Black Dirt, Bright Stars

In Black Dirt, Bright Stars, Will Weaver continues the Haugen family saga begun in Power & Light, carrying the story into the rugged Midwest of the 1940s. Shaken by loss, injustice, and the destruction of their farm, the four Haugen siblings must find new ways to survive.

At the heart of the struggle is Jenny, the youngest, who discovers both opportunity and harsh truths while working at a county courthouse. Determined, calculating, and fiercely loyal to her family, she grows into a leader who refuses to be underestimated. When a chance at revenge goes horribly wrong, Jenny binds her siblings to silence with a vow that will shadow them for decades. Rising from ruin to prosperity, the Haugens build a new legacy-yet at the height of their success, the buried secret threatens to undo everything they have built.

Weaver's novel explores not only the cost of ambition and survival, but also the heavy burden of family loyalty when silence becomes its own kind of betrayal.

"With Black Dirt, Bright Stars, Weaver firmly establishes himself as the essential writer of prairie and pioneer literature. Weaver leaves no open wound unexamined or family bond escaped."

-Nicole Helget, Stillwater, and The End of the Wild, a New York Times Editor's Choice.