The Sojourner

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings had always wanted to write a "big" novel, despite the fact that she had already achieved world-fame with "The Yearling". Here is her big novel - and she died within a hear of attaining this ambition. This story was inspired by the personality of her grandfather, whom she looked upon as typifying the spirit of farming America. Ranging in period from the American Civil War to modern times, "The Sojourner" tells simply but brilliantly of life on an American farm. Ase Linden is a pioneer farmer whose inherent goodness and honour are menaced by evil, just as his crops were imperilled by blizzard and drought; he marries Nellie, a delightful, mischievous farm girl. Woven into the story is the character of his dominating mother, obsessed to the point of madness by the memory of her other son, Ben, who trekked west in search of fortune. Linden has five children, but only one, Dolly, inherits her father's goodness. With a magic touch the author brings all these characters to vivid, individual life and has moulded them into a warm and vital story. Above all, it is a moving epic that has a deep human significance as a study of strength and frailty, happiness and heartbreak, told in a manner that recalls the great novels of Thomas Hardy.