote Winds is a vivid and beautiful portrait of two very
different worlds. Andy’s modern day existence couldn’t be more different than
the wide open promise of Vona, CO that Myles and his family approach, but the
stories merge brilliantly. Helen Sedwick pens this story so well that I could
see the Vincent farm, hear the chickens pecking at kernels and feel the coyote
winds blowing across my face.
This book pulled me into its
grip in the first chapter and didn’t let go. I couldn’t help but sympathize
with Andy’s plight and understand intuitively the juxtaposition of his
overly-sheltered life with the broad freedom Myles experienced over 70 years
earlier even as he and his family faced the heart-wrenching ruin of the Dust
Bowl and Great Depression.
Coyote Winds is a must-read. Its simple beauty struck a deep chord
within me that is still humming with the sound of the coyote winds.
