Review
"Before she was seven, Ishma, the youngest child of Marshall and Laviny Waycaster, had joined the class of burden-bearers. By the time she was thirteen there was little rest for her except on Sunday." Ishma is the spirited, loving, and restless hero of this novel of the thirties. Sunday is her day to escape the drudgery of farming and helping her irascible mother with domestic work, a day she jealously protects to roam the hills of her beloved mountainous homeland and revel privately in its beauty. When Ishma is courted and encouraged to marry for economic advantage, she renews her decision never to be a wife; when she falls in love, her hesitations vanish. Money is scarce; the land does not always produce despite unending hard work and love. Her decision to follow her heart and move to the city so she can learn more about the world is nearly as trying as the inner-death she fears if she does not. What she learns both bruises and builds her character. Written with breath-taking beauty and keenness of feeling, Call Home the Heart recalls a not-so-distant period of American working people's history we can be both proud and pained to know. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Jesse Larsen
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
