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The Land Breakers
[edit]The Land Breakers is a 1964 historical novel by John Ehle. It is the first book in Ehle’s 7-volume Appalachian cycle[1].
| Author | John Ehle |
|---|---|
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
Publication date | December 1964 |
| ISBN | 9-780-060-11170-0 |
Plot
[edit]The Land Breakers chronicles the settling of an unnamed, uninhabited, remote Appalachian valley by several pioneering families. The valley is located in mountainous country between Watauga County and the towns of Morganton and Old Fort in western North Carolina. The book’s action takes place from 1779 to 1784 and relates the families’ struggles with harsh weather, wild animals, economic pressures, and interpersonal conflicts.
Characters
[edit]- Mooney and Imy Wright – a young Irish immigrant couple who are the first to settle in the valley.
- Tinkler Harrison – an elderly, wealthy plantation owner from Virginia, who aspires to dominate the new settlement. He is accompanied by his family and several slaves.
- Lorry Pollard – Tinkler's daughter, who is raising her young sons Lafayette and Verlin alone after being abandoned by her husband, Lacey. She and her sons accompany the Harrison family.
- Inez and Ernest Plover – Tinkler Harrison’s sister and brother-in-law, who follow the Harrisons to the valley with their large family, all daughters. The eldest is Pearlamina. Before leaving Virginia, their teenage daughter Belle wed Tinkler Harrison.
- Nicholas and Anna Bentz – a German immigrant couple who settle in the valley with their son, Felix.
Reception
[edit]The Land Breakers was reissued in 2006 after decades out of print. On this occasion, Harper Lee wrote, “John Ehle's meld of historical fact with ineluctable plot-weaving makes "The Land Breakers'' an exciting example of his masterful storytelling. He is our foremost writer of historical fiction”[2]. In 2009, Michael Ondaatje wrote of the reissue, “The Landbreakers (sic) is a great American novel, way beyond anything most New York literary icons have produced”[3].
References
[edit]- ^ Sandomir, Richard (2018-04-12). "John Ehle, Who Rooted His Novels in Appalachia, Is Dead at 92". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-12-03.
- ^ ""Finding Harper Lee" : News-Record.com : Greensboro, North Carolina". web.archive.org. 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2022-12-03.
- ^ "My Book of the Decade". The Globe and Mail. 2009-12-26. Retrieved 2022-12-03.