"In Just Willa, Helen Sheehy writes about an unsung unknown woman, a tough, hard-working, driven farm woman, expert at birthing babies, survival, and when necessary, kicking ass. In this huge story of one woman's life, Sheehy has written a page-turner. All fiction and all true."

Constance Congdon, playwright and poet

"As clear as a prairie morning, unsparing and true, Just Willa is deeply moving yet unsentimental in the great American vein. I loved it."

Richard Thomas, actor

"Helen Sheehy's masterful prose immerses you in Willa Hardesty's world with such rich detail and emotional depth that you feel the dust of the Oklahoma plains and the quiet strength it takes to hold a family together. It's a powerful reminder that even the women who shape our lives can hold truths we only come to understand with time. This book is for anyone who has ever known their mother-or thought they did."

Michael Sucsy, Emmy-winning writer/director of Grey Gardens

"Just Willa is just perfect. It is a vivid, sprawling family chronicle with an indomitable character at its center. Just Willa is destined to be an American classic because of its luminous prose and its sense of adventure."

Andre Bishop, Producing Artistic Director, Lincoln Center Theater