There are the usual to-dos over wealth, inheritance and so on. The reader is reintroduced to a transformed Divide, which thrives, and boasts several different immigrant communities. What follows is a time skip of almost sixteen years. Unwilling to give up on her land, Alexandra makes some tough decisions and favours some experimental planting to try and save the homestead. Alexandra’s best friend Carl leaves with his father to find work in the city. She is the one who will be responsible for his property and her three brothers after his death.įor three years, the Bergsons begin to prosper, and then a series of poor summers leave the area demoralised, and many in debt. On his deathbed, he calls for the eldest of his four children, Alexandra. Attempting to tame his acres of inhospitable land, they experience sickness, debt and death. He and his family arrived from Sweden eleven years prior. The novel opens and we meet the Bergson family settlers to “the Divide”, a hard and punishing area of the American prairie. “A pioneer should have imagination, should enjoy the idea of things more than the ideas themselves” Published in 1913, the language is beautifully descriptive without being heavy.Īnd it tells a universal story one of survival, family, tragedy, strength in adversity - and hope. “O Pioneers!” by Willa Cather is one of my favourite (modern) classics. Sign up to our Weekly newsletter Subscribe to our magazine for more great content
0 kommentar(er)
