Where Dreams Die Hard: A Small American Town and Its Six-Man Football Team
by Carlton Stowers
Category: Sports & Recreation

“An evocative tale about a tiny Texas town and its undying love for their community and football team.”—Jim Dent, New York Times bestselling author of Courage Beyond the Game Down Farm Road 308, an hour’s drive south of Dallas, amidst sprawling fields of cotton lies a small community—Penelope, Texas (population 211). Here, where the only thriving businesses are the granary and the post office, unless you count the soft-drink machine in front of the fire station, two-time Edgar Award-winning writer Carlton Stowers discovered a special town that came together, not only to support their six-man high school football team—the Penelope Wolverines—through thick and a lot of thin, but also, and more importantly, each other. Where Dreams Die Hard is a warm and revealing portrait of the American heartland—and of one small town’s love affair with the team that unites it. “Through his unforgettable depiction of innocence, goodness, loyalty, and friendship . . . Carlton Stowers gives us a moving portrait of a community that, in the words of one of the Penelope faithful, is like ‘stepping into a Norman Rockwell painting’” (Billie Letts, #1 New York Times bestselling author). “A moving . . . look at the hard-nosed sport played by schools too small to field traditional squads . . . his account is like spending a weekend with your country cousin.”—Texas Monthly “A glimpse into a small town rallying around a cause, and a look at a way of life that city dwellers rarely see.”—Publishers Weekly “[A] heart-warming book.”—Waco Tribune-Herald “A pleasing read for those who like their gridiron gladiators on the guileless and underdoggish side.”—Kirkus Reviews