Lonesome Land (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading)

Lonesome Land (1912) delicately balances an idealistic, romantic view of the American West with its hard, gritty reality. Although focused on the West’s often lonesome and open lifestyle, scenes of true Western-genre suspense appear in this critical yet beautiful imaging of the land and its pioneers.

Valeria Peyson has spent her life on the East Coast and, therefore, holds a beautifully serene vision of the West in her mind. But in relocating to Hope, Montana, she discovers the hardships of the West’s remote, male-centered way of life—starting with her marriage to a drunken failure, Manley Fleetwood. The west, however, is not without the romantic aspect that Valeria hoped to find. Coming to terms with both kinds of experience, she grows into a stronger person.