LONA HANSON

The story of a girl who knew what she wanted- but overplayed her hand- in that of Lona Bart Hanson of Sentinel, Montana, who inherited from her grandfather a land empire of twenty thousand acres, and a hard determination unbecoming to a woman. Knowing only contempt for her grandfather- who had let the ranch slip, for her mother- a gentle alcoholic, Lona fights a losing battle in trying to save a ""doomed structure, a dead feudalism"". Bringing Eddie Rohn, whom she meets at a rodeo, to the ranch, and in love with him, Lona sacrifices Eddie to marry Clyde whom she wrongly believes to have money which will save her land. In time all leave; Clyde-with her mother; the ranch hands; and at the end Eddie returns- and indirectly she kills the man she loves to keep her territory intact. A new background on, and variations for, the story of a girl whose pride of place and power overrode all decency, this reads well enough.