"The only hardcover edition of Jane Smiley's most famous novel--King Lear on an Iowa farm--which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992. With a new introduction. This powerful twentieth-century reimagining of Shakespeare's King Lear centers on a wealthy Iowa farmer who decides to divide his farm among his three daughters. When the youngest objects, she is cut out of his will, which sets in motion a chain of events that brings dark truths to light. Ambitiously...

Follows the saga of the Cook family. Cook's kingdom is a fertile farm that spans 1,000 acres, but the seeds of its destruction are sown when the patriarch, Larry Cook, impulsively decides to distribute it among his three daughters, Ginny, Rose, and Caroline.

A Study Guide for Jane Smiley's "A Thousand Acres," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students.This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.

Ruth, a young woman living in a rural Illinois town, looks back on the people who have shaped her life, including her runaway father, shrewish mother, and crazy husband.

Overcoming a life of hardship and loneliness, Gemma Hardy, a brilliant and determined young woman, accepts a position as an au pair on the remote Orkney Islands where she faces her biggest challenge yet.

"An epic novel that spans thirty years in the lives of a farm family in Iowa, telling a parallel story of the changes taking place in America from 1920 through the early 1950s"--Provided by publisher. On their farm in Denby, Iowa, Rosanna and Walter Langdon abide by time-honored values that they pass on to their five wildly different children. Each chapter covers a single year, beginning in 1920, as American soldiers like Walter return home from...

In this collection of five short stories and one novella, the author presents a contemplation of the sometimes mutually exclusive matters of love, friendship, and marriage.

Saving her ranch might just cause her to lose her heart. Love complicates everything. Lauren had been raised to not be afraid of anything, and she lived by that code, that is until her dad died and left everything in her hands. Now she's not only in charge of her two younger sisters, but she's running a full-blown Texas ranch. Caring for a thousand‑acre ranch has its ups and downs, physically, mentally, and financially. All she is looking for is...

From the author of A Thousand Acres comes this serious and tragic, funny and uplifting look at humanity - set in the world of horses. "Eight or nine times a day, day after day, men and horses go out and line up and start running, and the next thing you know, you are in mystery-land." So says Leo, a sad-sack gambler with an incredibly intricate betting system. Leo is one of dozens of characters - some human, some equine - who struggle through two years...

Infused with sharp insight, honesty, and emotion, At Paradise Gate is a treat for both the heart and the intellect. In this poignant story, best-selling author Jane Smiley pens a graceful portrait of an ordinary midwestern family confronting the mysteries of death and regeneration. While her 77-year-old husband lies upstairs, dying, Anna Robison spends her depleting energy defending their home. Their three middle-aged daughters and 23-year-old granddaughter...