Willa Cather first published Song of the Lark in 1915. It is one of her three novels known collectively as The Great Plains trilogy, including O Pioneers!
(1913) and My Ántonia (1918), also available from The Large Print Book Company.
This large print edition of Song of the Lark, published on March 7, 2024, features 16-point type (trade books use 10- to 12-point type) and cream-colored, high bulk, acid-free paper. These features enhance visual comfort and product durability. Due to the large type, this 6″ x 9″ edition is 576 pages.
Song of the Lark describes Thea Kronborg’s development as an artist of international fame. It is set against the backdrop of the American Midwest, where Thea grows up in Moonstone, Colorado. With the support of her parents, friends, and teachers who recognize her talent, she studies music in Chicago and takes an important hiatus at the Anasazi cliff dwellings before continuing her studies abroad. As in the other volumes of The Great Plains trilogy, Cather shows the strong immigrant roots of America’s cultural growth, and her prose brings the landscape to vibrant life.
The art we feature on the cover, Song of the Lark (1884) by Jules Breton, was the inspiration for the title of Cather’s book.
Excerpts
“After the lesson they went out to join Mrs. Kohler, who had asked Thea to come early, so that she could stay and smell the linden bloom. It was one of those still days of intense light, when every particle of mica in the soil flashed like a little mirror, and the glare from the plain below seemed more intense than the rays from above. The sand ridges ran glittering gold out to where the mirage licked them up, shining and steaming like a lake in the tropics. The sky looked like blue lava, forever incapable of clouds,—a turquoise bowl that was the lid of the desert.” —pages 87-88 of our large print edition.
“She knew, of course, that there was something about her that was different. But it was more like a friendly spirit than like anything that was a part of herself. She
brought everything to it, and it answered her; happiness consisted of that backward and forward movement of herself. The something came and went, she never knew
how. Sometimes she hunted for it and could not find it; again, she lifted her eyes from a book, or stepped out of doors, or wakened in the morning, and it was there,—
under her cheek, it usually seemed to be, or over her breast,—a kind of warm sureness. And when it was there, everything was more interesting and beautiful,
even people.”—page 94 of our large print edition.
How to Order This Large Print Edition
Click here to open a new window to purchase this book through our online store. You can also purchase all three volumes of the Great Plains trilogy at a 30% discount. For individual items in the trilogy, use coupon code CATHER30 to receive 30% off through April 15, 2024. We also now offer free shipping via USPS media mail. And don’t forget to check out our catalog by clicking here (a new window will open).
