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After inheriting the family farm, Alexandra Bergson must juggle work, love, and tragedy as she tries to make the farm successful for her family. Set in 19th century Nebraska, O Pioneers! by Willa Cather is the first in her critically acclaimed Great Plains trilogy. In a time when the land was still unpredictable and untamed, Alexandra Bergson inherits the family farm after the death of her father. Now Alexandra is unconditionally dedicated to making the farm succeed, against the odds and at the cost of her own love.
About the author
Willa Sibert Cather is well-known for her Great Plains-set books, such as O Pioneers! The Song of the Lark, and My ntonia. Her novel One of Ours, which takes place during World War I, won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1923. When Willa Cather was nine years old, her family relocated from Virginia to Webster County, Nebraska. Afterwards, the family made Red Cloud, Minnesota, their home. Cather spent ten years in Pittsburgh after earning her degree from the University of Nebraska Lincoln, where she worked as a high school English teacher and magazine editor to support herself. She made her lifelong home in New York City when she moved there at the age of 33, though she also traveled extensively and made frequent trips to her summer house on Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick. She lived her final 39 years with Edith Lewis, her domestic partner, before receiving a breast cancer diagnosis and passing away from a brain hemorrhage. Beside her, in a Jaffrey, New Hampshire, plot, lies Lewis. As a novelist of the frontier and pioneer experience, Cather attained prominence.
Summary
On his deathbed, John Bergson, the head of a Swedish American family, decided to will the family farm to his daughter, Alexandra, instead of her two older brothers. Though it upset his sons, John was firm in his decision, knowing that the conditions in Nebraska required discipline and strength to strive. Alexandra, already a strong-willed woman, accepted the farm and devoted herself to it. Through droughts and depression, Alexandra’s neighbors give up and move away, but Alexandra is determined to make the farm succeed and prove that her father made the right decision. A time jump in the narrative affirms Alexandra’s goals, but invites troubles to rival those presented by the harsh realities of the Nebraska plains. Carl Lindstrum, an old friend and neighbor, comes back into town after his abrupt departure years before, stirring an old flame between he and Alexandra. Emil, Alexandra’s younger brother, also returns home after going to a state college. The two Bergson siblings, Alexandra and Emil, soon find themselves in forbidden relationships. With the pressure of secret love, unpredictable weather, murder, and scandal, Alexandra and Emil must persevere to protect their family and preserve their happiness.
Separated into five sections, The Wild Land, Neighboring Fields, Winter Memories, The White Mulberry Tree, and Alexandra, Willa Cather’s O Pioneers! depicts neighborly disputes, forbidden love, family drama, and murder, all to the backdrop of pioneer Nebraska. With themes of feminism and innovation, O Pioneers inspires perseverance and participation in new inventions and ideas. O Pioneers! is the first of the critically acclaimed and commercially praised Great Plains trilogy, entertaining with its drama and sentiment while enlightening audiences with visceral depictions of pioneer life in the early origins of midwestern America.
With a new eye-catching cover design and reprinted in an easy-to-read font, this edition of O Pioneers! , written by the esteemed author Willa Cather, is now accessible and appealing for a modern audience.
