3.5 stars. My Kindle book had 343 pages. ( )

Tucker grew up grindingly poor, and horrifically abused by her father. Now, in the mid-1970s, she's raising her grandchildren, August, March, and only granddaughter April, on the same farm she grew up on. Her daughter, Mazie, is an irresponsible, mostly absent, mother, showing up for visits just often enough to disturb the peace of the little family.

Ella McDade has her own history of abuse, at the hands of her now ex-husband, Judge Jack McDade. She's just bought the old McDaniel house, just down the road from Tucker.

Judge Jack is Tucker's sworn enemy, the main threat to her custody of granddaughter April, who at six years old has never spoken a word.

Social workers think April retarded. Tucker, living with April daily, can see that she's very bright, can even read--but won't speak. When the order comes down in the fall that if April isn't speaking by the end of Christmas break, Tucker knows she has to find a way to change things--and the unlikely, tentative friendship between Tucker and Ella grows stronger as Ella works to provide the change April needs.

The conflicts between Tucker and Judge Jack, between Ella and Judge Jack, and the strained relationships between Tucker and daughter Mazie and Ella and son Cade, become sharper and more volatile, as past secrets start to find their way to the surface.

This was an absorbing, compelling story, as the rough, uneducated, sometimes intentionally crude Tucker is revealed as a deeper, more complex character, and Ella, having lived a privileged life with the advantages Tucker never had, but also with a dependence Tucker could never afford, discovers her own strength.

I really enjoyed this. Apparently there are more books about this pair of friends and their families. I may need to look for them!

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook. ( )

This book was slow starting and I was thinking that it would be a chore but something happened along the way and I really started enjoy and like characters. So much so I may have to see where these amazing women go from here. ( )

I enjoyed this story very much. The author brought the entire story into your life, making you feel that you wanted to be part of helping Tucker, to have her for a friend even though she believed she wanted a solitary life. Tucker's life was honest though very hard she endured more than most people ever will and kept working on the tasks before her. Thank you David Johnson, I will read on to see what you give us next. ( )

Tucker’s Way was one of the best books I have read in a while. The character of Tucker alone was amazing. The big brute of a woman has a heart of gold hidden deep down. She comes off as a no nonsense person, bluntly correct and above all else honest. She had a hard childhood and several bad experiences and yet found ways to deal with it and rise above the horrible world around her. She is left to raise her own grandchildren in the best way she knows how. The simply long ago condemned shack is definitely a home, regardless of the outside appearance. Tucker indeed loves and loves hard. She befriends and un-friends the uppity lady from the city that use to be married to the judge that has caused her much grief. Together they take an unlikely stand together for the hope of one young girl’s future and they triumph. ( )