A PLACE TO STAND: A Novel of Lottie Deno in Deming (The Lottie Deno Chronicles)

A Place to Stand is a richly textured historical novel of the American Southwest, exploring identity, memory, marriage, faith, respectability, and the courage it takes to claim one’s place in daylight.In 1882, Lottie Deno and Frank Thurmond arrive in Deming, New Mexico, leaving behind the rougher shadows of Kingston and the mining camps of the Black Range. Deming is a town made by tracks, ledgers, freight, ambition, and public memory—a place determined to become respectable before it has fully learned the cost of respectability.For Frank, Deming offers possibility. Railroads, banking, land, and business promise a more settled future. For Lottie, the town offers something more uncertain: judgment, reinvention, and the fragile hope of being known for more than the rooms and rumors of her past.As Deming begins sorting newcomers by usefulness, reputation, and standing, Lottie must navigate a world where welcome is often conditional, charity is seldom free of accounting, and every doorway carries its own quiet test. Around her, churches, businesses, newspapers, and households are all trying to decide what kind of town Deming will become—and what kind of people will be allowed to belong.Set against the open basin of southern New Mexico and inspired by the legendary figure of Lottie Deno, this novel asks what remains when survival is no longer enough—and where a person may finally find a place to stand. Read more