Novel set in Hi-Line hits the shelves

A former Big Sandy resident’s first book has been published and is being released to major bookstores today.

Kathryn R. Stahl wrote “Cold Hands,” a book that follows the tales an elderly woman spins about her younger days.

The book is set in the Hi-Line and takes readers through familiars sceneries, such as the Missouri River and the Breaks, the Big Sandy area, Great Falls, Havre and other Hi-Line landmarks and towns.

“It’s got horses, of course,” Stahl said. “Riding down the Missouri River Breaks. … Just kind of stories about the people that live out there — the different groups of people and their lifestyles.”

The novel is a romantic adventure with religious tones that follows the life adventure of a woman named Katcha. The protagonist has strong faith in her Christian religion and explores Montana.

“This story is spiced with her dramatic love for two vastly different men and the choices she had to make between them,” Tate Publishing’s synopsis reads. “Interwoven into her story is the big Missouri River itself and the life tales of those unique and interesting people who call Montana home.”

Stahl lives in Wibaux now, but spent five years in the Big Sandy area. She is originally from Alberta and has lived in several towns in Montana. She moved to Big Sandy in 2002.

“There are actually stories of some of the people I met when I was living out there but, of course, I changed the names,” Stahl said.

Stahl has been pursuing a career in psychology and social work, but an accident rendered her immobile for some time last year. She and a friend were riding a stagecoach pulled by horses last year, when the horses began to run away with the coach. She and her friend were thrown out of the stagecoach and Stahl suffered a back injury. It was a month before she was even able to walk with a walker, she said.

“And that gave me the time to write the book,” she added. She began writing the novel in July as a way to spend her time while she was prostrate with her injury.

However, Stahl comes from a long line of storytellers.

“I can remember my grandma telling stories,” Stahl said. “I’ve always been a storyteller; I’ve just never put it down on paper.”

Stahl earned an associate degree in psychology from Stone Child College in Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation and then moved to Missoula to get her bachelor’s degree. She now works at a home for juvenile teenagers called Home on the Range, in North Dakota, but lives in Montana.

The book was published by Tate Publishing and Enterprises, based out of Oklahoma, and will hit the shelves today in major bookstores. The book will also be offered on Amazon and the Tate Publishing website as a digital copy. The book is for sale now online on the publishing company’s website. A paperback copy costs $12.99 and a digital download costs $10.99.

The book will be an option for bookstores to order, and if the store does not have copies on the shelf, one can order a copy from them, Stahl said.

Stahl said that eventually, she will go on a book-signing tour but is unsure when that will be.

She said people have been asking her all along to tell her story, but she wrote “Cold Hands” instead.

“My personal story will have to wait,” Stahl said. “That will definitely be a book.”