First time novelist, Preston L. Corbett’s novel Ten Thousand Acres begins on a sad note when twenty- three year Flora McAndrews in 1785 travels from Baltimore with her fifty four year old husband, William, to a place that would one day be known as Colorado.

Unfortunately, prior to arriving at their destination, William dies and Flora is forced to continue on alone. Eventually, she reaches the land that was purchased by her late husband, where she discovers a log cabin and someone inside, who had been dead for quite sometime. After burying this unknown individual, Flora fends for herself and manages to survive without help from anyone.

Two other subplots are introduced, the first of which tells the story of an African slave, Chester, who runs away from his master after unintentionally killing the master’s son. Eventually, Chester meets up with Flora, and although their daring relationship was initially predicated on loneliness, fear and need, they eventually fall in love and start a family.

The second sub-plot revolves around three individuals who are up to no good, and who together scheme and plot illegal activities that lead to horrendous consequences.

The novel starts off with a good hook and readers are encouraged to keep turning the pages.

Unfortunately, however, the main plot and the two sub-plots appear to be a collection of pieces cobbled together without any cohesive intertwining.

Another shortcoming of the book, and a common weakness of many first time novelists, are that the characters are not permitted to reveal themselves in dialogue. There is a constant third person narration without letting readers know about the characters through their speech patterns and dialect.

As a result, the characters loose their credibility. It would have been more effective if dialogue had been used to show what the author wanted to tell his readers, rather than narrating what they said.

Furthermore, the story would have been more interesting, and the characters would have been better developed, if they themselves narrated the story through their words, actions, and thoughts. This would have left readers with ideas and impressions that challenge and provoke them to think, and perhaps even a desire to reread the novel.

Having said all of the above, I am confident that once Corbett masters the art of effective writing techniques, he will be someone to watch out for in the future.