Love and Revenge in the Texas Panhandle
In Clara Sneed's debut novel—based on an infamous Texas feud—passion, pride and vengeance brew up a storm in 1911 Amarillo that spreads to consume three prominent families and leaves tragedy in its wake.
“A fresh new voice in literary fiction steps onto the stage.”
— JODI THOMAS author of NEW YORK TIMES bestseller and soon-to-be-released Netflix Drama Series, RANSOM CANYON
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Sneed was born in Texas and never got over it, despite a peripatetic childhood that landed her in California. She earned a BA and an MA in English literature at UC Berkeley, raised a son, managed IT systems for a San Francisco law firm, and had a successful second career as a tutor for writing and Spanish—all the while working on her own writing. Though she began as a poet, she loves complex historical stories that require a lot of research.
Before We Turn to Dust is Sneed’s first novel acquired by Blue Handle Publishing and is set to release in December 2024. Her non-fiction account of the same events, Because This is Texas, was published in the 1999 Panhandle Plains Historical Review. Sneed and her husband split their time between Berkeley, California and Milam County, Texas.