Small novel, big punch

You might not expect much from a short novel (just 169 pages) with a title like Montana 1948 (1993). I didn't, but having read two later novels by Larry Watson, I should have known better. The title may sound like a book of regional history. The book itself may look like an ambitious tourism pamphlet. But this is Larry Watson, and the man can write.

This coming-of-age story set in northeastern Montana in the summer of 1948 is narrated by a boy who is the son of the county sheriff, Wesley Hayden, who is himself the son of a sheriff. David Hayden's grandfather is a blustery, powerful man used to getting his own way, both in his family and in Mercer Country. He has never made it a secret that his favorite son is not Wesley, who gave up a career practicing law to enforce the law as his own father did. The favored son is Frank, a handsome and charming war hero who is now a prominent doctor in the community.

This last summer in Bentrock, Montana, begins to unravel when Marie Little Soldier, the Indian woman who lives with the Haydens and watches over David, becomes ill. When calling a doctor is suggested, she protests, but Frank is called in anyway. Mariel screams in fear when he arrives.

Eventually David's mother learns from Marie that Frank has a reputation of sexually molesting Indian women. She persuades her husband to investigate, which he does, first with reluctance and then with determination to see it through, whatever the consequences.

And those consequences turn out to be profound for everyone involved.

This may be a little novel with an odd title, but it packs quite a punch.