Sky Bridge

April 25, 2005
"How do we people go around in regular life, anyway, when the truth is that we're wondering about love, and death, and things that are on the verge of smashing us to pieces?" Libby, the 22-year-old narrator of Pritchett's compassionate, finely observed first novel, finds herself asking the big questions sooner than she might have expected when her beloved younger sister, Tess, quits their one-horse Colorado town, leaving Libby to care for her newborn daughter. Tess had wanted an abortion, but Libby, a grocery store clerk, said she'd care for the baby; little did she expect that Tess would vanish the minute she got discharged from the hospital. Thoughtful, serious Libby muddles her way through mothering darling, colicky Amber, getting no-nonsense advice from her prickly ranch-hand mother, warm counsel from ranch owner Baxter and fumbling, halfhearted attempts at support from the boyfriend she isn't sure she really loves. The novel's graceful, leisurely pace and genial characters overlay darker, tenser narrative threads, which include Tess's involvement in smuggling drugs and illegal immigrants. Pritchett, who proved herself an astute observer of rural Colorado's hardy inhabitants in her award-winning story collection, Hell's Bottom, Colorado
, offers an amiable, moving story of love, duty and family.

May 1, 2005
Adult/High School -This captivating first novel is the story of Libby, a 22-year-old checkout clerk who has been a mother figure to her younger sister. Now pregnant, 18-year-old Tess wants to have an abortion, but Libby convinces her to have the baby, saying that she herself will raise the infant. Within days of delivering, Tess indeed takes off to pursue her own dreams outside their small Colorado town, and Libby finds herself raising Amber while trying to deal with an alcoholic, abusive mother and make sense of her own life. Libby is a protagonist who is not afraid to confront her fears and loneliness; this very openness gives her a depth and strength that others draw on. At the same time that she is trying to make a life for herself and Amber, the baby's father reenters the picture, promising a custody battle, and Libby discovers that Tess has gotten involved in smuggling drugs and illegal immigrants. The primary and secondary plots captivate readers and ensure an ending that is anything but trite. Reminiscent of Billie Letts's "Where the Heart Is" (Warner, 1995), this book offers a gritty but redeeming picture of a family that never quite lets go of hope, and characters who are not soon forgotten." -Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Library System, VA"

Copyright 2005 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2005
Pritchett's debut novel finds an unlikely but likable heroine in 22-year-old Libby. Libby convinces her unwed younger sister, Tess, who is considering an abortion, to keep her baby on the condition that Libby raise her. Not long after the child's birth, Tess sets off in search of a more exciting, carefree existence, leaving Libby to cope by herself. Though their mother, Kay, provides support, as a woman of true grit she suffers no fools gladly. A series of unfortunate events befalls Libby: first, the child's father, a Christian rodeo rider, decides he wants custody of his daughter; then Libby breaks up with her boyfriend, Derek, and loses her job as a supermarket clerk. Libby prevails through these hardships, however, and Pritchett beautifully portrays how love and support are what truly define a family. Though "Sky Bridge" is set in a small, unnamed Colorado town, Pritchett defies any preconceived notions readers might have about rural life and ranching in the West and brings the novel's diverse characters to life with grace and compassion. Pritchett's first short story collection, "Hell's Bottom, Colorado", won the 2002 PEN/USA West Literary Award for Fiction. Recommended for all fiction collections. -Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of Oregon Libs., Eugene

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2005
Even in the closest families, there should be limits as to what one sister can demand of another. When 19-year-old Tess becomes pregnant, Libby talks her out of having an abortion by promising to raise the baby herself. As Tess drives off to the big city, the reality of just what Libby has signed on for begins to hit home. At 22, Libby should be the one embarking on a life of her own, not abandoned in a rundown cabin on a two-bit ranch in rural Colorado, stuck with her own mother, who is unabashedly contemptuous of the challenge Libby has assumed. Proud and resolute, Libby struggles to raise Amber, a fight made harder by the loss of her boyfriend, her job, and a custody battle with Amber's father. In this spare yet haunting portrait of the American West, Pritchett's powerful, poetic voice speaks with clarity, wisdom, and passion about country, family, and one young woman's majestic spirit.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)