For Here is My Fortune Author:Amos R. Harlin From the heart of the hill country of Missouri comes this warm and vigorous picture of small-town life in the first two decades of the present century. This is the story of the Conway family which held an almost feudal regard for the twonspeople. Most important to Plainsville were Mayor James Conway, the leader of the community, who unceasingl... more »y directed his ambition toward the town's progress; Uncle Everitt, the Sheriff, hwose lonely trips into the hills brought back many of the lawless, stumbling behind his horse; and Great Gandmother, head of the famiy, who came out of her serene contemplation of the past to work quickly and surely against death. Observing them all with keen interest is the boy Jimmie, lazy with the indolence of boyhood, continuously seeking to establish and finally creating a strong bond with his father.
Through the eyes of young Jimmie Conway you come to know the people of Plainsville, who filled their days with rich emotion delighted in the pranks which were played on every drummer who came to town and banded together to battle the saloon interests at election wiht humourous and somewhat unorthodox weapons. Here are characters like Big Art and Little Tim who enforced the shrewdest horse trades in the country and Aunt Myrtle whose fearful vigil in a hotel room saved her fortune and her virture but lost her a perspective husband. Through it all runs the deep and abiding sense of humor that carried these hill people through the all too frequent times of crisis as no other thing could.
For Here is My Fortune is a stimulating and factual picture of a people, far different in reality from the usual caricature conception of the Ozark hillbilly. These are indivicuals who worshipped independence second only to religion and obtained their required ends by methods which were, to state it mildly, not always conventional. Here is a rich and original story for every reader who likes the excitement, drama and laughter of an unspoiled American town and its people.« less