Lucy's Trials in the Black Hills

In July 1904 The Hardesty family worked hard on their homestead in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Lucy, desperately wanting to join her brothers as they tended the cows in the field and made trips to Keystone, had to stay behind to do boring household chores. Then things began disappearing. First a pie, the butter, then Papa’s clothes, which Lucy had, washed and hung on the line. Knowing Lucy was unhappy working at home, her parents thought she took the things hoping to be judged incompetent and released to ride with her brothers. It did not help that sometimes Lucy had told stories about what had happened. Lucy had had enough of being falsely accused and decides to find the real culprit. No one saw the man hiding in the ponderosa pines watching, always watching. This historical fiction chapter book for ages 7 – 10 is set on the Hardesty Homestead, located in the Black Hills of south Dakota near Keystone.