Readers fell in love with Jeannette Walls' unforgettable family in The Glass Castle. Now discover how it all began for the Walls family...

'I never knew a girl to have such gumption,' [Mom would] say. 'But I'm not too sure that's a good thing.'

Meet Lily Casey Smith: horse-trainer, airplane pilot, flapper, mother and teacher. Born in 1901 in the rolling grassland of West Texas, Lily grows up with a passion for horses and an indomitable spirit. At age 15 she leaves home, riding 500 miles across the American West on her beloved pony Patch, her pearl-handled six-shooter by her side. Her goal: a teaching post in a frontier-town school.

Lily will handle everything life throws at her - flash-floods, tornadoes, the Great Depression, a swindling husband, love and heartbreak - with courage, determination and a smile as wide as the Texas skies.