The Illusion of Simple by Jones, Charles Forrest

Byron Caldwell Smith Book Award, Fiction

In a dry Kansas riverbed, a troop of young girls finds a human hand. This discovery leads Billy Spire, the tough and broken sheriff of Ewing County, to investigate and confront the depths of his community and of himself: the racism, the dying economy, the lies and truths of friendship, grievances of the past and present, and even his own injured marriage.

But like any town where people still breathe, there is also love and hope and the possibility of redemption. To flyover folks, Ewing County appears nothing more than a handful of empty streets amid crop circles and the meandering, depleted Arkansas River. But the truth of this place--the interwoven lives and stories--is anything but simple.


Author: Charles Forrest Jones
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
Published: 05/18/2022
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.88lbs
Size: 8.70h x 5.70w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9781609388317

Review Citation(s):
Foreword 04/27/2022

About the Author
Charles Forrest Jones is former director of the Kansas University Public Management Center. Jones lives in Lawrence, Kansas and Creede, Colorado.