Ostrich Author:Michael A. Thomas Nevada sheep rancher Sabine Eckleberry's life is in shambles. His wife has decamped to Arizona to run a dog-grooming business; his youngest daughter needs a husband; his irrepressible son VJ wants to turn the ranch into an ostrich-breeding operation; and the wild burros he has adopted to guard his sheep can't get along with their charges. Now hi... more »s family and friends are about to descend on the ranch to celebrate Sabine's seventy-second birthday. What ensues is a hilarious comedy like none other in recent literature. The ranch is soon a chaos of budding and blighted romances, mistaken identities, rampaging poodles, runaway sheep, schemes of seduction and sudden wealth, and a newly hatched ostrich in search of love. Novelist Michael Thomas has created a cast of memorable human characters, a supporting cast of realistic animal personalities, and a colorful setting in Nevada's vast rangeland, and his keen ear for dialogue and perfect timing support a plot as convoluted and ultimately satisfying as a Shakespearean comedy. This is a story of Nevada's back country told by a writer of uncommon skill and humanity. Readers will smile, chuckle, then laugh out loud at the antics of the Eckleberrys and their human and animal companions. Ostrich is a wild romp of a tale, and its endearing characters and engaging plot will delight readers long after they have read the last page.« less