EMPORIA, KANSAS. Dodge City native Robert Rebein’s debut novel, The Last Rancher, a family saga set in southwest Kansas, will be published by Emporia’s Meadowlark Press on June 7, 2024.
Giving voice to the contemporary American West, The Last Rancher follows one family’s quest to survive on the demanding and starkly beautiful High Plains. Doing so will require the Wagners of Sawlog Creek to come together as never before to face stark challenges in the present as well as the long and lingering shadows of a tragic past.
When a near-fatal accident befalls rancher Leroy Wagner on the eve of the annual wheat harvest, his daughter, Annie, a Ph.D. student in western New York, and her older brother, Michael, a Kansas City attorney, are summoned home to Dodge City and the Bar W Ranch. Their city-born mother, Caroline, and rebellious younger brother, Jimmy, join the effort to save the ranch and what remains of their family ties. Never far from any of their minds is the looming specter of Wade, first-born son and brother who died too young.
What happens next will determine the future of the Wagner family and the land that has defined them for nearly a century. Will Leroy recover from his injuries? Will Annie take over the ranch or return to New York? Will Michael quit his corporate job and finally strike out on his own? Will Jimmy realize his dream of escape, or will a run-in with the police land him in the Ford County Jail?
Early readers have praised the novel’s authentic Kansas setting and characters, its understated humor—a trademark of Rebein’s previous books—and its graceful rendering of land and animals, especially horses:
“Love and horses, whiskey and weed, land and money: The Last Rancher has it all.” — Kyle Minor, author of Praying Drunk
“Rebein’s characters are so real that I would swear I know them. I was hooked from the first page to the last.” — Cheryl Unruh, author of Gravedigger’s Daughter: Vignettes from a Small Kansas Town
“I loved this book. A family drama with humor and heart, The Last Rancher gives you the prized shotgun seat and guns the gas. You’d be wise to buckle up.”— Sarah Layden, author of Imagine Your Life Like This
“Dodge City, Kansas, has found its bard. His name is Robert Rebein, and his debut novel, The Last Rancher, showcases an assured new voice of the contemporary American West.” — Will Allison, author of What You Have Left
About Robert Rebein
Born and raised in Dodge City, where his family has farmed and ranched since the late 1920s, Robert Rebein is the author of two previous books set in Kansas: Dragging Wyatt Earp: A Personal History of Dodge City (Swallow Press, 2013) and Headlights on the Prairie: Essays on Home (University Press of Kansas, 2017). Both books were named Kansas Notable Books by the State Library of Kansas, and Headlights on the Prairie was a finalist for the High Plains Book Award. A professor of English at Indiana University Indianapolis, Rebein lives in the historic Irvington neighborhood of Indianapolis with his family and two ornery beagles.
About Meadowlark Press
Meadowlark Press, LLC is an independent publisher specializing in books by authors from the heartland. Tracy Million Simmons, owner and publisher, founded Meadowlark in 2014. In its first 10 years, the press has published dozens of books of poetry, fiction and nonfiction, including five Kansas Notable Book winners, a winner of the High Plains Book Award and a winner of the Midwest Book Award.
Giving voice to the contemporary American West, The Last Rancher follows one family’s quest to survive on the demanding and starkly beautiful High Plains. Doing so will require the Wagners of Sawlog Creek to come together as never before to face stark challenges in the present as well as the long and lingering shadows of a tragic past.
When a near-fatal accident befalls rancher Leroy Wagner on the eve of the annual wheat harvest, his daughter, Annie, a Ph.D. student in western New York, and her older brother, Michael, a Kansas City attorney, are summoned home to Dodge City and the Bar W Ranch. Their city-born mother, Caroline, and rebellious younger brother, Jimmy, join the effort to save the ranch and what remains of their family ties. Never far from any of their minds is the looming specter of Wade, first-born son and brother who died too young.
What happens next will determine the future of the Wagner family and the land that has defined them for nearly a century. Will Leroy recover from his injuries? Will Annie take over the ranch or return to New York? Will Michael quit his corporate job and finally strike out on his own? Will Jimmy realize his dream of escape, or will a run-in with the police land him in the Ford County Jail?
Early readers have praised the novel’s authentic Kansas setting and characters, its understated humor—a trademark of Rebein’s previous books—and its graceful rendering of land and animals, especially horses:
“Love and horses, whiskey and weed, land and money: The Last Rancher has it all.” — Kyle Minor, author of Praying Drunk
“Rebein’s characters are so real that I would swear I know them. I was hooked from the first page to the last.” — Cheryl Unruh, author of Gravedigger’s Daughter: Vignettes from a Small Kansas Town
“I loved this book. A family drama with humor and heart, The Last Rancher gives you the prized shotgun seat and guns the gas. You’d be wise to buckle up.”— Sarah Layden, author of Imagine Your Life Like This
“Dodge City, Kansas, has found its bard. His name is Robert Rebein, and his debut novel, The Last Rancher, showcases an assured new voice of the contemporary American West.” — Will Allison, author of What You Have Left
About Robert Rebein
Born and raised in Dodge City, where his family has farmed and ranched since the late 1920s, Robert Rebein is the author of two previous books set in Kansas: Dragging Wyatt Earp: A Personal History of Dodge City (Swallow Press, 2013) and Headlights on the Prairie: Essays on Home (University Press of Kansas, 2017). Both books were named Kansas Notable Books by the State Library of Kansas, and Headlights on the Prairie was a finalist for the High Plains Book Award. A professor of English at Indiana University Indianapolis, Rebein lives in the historic Irvington neighborhood of Indianapolis with his family and two ornery beagles.
About Meadowlark Press
Meadowlark Press, LLC is an independent publisher specializing in books by authors from the heartland. Tracy Million Simmons, owner and publisher, founded Meadowlark in 2014. In its first 10 years, the press has published dozens of books of poetry, fiction and nonfiction, including five Kansas Notable Book winners, a winner of the High Plains Book Award and a winner of the Midwest Book Award.
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