2024 Selah Award winner, Christy Award winner, and Carol Award finalist
2023 Interviews and Reviews Book of the Year
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For the first time in his life, Pete has everything to lose.
After years of drifting, fifty-year-old Pete Ryman has settled down with his potbellied pig, Pearl, in the small town of Sleeping Grass--a place he never expected to see again. It's not the life he dreamed of, but there aren't many prospects for a high school dropout like him.
Elderly widow Wilma Jacobsen carries a burden of guilt over her part in events that led to Pete leaving Sleeping Grass decades ago. Now that he's back, she's been praying for the chance to make things right, but she never expected God's answer to leave her flat on her face--literally--and up to her ears in meddling.
When the younger sister Pete was separated from as a child shows up in Sleeping Grass with her eleven-year-old son, Pete is forced to face a past he buried long ago, and Wilma discovers her long-awaited chance at redemption may come at a higher cost than she's willing to pay.
Set in northern Montana along the rugged and remote Hi-Line, Katie Powner's latest interweaves poignancy and humor to present a story of friendship, forgiveness, and moving forward.
REVIEWS
"Powner’s real-life experience as a seasoned foster mother shines through in this tale of finding treasure in the people and things that others have cast aside. The secondary characters are funny, flawed, and so unusual that readers will be clamoring for more."
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--Library Journal, starred review
"Powner spins a sincere tale of childhood secrets and second chances in small-town Montana. (Her) well-drawn characters will charm readers from page one, and the meditations on the power of faith, forgiveness, and hope form a strong emotional undercurrent that lends the narrative depth and momentum. This tender story and its unassuming hero enchant."
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--Publisher's Weekly
“In The Wind Blows in Sleeping Grass, Katie Powner delivers another sweet story rich with her trademark charm. This time, she brings both humor and heft to the page as she celebrates simple pleasures and not-so-simple love.”
—Julie Cantrell, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Perennials