Justice

Finished August 9

Justice by Larry Watson

This novel is a prequel to Watson's bestseller Montana 1948. It covers earlier years of the Hayden family and events that led to the events in the earlier novel. There are seven sections in the novel, each dealing with a specific event in the family's history. These are mostly in chronological order, except the first section. 

The first section, titled Outside the Jurisdiction and set in the winter of 1924, involves teenagers Frank and Wesley Hayden and two of Frank's friends, Tommy Salter, and Lester Hoenig. The group is travelling in a Model T from their home in Bentrock, Montana to the Dakota Badlands on an annual hunting trip. This is the first year the young men haven't gone with the Hayden boy's father. It is snowing hard, and the weather leads them to stop in a small North Dakota town that some of them visited to play baseball in the summer. Frank and Wesley, as the sons of the sheriff in their region feel that they can's escape that connection at home. But in a different state, they might be any young men, and their and their friends' actions lead them to a difficult situation and a learning experience. 

The second section, Julian Hayden is set in 1899 and involves Julian's move west to Montana at the age of sixteen from his childhood home in Iowa after his father's sudden death. His mother had accompanied him, but his sister Lorna stayed behind, taking a job looking after the children of the local Methodist minister. Julian worked hard to homestead his land, but the increasingly plaintive letters from his sister lead him to make a short trip back to Iowa to deal with things. This section gives a real sense of his character and his ruthlessness that also showed in the first section. 

The third section, Enid Garling is set in 1906, and tells the method and circumstances in which Enid escaped a controlling father in her home in North Dakota to marry young Julian Hayden for a different, yet still controlled life, in Montana. This shows more of Julian's character, but also Enid's and explains the weak role she played in the raising of her own sons. 

The fourth section, Thanksgiving, takes place in 1927 when Wesley returns home from his North Dakota university for the holiday. His mother has included a local girl, Iris Heil, that Wesley had dated in high school, expecting that someday this woman would be her son's wife. The thoughts of Wesley take us back to their courtship, but the conversation at the table after Enid has taken the plates and leftover food to the kitchen is enlightening for Wesley and us. He gets a different view of Iris, and one he doesn't entirely like of his father and brother. 

The fifth section, Len McAuley, is set in 1935, but has history about Len's earlier days in the community that give us a sense of who he is and what is important to him. Len is Julian's deputy and to stay within the bounds of term limits, he takes the position of sheriff every few terms. Len came to town with his family at the age of twelve. That was in 1898, the same year that Julian arrived. A traumatic event soon after they arrive has Len making his own way, and he finds companionship with his neighbour Julian. When Julian stopped serving as sheriff and Wesley took the position, Len tried to guide him to do as his father would have done, but found himself unable to express himself properly. Len married soon after Julian did, as he felt it was expected, but never felt towards her the way other men expressed themselves about the women in their lives. He thinks he is incapable of these feelings until a woman finally awakens them, but she is already taken and he can only admire her and be offended by the way some other men disrespect her. What we see here is very informative as to both his character and his interaction with the community. 

The sixth section, The Sheriff's Wife, takes place just a couple years later in early 1937, and is centered on Wesley's wife, Gail Hayden, a very capable woman who works as a secretary in a local government office, her commute just across the street from her home. As she watches her father-in-law and judges his behaviour, she sees her own husband taking on some of his father's mannerisms as he takes on the role of sheriff, and begins to question whether she has made a bad choice. 

The last section, The Visit, also takes place in 1937 and is also centered on Gail. She has a baby now, and is visiting her own parents in North Dakota, showing the child to her relatives there. Back in her childhood room, she finds herself mulling her marriage again, wondering about Wesley's behaviour, and considering whether she should allow the urges she is having to stay with her parents and not go home to become a real choice. These last two bring us back to Wesley, who was the main character in the first and fourth sections. We see how he has different feelings than the other men in his family, and struggles between wanting to please his father and wanting to be different from him, true to his own morals. It also shows how this struggle sometimes appears to others and makes him harder to understand, even with those close to him. I have the novel Montana 1948, but haven't read it yet. This novel intrigued me enough to want to continue reading about these characters.