Chris came to California to forget about the war. What he found was a pregnant woman and her nine-year-old son abandoned on a place called Poverty Flat. When he offered to find her missing husband, people started shooting at him. Mary Ellen Shafer was more trouble than he had bargained for, but he couldn’t just ride off and leave her. Worst of all, she was a Yankee, and he hadn’t forgotten what they had done to his beloved South. Written with a flowing pace and a steady eye to the hero’s voice. A pleasant read. Janet Bly Written with Major’s humorous western style, Poverty Flat reveals how one man’s compassion for a woman will influence him to say things, endure hardships, and act in ways foreign to him. I especially enjoyed the ending! Vanessa Jackson