INTRODUCED BY A.S. BYATT

'She is undoubtedly one of the greatest American writers' OBSERVER

'A triumph' HERMIONE LEE

'Willa Cather makes a world which is burningly alive, sometimes lovely, often tragic' HELEN DUMORE

On the eve of his move to a new, more desirable residence, Professor Godfrey St Peter finds himself in the shabby study of his former home. Surrounded by the comforting, familiar sights of his past, he surveys his life and the people he has loved: his wife Lillian, his daughters and above all, Tom Outland, his most outstanding student and once, his son-in-law to be. Enigmatic and courageous - and a tragic victim of the Great War - Tom has remained a source of inspiration to the professor. But he has also left behind him a troubling legacy which has brought betrayal and fracture to the women he loves most . . .

A rich and suggestive work which contrasts the middle-aged disillusion of Professor St Peter with his memories of his favourite student, the brilliant explorer and inventor Tom Outland

About the Author
Born in 1873 to a family who had farmed in Virginia for generations, Willa Cather moved to her father's new ranch in Nebraska when she was eight. The raw frontier territories and the pioneer life of the Old West were to awaken her imagination and furnish the atmosphere for much of her later work. After graduating from the University of Nebraska, Willa Cather became a teacher and a journalist. In 1912 she abandoned journalism to write full time. Her first novel was Alexander's Bridge (1912) though she had already published a volume of poems and another of short stories. Her vivid novels cover a wide range: there are impassioned and thoughtful explorations of the ancient worlds of the Americas in The Professor's House (1925) and Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927) as well as sympathetic portrayals of conflicting values, or of the demands of art. These, along with her evocations of the pioneering West, soon established her reputation as one of America's foremost writers. Willa Cather died in New York in 1947.

Reviews
Willa Cather makes a world which is burningly alive, sometimes lovely, often tragic -- Helen Dunmore
She is undoubtedly one of the greatest American writers * Observer *
A triumph -- Hermione Lee
The book holds in majestic and mournful equipoise both the nobility of the civilizing instinct and the certainty of its frustration -- Donald Lyons * The Criterion *



Book Information
ISBN 9781844083763
Author Willa Cather
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Virago Press Ltd
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 208g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 128mm * 20mm