praise for A Sandhills Ballad :
“I began reading A Sandhills Ballad in the afternoon and found myself, at three in the morning, finishing the last page. Mary's story is at once sad and brave, tender and compelling. Ladette Randolph knows well the rhythms and variations of life in Nebraska's Sandhills, where men and women face loss without complaint and celebrate their days with a love of family and land and community that runs like a quiet stream beneath the seamless prose of this novel.”

praise for A Sandhills Ballad :
“A Sandhills Ballad is a poignantly written, lovely novel of the heartland that honors the best traditions of storytelling.”

praise for A Sandhills Ballad :
“With penetrating insight and solid authority on the rural West, Ladette Randolph has carved out a compelling saga of a young woman ripening into maturity. You cannot help but cheer for Mary Rasmussen. Randolph's work is tough, tender, and brave, a pitch-perfect take on the hard beauty of life on the Nebraska prairie.”

praise for A Sandhills Ballad :
“Randolph writes truthfully of the Nebraska Sandhills, a harsh land that exacts a brutal price for those who choose to love it. Having lived there, one never truly leaves, as Mary Rasmussen discovers, it etches its beautiful scar on body and soul.”

praise for A Different Plain :
“Beyond Willa Cather. That seems to be the current of thought running through A Different Plain: Contemporary Nebraska Fiction Writers, an absorbing collection of short stories from gifted authors (other than the most famous one) with Cornhusker connections... It's a stellar Nebraska writing cast.... These stories sparkle with pure entertainment value.... Modern short stories tend to lean toward esoteric writer's workshop head games. These, we're happy to report, go against that grain. You'll feel you know these writers because they tell stories as the neighbors do-complete with sometimes explicit details that make us squirm in our comfy worlds. As a whole, they all illuminate our Midwest, helping us make sense of this complicated corner of paradise we call home.”