The novels O Pioneers!, The Song of the Lark, and My �ntonia made Willa Cather's reputation and, though published separately, are now studied together as Willa Cather’s Great Plains Trilogy. These three novels, set in Nebraska and Colorado, cemented Cather’s reputation in the early 1920s as a writer who exalted the lives of ordinary people. Together, these novels portray the magnificent prairie landscape and the indomitable spirit of the men and women who inhabited, and adapted, to its harsh beauty: My �​ntonia: The intertwined stories of Jim Burden, an orphan from Virginia, and the elder daughter in a family of Czech immigrants, �ntonia Shimerda, who are each brought to Nebraska as children. O Pioneers!: The Bergsons move from Sweden and struggle to carve out a living on their Nebraska homestead. The eldest daughter, Alexandra, inherits the farm when her father dies, and devotes her life to its success even as other immigrant families leave the prairie, defeated. The Song of the Lark: Thea Kronborg grows up in a small Colorado town, next to the railroad that connects her to a wider world, a world she will conquer with her glorious voice and strength of will.

In 1851 Father Jean Marie Latour comes to serve as the Apostolic Vicar to New Mexico. What he finds is a vast territory of red hills and tortuous arroyos, American by law but Mexican and Indian in custom and belief. In the almost forty years that follow, Latour spreads his faith in the only way he knows—gently, all the while contending with an unforgiving landscape, derelict and sometimes openly rebellious priests, and his own loneliness. Out of these events, Cather gives us an indelible vision of life unfolding in a place where time itself seems suspended.  

The spirited daughter of Bohemian immigrants, �ntonia must adapt to a hard existence on the desolate prairies of the Midwest. Enduring childhood poverty, teenage seduction, and family tragedy, she eventually becomes a wife and mother on a Nebraska farm. A fictional record of how women helped forge the communities that formed a nation, My �ntonia is also a hauntingly eloquent celebration of the strength, courage, and spirit of America’s early pioneers. 

The Burglar's Christmas was originally published near the beginning of Willa Cather's writing career in 1896 under the pseudonym of Elizabeth L. Seymour. The story follows William Crawford on the cold streets of Chicago as he contemplates the multiple failures plaguing his life, including his time at college and careers in journalism, real estate, and performing. Distraught, he tries one more role: thief. Attempting to burgle a residence and caught in the act by the lady of the house, William must come to terms with the choices that led him to that moment. Cather provides a heartwarming short story of redemption and love at Christmas, a timely reminder that kindness is in everyone, just waiting to be uncovered.

'He drew a long sigh of rich content. The old life, with all its bitterness and useless antagonism and flimsy sophistries, its brief delights that were always tinged with fear and distrust and unfaith, that whole miserable, futile, swindled world of Bohemia seemed immeasurably distant and far away, like a dream that is over and done.' First published in 1896, The Burglar's Christmas is a short story by the great American writer Willa Cather. Set in Chicago on a cold Christmas Eve, the down-and-out Crawford learns the value of forgiveness. (Part of Renard's Christmas Card Classics series, 25% of the RRP of each book sold goes to Three Peas, a small refugee charity. This year, instead of a Christmas card, why not send a book?)

'As I looked about me I felt that the grass was the country, as the water is the sea. The red of the grass made all the great prairie the colour of wine-stains...And there was so much motion in it; the whole country seemed, somehow, to be running.' My Antonia (1918) depicts the pioneering period of European settlement on the tall-grass prairie of the American midwest, with its beautiful yet terrifying landscape, rich ethnic mix of immigrants and native-born Americans, and communities who share life's joys and sorrows. Jim Burden recounts his memories of Antonia Shimerda, whose family settle in Nebraska from Bohemia. Together they share childhoods spent in a new world. Jim leaves the prairie for college and a career in the east, while Antonia devotes herself to her large family and productive farm. Her story is that of the land itself, a moving portrait of endurance and strength. Described on publication as 'one of the best [novels] that any American has ever done', My Antonia paradoxically took Cather out of the rank of provincial novelists as the same time that it celebrated the provinces, and mythologized a period of American history that had to be lost before its value could be understood. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

"The time will come when she will be ranked above Hemingway." --Leon Edel


In this powerful portrait of the self-making of an artist, Willa Cather created one of her most extraordinary heroines. Thea Kronborg, a minister's daughter in a provincial Colorado town, seems destined from childhood for a place in the wider world. But as her path to the world stage leads her ever farther from the humble town she can't forget and from the man she can't afford to love, Thea learns that her exceptional musical talent and fierce ambition are not enough.  

It is in the solitude of a tiny rock chamber high in the side of an Arizona cliff--"a cleft in the heart of the world"--that Thea comes face to face with her own dreams and desires, stripped clean by the haunting purity of the ruined cliff dwellings and inspired by the whisperings of their ancient dust. Here she finds the courage to seize her future and to use her gifts to catch "the shining, elusive element that is life itself--life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose." In prose as shimmering and piercingly true as the light in a desert canyon, Cather takes us into the heart of a woman coming to know her deepest self.

Includes the unabridged text of Cather's classic novel plus a complete study guide that helps readers gain a thorough understanding of the work's content and context. The comprehensive guide includes chapter-by-chapter summaries, explanations and discussions of the plot, question-and-answer sections, author biography, analytical paper topics, list of characters, bibliography, and more.

This Norton Critical Edition brings to life-through Cather's words, and through the words and images of others-the uniquely American frontier experience. In inscribing a copy of O Pioneers! for a childhood friend, Cather wrote, "In this one I hit the home pasture..." "Contexts and Backgrounds" includes a rich selection of autobiographical and biographical remembrances (including three interviews with Cather), literary contexts (by Cather and her contemporaries, Henry James and Sarah Orne Jewett), and writings on the American West (including selected letters that paint a picture of one family's life on the Nebraska prairie). "Criticism" provides seven contemporary reviews and eight modern critical interpretations by David Stouck, John J. Murphy, C. Susan Wiesenthal, Marilee Lindemann, Melissa Ryan, Guy Reynolds, and Sharon O'Brien.

Set in the Nebraska landscape in a community evocative of Cather's own (Red Cloud), My Antonia tells the story of Antonia Shimerda, a Bohemian immigrant, and Jim Burden, who like Cather was uprooted from Virginia to the Nebraska prairie. Antonia and Jim, like many of the other characters in this 1918 novel, are based on Cather's childhood friends. This Norton Critical Edition is based on the first published edition of the novel. It is accompanied by explanatory footnotes, key illustrations, an introduction that gives readers a historical overview of both author and novel, and a note on the text. "Contexts and Backgrounds" is a rich collection of materials organized around the novel's central themes: "Autobiographical and Biographical Writings," "Letters," and "Americanization and Immigration." Willa Cather, Edith Lewis, Latrobe Carroll, Rose C. Feld, Guy Reynolds, Woodrow Wilson, Peter Roberts, Horace M. Kallen, Sarka B. Hrbkova, and Rose Rosicky, among others, are included. "Criticism" spans a century of scholarship on Willa Cather and My Antonia, from contemporary reviews by Henry Walcott Boynton, H. L. Mencken, and Elia W. Peattie, among others, to recent critical assessments by Terence Martin, Blanche Gelfant, Jean Schwind, Richard H. Millington, Susan Rosowski, Mike Fischer, Janis Stout, Marilee Lindemann, and Linda Joyce Brown. A Chronology of Cather's life and work and a Selected Bibliography are also included.

Willa Cather's best known novel; a narrative that recounts a life lived simply in the silence of the southwestern desert.

The characteristic themes of Cather's mature work are already present in her debut novella, an evocation of a tragic love triangle.
Bartley Alexander, renowned engineer of bridges, is a man with a past who "looked as a tamer of rivers ought to look." Discovered by his mentor "sowing wild oats in London," he returned to America and the commission that made his name. Now, married to his wife of ten years, a chance encounter with actress Hilda Burgoyne, an almost forgotten love from his past, prompts a doomed attempt to recapture the boundlessness of his youth.
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In Willa Cather's own estimation, My Antonia, first published in 1918, was "the best thing I've ever done." An enduring paperback bestseller on Houghton Mifflin's literary list, this hauntingly eloquent classic now boasts a new foreword by Kathleen Norris, Cather's soulmate of the plains. Infused with a gracious passion for the land, My Antonia embraces its uncommon subject - the hardscrabble life of the pioneer woman on the prairie - with poetic certitude, rendering a deeply moving portrait of an entire community. Through Jim Burden's endearing, smitten voice, we revisit the remarkable vicissitudes of immigrant life in the Nebraska heartland with all its insistent bonds. Guiding the way are some of literature's most beguiling characters: the Russian brothers plagued by memories of a fateful sleigh ride, Antonia's desperately homesick father and self-indulgent mother, and the coy Lena Lingard. Holding the pastoral society's heart, of course, is the bewitching, free-spirited Antonia Shimerda.

As the American West opened up to settlers after the Civil War, people were eager for tales of great adventures, endless possibilities, and the pioneering spirit. Classic Westerns is a collection of six novels that captured this sense of exploration and brought the rugged landscape into the homes of readers everywhere. These novels—The Virginian by Owen Wister, O Pioneers! by Willa Cather, The Lone Star Ranger and The Mysterious Rider by Zane Grey, and Gunman’s Reckoning and The Untamed by Max Brand—tell of life on the open plains, in dusty outposts, and alongside majestic mountain ranges that rose to greet travelers who ventured forth into the unexplored country to find their destinies.

Born in a small Colorado town, Thea Kronborg's aspirations to be a famed musician makes it difficult for her to fit in. With the reputation of being different and strange, Thea has a challenging time getting along with her siblings and peers, though her mother and Aunt are supportive of her dreams. When Thea's piano instructor is run out of town over a scandal, Thea takes over his business at age fifteen. She is also forced by her father to play the organ at their church because he believes this new devotion to a job would make her less pious. Despite her new jobs and outlet for her musical ability, Thea feels unsatisfied in Colorado, but when tragedy strikes, she finally gets an opportunity to chase her dreams. After the death of a local conductor that had been enamored by her, Thea inherits enough money to pursue a formal music education in Chicago. During her piano training, and with the help of some of her Chicago friends and mentors, Thea realizes that she has an impressive singing voice. After feeling inspired by a visit to the orchestra, Thea decides to pursue a career as an opera singer. With a new dream and drive, Thea struggles to achieve her goals without compromising her values and independence. Willa Cather's The Song of the Lark breaks the conventions of its time with the depiction of an independent woman protagonist with aspirations outside of the home. Cather also challenged the typical depiction of small-town country life by presenting realities such as the common uniformity and intolerance sometimes expressed within rural communities. The Song of the Lark remains to be a fascinating look into 19th century rural life, with an unadulterated view on the journey of an artist. This edition of The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather is accommodating to a contemporary audience with a modern font and stunning new cover design.

With seven short stories, The Troll Garden is a comprehensive exploration of American artists, and the trials they face. In Flavia and Her Artists, a young woman named Imogen goes to visit her friend Flavia, who is a patron of artists. Joining Flavia's group of artists, Imogen becomes immersed in the drama and gossip of the group. As Imogen witnesses the animosity of the group steadily grow, she realizes that it stems from Flavia's own insecurities and arrogance. The Sculptor's Funeral depicts the funeral of a successful sculptor, Harvey Marrick. When his body is returned to his hometown for his burial, there is a mix of emotions from his family and old acquaintances. Only Jim Lavid, Harvey's old friend, truly mourns the death. However, Jim must wrestle with both grief and jealousy when he considers that Harvey was able to leave their small town, something Jim himself never could. With a similar tone, A Death in the Desert follows a man as he wrestles with his identity. Sharing a strong physical resemblance to his prodigy brother, Everett Hilgarde feels haunted by his brother's shadow, robbing him of his sense of self. As the last story in the collection, Paul's Case creates an echo that stays in the reader's mind long after the tale is finished. When Paul, a young boy who has trouble fitting in, steals money from his father, he decides to run away to New York, pretending to be rich and fulfilling the life he'd always wanted. The Troll Garden by Willa Cather explores the melancholy tales of tortured artists without dwelling on the sorrow, instead focusing on the relatable instances and decisions that lead to such predicaments. Though first published one-hundred and fifteen years ago in 1905, Cather explores ever-present issues of identity, failure, and dreams that have remained to be relevant to a current audience. As her debut work of fiction, The Troll Garden marks a capstone in Willa Cather's prolific career. Now presented in an easy-to-read font and with a striking new cover design, this edition of Willa Cather's The Troll Garden is modern and relevant to a contemporary audience.

The final novel in the Great Plains trilogy, this is a celebration of the American midwest with Cather's strongest heroine at its heart Jim and Antonia meets as children in the wide open plains of Nebraska at the end of the nineteenth century. Jim leaves for college and a career in the east, while Antonia stays at home, dedicating herself to her farm and family. As the years roll by, Jim will come to view Antonia as the embodiment of the prairie itself - tough, spirited and enduring, despite the hardness and loneliness of pioneer life. Willa Cather's beautiful novel is a celebration of the Nebraskan prairie she loved she much, and a powerful depiction of a pivotal era in the making of America.

Set in rural Nebraska, Willa Cather’s My Ántonia is both the intricate story of a powerful friendship and a brilliant portrayal of the lives of rural pioneers in the late-nineteenth century.

Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library, a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold-foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition has an afterword by Bridget Bennett and original illustrations by W. T. Benda.

Ántonia and her family are from Bohemia and they must endure real hardship and loss to establish a new home in America. But Ántonia is never broken by adversity, and her strength and love of life stays with her childhood friend Jim for years to come, even as he leaves home to study and pursue his career. Told through Jim’s eyes, My Ántonia is a rich and beautiful novel about childhood and growing up, different cultures and the lure of home.

The second novel in the Great Plains trilogy, this is a passionate portrait of the artist as a young woman Thea Kronberg, a young girl from a small town in Colorado has a great gift - her beautiful singing voice. Her talent takes her to the great opera houses of Europe, and through ambition and hard work, she forges a life as an artist. But if she can never go home again, nor can she leave behind her past. At last, in a desert canyon in Arizona, Thea has a revelation that will allow her to attain a new state of spirituality and become a truly great artist. 'Willa Cather makes a world which is burningly alive, sometimes lovely, often tragic' Helen Dunmore 'The Song of the Lark illuminates all her work' A. S. Byatt 'Lingers long in the memory' Joyce Carol Oates