‘Sapphira and the Slave Girl’ by Willa Cather

This, Willa Cather's last novel, published in 1940, is unique in that the action takes place in Virginia, the place of her birth and where she lived until ten years old, rather than in Nebraska which she regarded as her home. Sapphira, a middle-aged white woman, has inherited black slaves from her father and sees...

‘Death Comes for the Archbishop’ by Willa Cather

I often come back to Willa Cather when I'm feeling stressed and in the need of the literary equivalent of a sweet hot chocolate, which is very unfair to this versatile and perceptive American author. Published in 1927 and possibly the most well-known of Willa Cather's works, this is a collection of short stories, definitely...

Review of 'My Antonia' by Willa Catha

Available from Amazon. Apparently 'My Antonia' is one of the staples of the American school English literature syllabus.  If so, good on them.  Much better than the tripe my very right-on English teachers got me to read - mainly Dylan Thomas and D H Lawrence.  I hated them then and I haven't looked at their...

Review of 'O Pioneers' by Willa Catha

This book can be found on Amazon here. 'O Pioneers' starts with five year old Emil Bergson crying because his kitten is stuck up a tree and seeking the help of his sister, Alexandra.  At the end, the reader realises that this opening scene is an allegory for the novel as a whole. When I...