Tom P's Fiddle: A True Texas Tale

I was drawn in instantly, it was like I was there too, watching and hearing every thing that was happening right in front of me. Really shows how life was back then. Being a native Texan it was particulary interesting that this was a Texas story. Makes me feel like I knew Tom P. personally. A must read!!!

Sherri Knight made me feel like I was living during the time of Tom P. The book read absolutely fantastic!! The entire family seemed so real that I just hated finishing the book. It seemed like I was leaving friends behind. The land and the times are particularly well portrayed. Just reading about Tom P made me want to have been able to travel back in time to that era! Thank you Sherri Knight for making 19th century Texas come so alive!!

I discovered this book when it became a finalist for the North Texas Book Festival Book Award for Non-Fiction. As a 6th generation Texan, I'll admit the cover drew me to this True Texas Tale. However, I'm a noted critic that authors fail to do justice to our frontier way of life and our rich, unique vernacular. Hollywood always seems to have a cursory presentation. But Sherri Knight's prose effortlessly drew me into the world of our ancestors, where life was as tough and gritty as our language. I found the compelling story of Tom P Varnell populated with strong, engaging characters that often had to rely on their own sense of justice on the frontier. I was so drawn into Tom P's world that by the end I desperately wanted to reach across time and space and spend the afternoon at the Varnell ranch sipping a cup of Arbuckle with Docia. With the complete immersion that I found in Ms. Knight's illustrative prose, I really did find the next best thing. When I went to Google to learn more of Tom Ps story on my own, imagine my surprise to find Sherri Knight had a complete blog that detailed her journey into Tom P's world. I was astounded by the vast amounts of research executed by this author. I highly recommend a visit, as you will be richly rewarded with vast amounts of supplementary materials and photos. I need not be a skeptic when it comes to Sherri Knight, she knows her history and she knows her Texas!

Many of us would like to know what our ancestors lives were like. If we are lucky, we have relatives alive to tell the tales. But like the game of gossip, the tales differ from relative to relative, and a kernel of truth is in each story, but not the whole truth. Sherri Knight has meticulously pulled together family stories and researched dilligently to find that kernel of truth and in doing so, has written the story of one man's life in the late 19th century. It reads as though we are the crowd watching the events as they unfold before our very eyes. We are the neighbors, the jurists, the lawmen, the womenfolk, who are seeing the events that are set in motion, when in a youthful moment of indiscretion, shots were fired.