Book: Blind Your Ponies

In the small town of Willow Creek (not far from Three Forks, Montana), as basketball season begins and ends, Stanley West takes us through the lives of those participating on and off the court in the Blind Your Ponies. These characters are profoundly damaged in one way or another. The high school basketball coach, Sam Pickett, is full of undying pain over the murder of his girlfriend. Another member of the faculty staff (who later becomes his lover) is wracked with remorse over the death of her child. A school board member aches for his lost love, and a student struggles with his abusive father who we later discover has a full closet of his own secrets. While the players and the town come together in hopes of a long-awaited winning season, we watch them struggle and win—in the game, and within themselves as the season progresses.