Washburn’s forte lies in character development. Each member of these families comes alive on the page, their struggles and strengths vividly portrayed. The prose is rich, evocative, and impossible to put down. As the tension builds, the story hurtles toward a surprising conclusion—one that lingers long after the final page.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

Frances Washburn’s An Endangered Species is a poignant and brilliant tale set against the stark backdrop of the upper Great Plains during the 1960s. The novel weaves together the lives of two families—one Native and one white—whose destinies intersect in unexpected ways.

Tom Warder, a Pine Ridge Reservation native, tends to the last remaining trumpeter swans at the LaCreek refuge. His land, adjacent to the refuge, isn’t enough for a sole living, so he leases grazing rights to white rancher Bart Johnson. But Bart’s debts mount, and his family unravels. His son, Brian, becomes obsessed with hunting the swans, while Tom’s daughter, Bit, dreams of something more.

Washburn’s forte lies in character development. Each member of these families comes alive on the page, their struggles and strengths vividly portrayed. The prose is rich, evocative, and impossible to put down. As the tension builds, the story hurtles toward a surprising conclusion—one that lingers long after the final page.

An Endangered Species is a testament to resilience, family bonds, and the fragile beauty of our world. Whether you’re drawn to literary fiction or simply appreciate a well-crafted narrative, this novel deserves a place on your reading list. 🌿📖

This is a story that takes place in the 1960's in South Dakota with a large amount of the story taking place on the LaCreek Refuge where a pair of workers have brought back twenty trumpeter swans to help raise and hopefully pair and multiply to keep from going extinct. A beautiful bird that was almost hunted to extinction. While there is a cast of characters the main focus is on two families the Warders and the Johnsons. The Warders are a family of native American heritage who are barely scraping by with a daughter who wants to go places and as you will read faces underlying discrimination. The Johnson are a farm and ranch family who on the surface looks like one of the well to do families in the area of Jackson South Dakota a town so small without a stop light a place where everyone knows your business, but they do not know everything if they did they would know that the Johnson family with a wife who constantly spends money and a beyond out of control teenage son. If you do a little research, you can see how this story has some real-world information concerning the trumpeter swans and this refuge. This story is a steady slow burn read but does have a surprising end to it. Give it read.

An Endangered Species by Frances Washburn when the Pine Ridge reservation in the Dakota‘s gets picked to host The almost extinc trumpeter swans Tom Warder is promoted to be there glorious babysitter. He is a local and a Native American trying to raise a small family in the 1960s with his wife and their three daughters. He will name the swans and soon come to look at them as individuals and friends as opposed to one of his duties Bart Johnson on the other hand lives on the farm adjacent to the conservation and would have no interaction with them if not for his son Brian.
Bart initially wanted a son and disregarded his daughter Susan but seeing how the boy has turned out at 16 years old his opinion is slowly changing. It seems the boy doesn’t lift a finger to help on the farm but yet Barts wife Betsy caters to Brian as if he was the breadwinner and not a spoiled 16-year-old bully. It seems Brian pushes his luck until it eventually runs out. When a swan is brutally murdered Tom Warder knows it was Brian who did it but can’t prove it. Will Brian get what’s coming to him? This book was so so much better than I thought it was going to be just know there’s twist and trigger warnings such as animal abuse, bullying, incest and OMG is this book so so good! I open the book to take a quick glance and then fast forward it’s 5:45 in the book is ending in oh I couldn’t believe how effing great it was. I was not expecting a five star read but that is exactly what I got it is set in the 1960s with the Home it’s nuclear family beliefs and in a small town anything different is barter for gossip.#UniversityOfNebraskaPress, #NetGalley, #FrancisWashburn, #AnEndangeredSpecies,

This was one of the most beautiful books I’ve read in recent time. Following two families in a small rural farming community in 1960’s Nebraska, we follow the lives of both a farming family and an indigenous family. Tom, the patriarch of the indigenous family, works on a refuge and falls into the roll of caregiver for a group of trumpeter swans brought to the rescue that are at risk of becoming endangered if they don’t mate.

This book discusses racism, class, misogyny and looks at the nuclear family of the time and what happens when you stray from the mold.

There are scenes in this book that will stay with me forever and I felt like I knew these characters by the end of the story.

This was an interesting read for sure, but I felt as if it dragged on in parts. I think the ending should have been longer in the book, but I enjoyed it.

Thank you to Netgalley and University of Nebraska Press for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

An Endangered Species follows two families, one white and one Native, living in rural South Dakota in the 1960s. These families don't have much interaction with one another, but as the perspective alternated between the two from chapter to chapter I was struck by the similarity in their struggles. Another reviewer noted that this piece takes its foundation from the opening of Anna Karenina--"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way"--and I couldn't help but think how true that is. In this novel the Lakota family guards the highly endangered trumpeter swans, while one of the white family members becomes obsessed with hunting the creatures down. The allegory of hunter and hunted as it relates to indigenous people groups is astute and heart-wrenching.

This is a true slice-of-life book. For me, the unrelenting realism took away from the overall experience of reading this book by making it feel slow. The joy of historical fiction for me is that it contains a touch of the fantastical. That being said, fans of very realistic historical fiction will love the commitment to realism in this book.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I'd recommend it to people who want a slow-paced read with rich prose.

An Endangered Species by Frances Washburn brings to mind Tolstoy’s famous adage that “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” The novel focuses on two families living in the rural South Dakota plains in the 1960s: the Johnsons are a white family struggling with new financial difficulties, a dysfunctional marriage, and a delinquent son; the Warders are a Lakota family dealing with perpetual poverty and the innumerable slights they face as non-white people in a region predominantly ruled by white ranchers and businessmen. The two families find their destinies intertwined as Bart Johnson leases a section of Tom Warder’s land and Tom Warder becomes responsible for observing the behaviors of the nearby wildlife refuge’s new population of highly endangered trumpeter swans.

Washburn eschews recognizable character archetypes and narrative threads and opts for a fastidious, richly detailed realism that brings to life the setting and day-to-day contours of her characters’ lives. While some readers will find the level of historical and character detail pedantic, others will appreciate the way Washburn creates a fiction novel that feels true to life. The characters are complex and morally gray, their circumstances are dictated by fate and social structures rather than narrative necessity, and there is no obvious message or thesis to be gleaned from the book’s events. Instead, Washburn’s ardent realism illustrates how the confluence of fate, social structures, historical legacies, individual agency, and natural forces dictate the ‘plots’ of our lives.

Unfortunately, Washburn undercuts her almost anthropological level of historical accuracy with awkward and unrealistic dialogue. In situations where people would normally respond to each other with a quick gesture or phrase, her characters speak in stilted and lengthy sentences. The dialogue can occasionally come across as unnaturally didactic, which seems at odds with a novel that otherwise avoids moralizing.

An Endangered Species will not be for everyone. Even readers used to slow-paced, slice-of-life books might find themselves put off by the author’s adherence to naturalism over discernable thematic purpose. Washburn refuses to reward or punish her characters based on their moral actions; as a result, the ending feels abrupt and narratively unsatisfying. That said, An Endangered Species represents a triumph in historical realism that depicts 1960s rural plains life in mesmerizing detail.

TL;DR: Washburn eschews recognizable character archetypes and narrative threads and instead opts for a fastidious, richly detailed realism that brings to life the setting and day-to-day contours of her characters’ lives. Some readers will find the level of historical and character detail pedantic and struggle with the slow-paced, slice-of-life storyline.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bison Books for providing me with an advanced reader copy of An Endangered Species in exchange for an honest review.

An Endangered Species follows the family of Tom Warder and Bart Johnson in the 1960s, alternating between the two each chapter. Even though both characters or their families don't interact much until the end of the novel, they still play a significant role to one another. For most of the novel we are experiencing the life at a refugee for endangered swans ran by the Fish & Wildlife department while alternating between Bart's struggles with family, and income.

I believe the novel only takes place over the span of a fall to winter season. Throughout this season we get to learn a lot about each family and their struggles, how similar they are, and yet so different. The novel may be short, but the author has made sure each of the characters were well developed. As for the family aspect, I do believe there were lessons to be learned from Bart's side of the story. There were moments where I truly disliked Bart, but there's also some small sympathy for him and his struggles as well. Alternating to Tom's family, in my opinion, his story was a bit more slice of life at a refugee and how a family gets by when things aren't necessarily affordable.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and I would definitely recommend it to any of my environmental science/biology friends who want a fiction story related to our majors. Frances Washburn did a great job on researching the history of the time period, Native American culture, the science behind endangered species and the care scientists put in to their practices.

Also please check trigger warnings. This novel contains: sexual assault (in minor detail), poaching, and farming practices that aren't enjoyable to witness.

A sincere thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!