Benchland

"A powerful work of striking beauty that aims to help readers more deeply understand their own changing lives."
--Kirkus

"With clear eyes, tightly controlled prose, and a charged sense of loss, Potter portrays the enduing power of the land."
--BookLife

"Potter delivers striking emotional depth grounded in authenticity and realism."
--BlueInk

Abraham Carver, an out-of-work miner back home in Montana, seeks solace and refuge after surviving a mine fire in Nevada, attempting to outrun his demons. Abe's trajectory intersects with seventy-five-year old Buck McCafferty, an emblematic rancher leading a hardscrabble hand-to-mouth existence on his family's homestead ranch on the idyllic Smith River.

Set in the present, Benchland tells the intertwined stories of personal trauma and economic struggle amidst the flood of newcomers, recreational interests and billionaires threatening a small ranching community and the traditional ways of living upon the land.