A charged and eloquent debut novel of the range wars in the American West at the turn of the century
Orphaned after the death of her mother, eighteen-year-old Esther Chambers heads west in search of her only living relative. In the lawless frontier town of Century, Oregon, she's met by her distant cousin, a laconic cattle rancher named Ferris Pickett. Pick leads her to a tiny cabin by a small lake, and there she begins her new life as a homesteader. If she can hold out for five years, the land will join Pick's impressive spread.
But this town on the edge of civilization is in the midst of a very real range war. There's plenty of land, but somehow it is not enough for the ranchers. Small incidents of violence swiftly escalate, and the bloodshed starts to threaten the town's future. Meanwhile, Esther finds her sympathies divided between Pick and Ben Cruff, sworn enemy of the cattlemen. As her passion for Ben and her land grows, she begins to see how she can't be loyal to both.
As Little Century maps our country's cutthroat legacy of dispossession and greed, it also celebrates the ecstatic visions of what America could become. In the tradition of classics like My Ántonia and There Will Be Blood, Little Century is a resonant and moving debut novel by a writer of confident gifts.
Genre: Historical
Orphaned after the death of her mother, eighteen-year-old Esther Chambers heads west in search of her only living relative. In the lawless frontier town of Century, Oregon, she's met by her distant cousin, a laconic cattle rancher named Ferris Pickett. Pick leads her to a tiny cabin by a small lake, and there she begins her new life as a homesteader. If she can hold out for five years, the land will join Pick's impressive spread.
But this town on the edge of civilization is in the midst of a very real range war. There's plenty of land, but somehow it is not enough for the ranchers. Small incidents of violence swiftly escalate, and the bloodshed starts to threaten the town's future. Meanwhile, Esther finds her sympathies divided between Pick and Ben Cruff, sworn enemy of the cattlemen. As her passion for Ben and her land grows, she begins to see how she can't be loyal to both.
As Little Century maps our country's cutthroat legacy of dispossession and greed, it also celebrates the ecstatic visions of what America could become. In the tradition of classics like My Ántonia and There Will Be Blood, Little Century is a resonant and moving debut novel by a writer of confident gifts.
Genre: Historical
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