- Paperback: 480 pages
- Publisher: Harper Perennial; (Reissue) edition (4 May 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0006551785
- ISBN-13: 978-0006551782
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 938,366 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
Product Description
Review
‘Is there anything Jane Smiley cannot do?’
Pico Iyer, Time
‘A brilliant historical saga, crammed with adventure, tension, tragedy, shameful revelations about slavery in America, haunting reflections on love, marriage, war and politics. An absolute triumph.’ Daily Mail
‘Grandly epic, this is a journey into the heroic American past, never lsoing touch with sheer humanity; a real, old-fashioned, irresistible page-turner.’ Mail on Sunday
‘An engrossing, epic novel. Beautfully written, unforgettable.’ Woman’s Journal
Product Description
An American classic from the bestselling author of the Pulitzer-winning A Thousand Acres.
Lidie Newton is an extraordinary female protagonist, a genuine Great American Character, like Huck Finn or Isabel Archer.
Lidie and her abolitionist husband join the pioneering westward migration into America’s heartland in the middle of the last century. Together with their family and friends, they find themselves caught amidst two great American forces.Vicious arguments about freeing slaves, political shenanigans and peacocking encounters over claims to land are about to erupt into the bloodiest war the world has yet see-the American Civil War.
Against this chaotic background,The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton soars across the vista of the birth of the modern United States of America.This classic American novel shows, through the eyes of one remarkable woman, how shattering, tragic and resilient the history of that land is.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The jacket blurb claims that in this book Jane Smiley gives us a 20th century view of life in the 19th century American midwest. At the beginning, I felt overwhelmed by the the 20th century gloss. Naturally we admire a carefree tomboy who can swim the Mississippi in her shift, but isn't that just because we wish that a woman could have been like that then, and still have thrived? As the book progresses, Lidie Newton sheds her skin many times, adapting to every new circumstance with self-preservation, but leaves herself and us wondering who she really is. By the end, I greatly admired Jane Smiley's vision. In Lidie Newton she has created a heroine who just as heroic as the rest of us, and not one bit more. At one moment she is supremely confident of the right action and the next wonders how she could have ever thought herself capable or been so confident. When we look back on the 19th century, we see divisions between men and women, between races, between slave and free, and we confidently see the path to equality for all. But how would we have felt if we'd really lived though it? Jane Smiley has thought that one through, and given us Lidie Newton as an answer.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
