Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Half Broke Horses | 2008 | Jeannette Walls | Buy |
| 2 | The Silver Star | 2013 | Jeannette Walls | Buy |
| 3 | Hang the Moon | 2023 | Jeannette Walls | Buy |
Jeannette Walls’ three novels each draw on different aspects of American history and family. Half Broke Horses tells the story of her grandmother Lily Casey Smith, a woman who rode horses across the frontier, taught in one-room schoolhouses, and lived with a toughness that Walls clearly admires. The book is subtitled “a true-life novel,” blending documented family history with imagined scenes.
The Silver Star follows two young sisters navigating a difficult childhood in 1970s California, echoing themes from Walls’ own upbringing. Hang the Moon, published in 2023, marks her first move into fully fictional territory, set in a Virginia county during Prohibition where a young woman fights to claim her place in a powerful family.