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Review written by, Gary Dale Cearley, author, researcher, and commentator
Amos Jakey
by Sandra E. Graham
Sandra Graham has woven the classic orphan adventure tale made it seem as if it was an everyman’s tale. In reading this novel I began to think through stories in my own family that had as many stops and starts and twists as that of Amos Jakey. These are the stories we’d hear at our great aunts’ knees.
Amos Jakey was an ill fated child who lost his mother at eight years old when she gave birth to his younger sister. A very short while later Amos lost his father to the grief of being without his life’s mate. The plot here takes very unusual twist Amos Jakey was found by some Mexican laborers, one of whom, Mequidez – affectionately known as “Mel” took Amos under his wing and brought him to a new life in Eagle Pass, Southwestern Texas.
It was here under the tutelage of Luis Perez and is wife Vikki, the owners of the ranch that Mel had brought Amos Jakey that the little cowboy learned his horsemanship, a trade that would become his life’s love. Amos was to grow up spending his formative years on this ranch and have many great adventures there, from wild horse round ups to capturing a murderous outlaw who was working on the ranch and going alone on a rescue mission when one of Luis’s daughters, Cheyenne, was abducted and taken deep into Mexico. But as Amos matured and finally realized that he loved Cheyenne as she said she loved Amos, he’d learn his first lesson in heartbreaks. Her heart would be stolen by another ranch hand, Amos’s number two. This caused Amos Jakey to leave the only home he knew in the night.
When he left Amos’s intended destination was Bakersfield, California, where he believed his father’s favorite brother Frank had been destined. But as it happens, fate stepped in and Amos found himself working on a thoroughbred ranch in New Mexico, beguiled by the owners’ daughter and again taken under the wing of Mr. Graham, Amos Jakey’s new employer and teacher. But this arrangement led to a long-term ill begotten engagement with Mr. Graham’s daughter that ended in death for two people almost had a treacherous ending for Amos himself.
Thus Amos continued his trek towards Bakersfield, but this time winding up in San Diego, taking a watchman’s job at a beachside hotel and befriending a young girl with an entrepreneurial spirit and her grandmother. When the young girl’s grandmother suddenly died leaving this child with no known relatives, Amos and the hotel owner stepped in and claimed the child as family – making Amos himself the guardian of the girl. Of course, this new familial responsibility caused Amos Jakey to grow roots, however shallow, in San Diego until the child grew into a woman an married a young lawyer. In Amos’s early San Diego years he had befriended a local rancher who allowed Amos to ride his horses whenever he liked. And through his horseback riding on the beach Amos met a young woman who changed his life forever…
And no, there is not a romantic twist here as I just made it sound. But to go any further in this part of the story, which leads to Amos’s return to Arkansas after thirty-eight years, would be unfair and give away the power of Sandra Graham’s ending. You will need to read it yourself.
I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed Amos Jakey and I can think of lots of other folks back home who would too. This is a story of the common man – a story I believe we all can relate to. It is a story that could have happened in your own family. And speaking of family, I am going to send some of my family members a few copies of Sandra Graham’s book!
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“Even though I am not normally an avid reader of fiction, this book has changed my views of creative writing. I had trouble putting it down. Looking forward to more to come from this new writer.”--------Tim Carey (Constable Salem District) ****** “Born and raised in Texas I was instantly taken back to my own childhood as I read Amos Jakey……this writer from Arkansas manages quite well to put you right into the heart of the action. Good reading.”------------Bobby Jones (Artist and Photographer) ******* Subject: “Amos Jakey” From: hillyer.1@netzero.net Date: Mon, June 12, 2006 11:42 am
Sandra- Thanks for allowing me to read this inspiring and joyously-written book! Faith, love, friendship, family, romance, and adventure . . . all the elements that make life worth living and fiction worth reading can be found in this joyously-written account of a young man's search for meaning. The geographic canvas is enormous, and the emotional depth will leave you with the satisfaction of having met a new friend who's got important things to say about how to stand tall, no matter what challenges life may throw your way. Jim Hillyer, Adjunct Instructor, Arkansas State University, author of The Competitive Edge Workbook Subject: “Amos Jakey” From: "hillyer.1@netzero.net" <hillyer.1@netzero.net> To: grahase@starband.net Date: Mon, June 12, 2006 11:42 am ________________________________******________________________________________ _Ms. Graham, You do not know me but you met my mother and brother Randy a few weeks ago. You gave them a copy of your book "Amos Jakey". I was visiting Mother this weekend and she gave me the book to read and said that when she started reading it, she could not put it down; it just got better and better. She said she wished there was some way she could thank you for the book. She really enjoyed reading it. So that I am writing to you, to express Mom's thanks. I started reading it this weekend and I agree, I do not want to put it down. I see you have another book written. When it is published, I am going to buy it for Mom. Thanks for your time and for your books. Keep on writing! Kay Elliot, North Little Rock,Ar. nlrtimes ****** ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Book Blurbs for Nicolina: 2007
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“A wonderful, well-written story of real people who come alive to live in your memory and heart.”
Christina Cordaire—author, “Forgiving Hearts”, and book reviewer.
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“Heart-rending and beautifully written. This author will assuredly bring back memories and heartfelt emotions for many—young and old alike. Brings to life some wonderfully descriptive characters. The book, a joy to read; the author, a wonderful person to know and call a friend.”
Freida Carey—book reviewer, Piggott Times
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“From Nicolina Wanda Lee Adams’ harsh beginnings on her family’s farm onwards, entering married life at the tender age of thirteen, this beautifully crafted tale vividly portrays Southern life for a young girl in the nineteen forties and beyond. Spanning five decades, with characters that come to life easily in your mind’s eye and descriptive settings, Sandra E Graham’s talent for storytelling makes writing look deceptively simply as she weaves together the threads of Nicolina’s life and times in this novel.
Thank you, Sandra, for sharing such an entertaining story with us. It was a joy to follow the life and times of Nicolina.. Certainly a book to curl up with on a cold fall evening. By the end of it, Nicolina feels like she’s a part of your family….such is the place where she carves a niche in the reader’s mind and heart. Thank you again for a wonderful piece of writing.
Kay Elizabeth—Editor, The Megaphone Magazine—http://www.themegaphone.net
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REVIEWS FOR "NICOLINA": Review written by Charles L. Lunsford, author of Departure Message and Boxcar Down--the Albanian Incident Nicolina Sandra E. Graham ISBN-13 978-1-58982-427-0 ISBN-10 1-5892-427-X Niclolina is the sequel to her first novel, Amos Jakey, but in the two books the reader is treated to not just two, but three excellent stories. Sandra Graham has treated us to a thick and savory slice of rural Americana during the middle decades of the 20th Century. Drawing on her vast knowledge and experience of the lore of northern Arkansas and southern Missouri, Sandra gives the reader a vivid description of the culture of the time and the hard life of a young girl growing up on a back-country dirt farm as only one of too many daughters. She is barely into her teens when her scheming mother forces Nicolina into a marriage to a brutal man of low character who treats her like chattel—and worse. When fate, in the form of an apparition of a blue-eyed boy, finally liberates her from this terrible man, she is a homeless widow destitute on the streets of Chicago, still only a child and unknown to her, hunted by the police and suspected of causing her husband’s death. Alone in the big city, Nicolina’s strength of character emerges and she finds a way to pull her self up from the depths of despair to a life of near normalcy, but her desire to go back to her roots and home takes her back to where she grew up. Nothing is the same when she returns as a young woman, but fate again steps in and puts her in a situation and a job where she can further her education while maintaining property for a mysterious stranger from California. Mrs. Graham demonstrates her skilful style as she beautifully weaves the lives of Nicolina and the stranger together. Not only is Nicolina a hard book to put down, the reader will surely believe in "happily ever after," ever after. Reviewed by: Charles L. Lunsford, Author of Departure Message & Boxcar Down: The Albanian Incident 8-25-08 ******************************************************************************* Review for NICOLINA Date: 08-31-2008 Author: Sandra E. Graham Publisher: American Book Publishing Genre: Historical/Romance Fiction ISBN: 978-1-58982-427-0 I replaced Nicolina with Olof and there I was again, my own childhood, all over again in so many ways. At first I wrote a simple review. "Nicolina is a very good story about a girl who becomes the kind of mother I never had. Read this book and then tell your mother you love her." Then I had second thoughts. I enjoyed this book very much, and I believe a potential reader, before they make up their mind to buy it, should be given a better insight into what is between the covers, and what follows is my review. Nicolina is a story about a girl who is loved by her father and mistreated by her wicked mother who forces her into marrying an evil man when she is barely out of her teens. Two years later her husband is killed when he is thrown from a train and Nicolina is stranded in a strange city. Young Nicolina is continually plagued by the vision of a handsome young male with the palest and most beautiful eyes she has ever seen. Making the best out of a hopeless situation, and suffering numerous setbacks, she eventually bumps into her prince charming and her past becomes but a bizarre memory. She funnels the wickedness of her own mother, into a loving relationship, raising her own family of seven children. This book will warm your heart and when you sigh after reading the last line, call your mother and tell her you love her. Sandra E. Graham shows herself to be a multi-talented individual and her writing is worthy of much applause. You will want to read both her books, "Amos Jakey" and this sequel "Nicolina". Review written by: Olof A. Eriksen Author of: Memoirs of an Immigrant. ******************************************************************************
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