Willa Cather published O Pioneers! in 1913. It is the first of three novels that Cather aficionados refer to as The Great Plains trilogy, including Song of the Lark and My Ántonia, which we also have published in large print. These books celebrate the author’s homeland and its development by the perseverance of humble European immigrants. This is the second Large Print Book Company edition of this title. Published on March 7, 2024, it is expanded from 204 pages to 228 pages to add space between text lines. The art featured on our cover of this large print edition is a 1905 painting, L’Amour (Love), by French artist Jules Breton (1827–1906), whose other work inspired the title for Cather’s Song of the Lark.
Alexandra Bergson is the Swedish-American heroine who inherits her father’s farm near the burgeoning town of Hanover, Nebraska. Her progress contrasts with that of other women who choose different paths, especially her friend Marie, who marries a handsome but temperamental French man, but is enamored with Alexandra’s younger brother, Emil.
Excerpts from the Book
Alexandra’s Father
John Bergson had the Old-World belief that land,
in itself, is desirable. But this land was an enigma. It
was like a horse that no one knows how to break to
harness, that runs wild and kicks things to pieces. He
had an idea that no one understood how to farm it
properly, and this he often discussed with Alexandra.
Their neighbors, certainly, knew even less about
farming than he did. Many of them had never worked
on a farm until they took up their homesteads. They
had been Handwerkers at home; tailors, locksmiths,
joiners, cigar-makers, etc. Bergson himself had worked
in a shipyard.—p. 15 of our large print edition.
Alexandra’s Friend, Marie, on Her Marriage
Alexandra twirled the stick in her fingers and
laughed. “He must have looked funny!”
Marie was thoughtful. “No, he didn’t, really. It didn’t
seem out of place. He used to be awfully gay like that
when he was a young man. I guess people always get
what’s hardest for them, Alexandra.” Marie gathered
the shawl closer about her and still looked hard at the
cane. “Frank would be all right in the right place,” she
said reflectively. “He ought to have a different kind of
wife, for one thing. Do you know, Alexandra, I could
pick out exactly the right sort of woman for Frank—
now. The trouble is you almost have to marry a man
before you can find out the sort of wife he needs; and
usually it’s exactly the sort you are not. Then what are
you going to do about it?” she asked candidly….
Alexandra had never heard Marie speak so frankly
about her husband before, and she felt that it was wiser
not to encourage her. No good, she reasoned, ever came
from talking about such things…”— pp. 138-139 of our large print edition.
How to Order
Click here to open a new window to purchase O Pioneers! in large print through our online store. You can also order all three Great Plains trilogy titles at a 30% discount by clicking here. For individual items in the trilogy, use coupon code CATHER30 to receive 30% off through April 15, 2024. We offer free shipping when you choose USPS media mail. Click here to download our Spring 2024 catalog (a new browser widow will open).
