Little Hatchet | Book 1 of The Oakley Series
By Phil Oakley
In the years after the Civil War, James Oakley moves his family to the banks of Little Hatchet Creek in New Mexico. When his little brother is kidnapped from the front porch of their cabin, 12-year-old Walter Oakley sets off in pursuit. In time, the Oakleys make their piece with the existing residents of their new neighborhood: the Mescalero Apaches, the Comanches, and the Tejanos. But new challenges await in Texas as the new century dawns. The hardships posed by the frontier pale compared with Walter’s efforts to keep his family together amid the decadence, drunkenness, and violence of Prohibition.
As the first installment in The Oakleys, Little Hatchet is an epic historical family saga that portrays the multigenerational struggle for survival, loosely based on the author’s kin. A tale of courage, determination, and endurance set against the unimaginable tragedies that beset the lives of Ada and Walter Oakley and their eight children.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Phil Oakley
Phil Oakley is a writer, educator, filmmaker, journalist and executive. He is the author of eight novels. He began working on his first one in the spring of 1964, while a freshman at The University of Texas at Austin. That book finally reached publication fifty years later in 2014. In addition to writing, Phil currently works as a paraprofessional educator at Kennedale HighSchool.
Previously, he served as Director of the Louisiana Film Commission, was a regional executive of The Walt Disney Company, supervising coverage for ABC News in the southwestern United States and Latin America. He also was an editor/producer for The Dallas Morning News. As a journalist, Phil won national awards from Columbia University, the Radio-Television News Directors’ Association and a National Headliners Award. He covered presidents and presidential campaigns, beginning with Lyndon Johnson and extending through the terms of George W. Bush. Phil was born in Austin during the last days of World War II. He lives in Arlington, Texas with his wife, the former Nancy Matens of Baton Rouge. Both are graduates of Louisiana State University. They have two sons and one granddaughter.