COWGIRL, KATE

This is one of those much abused and much discussed- books written for teen agers. The title sets the key as it is a story of a girl brought up by her father and the hands and of the painful process of growing up to be a woman. Somehow the story limps at both ends, while the main substance is excellent- with some new angles. All in a rush at the start, Kate enquires a city, bred step-mother, whose qualities she cannot see for the jealousy that devours her; loses her father in a ranch accident; and finds that the ranch is on the verge of bankruptcy. This telescoped rush of events over, Kate settles into a campaign of hate intolerance and failure, and then runs away from it all by joining a r troupe. Eventually, after some hard knocks, she and three other girls and an older, chance encountered woman, return to the ranch take over and make a go of it- and of course, in the and love conquers all and Kate finds she is a woman as well as a good cowhand.