Winter Wheat [Paperback]

Mildred Walker (Author), James Welch (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1992

For this Bison Books edition, James Welch, the acclaimed author of Winter in the Blood (1986) and other novels, introduces Mildred Walker's vivid heroine, Ellen Webb, who lives in the dryland wheat country of central Montana during the early 1940s. He writes, "It is a story about growing up, becoming a woman, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, within the space of a year and a half. But what a year and a half it is!" Welch offers a brief biography of Walker, who wrote nine of her thirteen novels while living in Montana.

Editorial Reviews

Review

With an arid "dry-land" wheat farm as both its geographic and metaphoric center, Winter Wheat tells the story of eighteen-year-old Ellen Webb. Her Vermont-born father and Russian-born mother, married during the first World War, have come as homesteaders to Barton, Montana - a grain-elevator and general store. It is 1940, the year Ellen will start college if the wheat harvest is good; it is September, "like a quiet day after a whole week of wind. I mean that wind that blows dirt into your eyes and hair and between your teeth and roars in your ears after you've gone inside." The harvest pays and Ellen goes off to college, where she immediately falls in love: "I hadn't meant to fall in love so soon, but there's nothing you can do about it. It's like planning to seed in April and then having it come off so warm in March that the earth is ready." Ellen and Gil plan their marriage for after the summer harvest. But Gil arrives and doesn't find Montana or the life of dry-land wheat farmers beautiful. Ellen begins to see everything, including her parents, with new and critical eyes in this unsparing and poignant examination of love and life. -- 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

Product Details

• Paperback: 306 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books; 4th edition (December 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803297416
• ISBN-13: 978-0803297418
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #76,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > 19th Century
  • #50 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Classics

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You must read this book..., May 16, 2003

By 

Ronald M. Mazak "Amazing Mazak" (Johnston, IA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Winter Wheat (Hardcover)

I initially picked this book up at the local library, liking the title itself. When I started reading it, I had a hard time putting it down. Mildred Walker does a fantastic job of getting the human heart onto paper and I highly recommend reading this book. My wife and two daughters also read this book, largely based on my recommendation. One of my daughters also had the same reaction I did, and she is only 9 years old. This book only spans the period of less than two years of a girl's life, but oh what a two years! Please read this great book.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully written and emotionally powerful book, February 10, 2005

By 

Camille D. Graff (Salt Lake City, Utah) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Winter Wheat (Paperback)

Mildred Walker is a suburb writter who can span the entire emotional spectrum of humanity. This book is one of my favorites, I have read it several times. Each time I find new ways in which I can relate to the emotion's of the characters. I really enjoy her descpriton of Montana's landscape. Her ability to describe takes the reader into the wheat fields to join in the life journey of her characters. Powerfully written, this book will change how you view yourself and the realtionships around you.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Coming of age in rural Montana . . ., April 24, 2006

By 

Ronald Scheer "rockysquirrel" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Winter Wheat (Paperback)

Written over sixty years ago about ranchers living in remote parts of Montana, this old fashioned coming of age novel has a surprising currency. Its bittersweet portrayal of human relationships has a deep ring of emotional truth, and its understanding of the constantly shifting nature of identity makes it almost postmodern. Meanwhile, it can be read with a kind of page-turning breathlessness that keeps readers hoping that everything - against all odds - will somehow turn out for the best.

Most remarkable for a reader growing up in a mid-century rural community, the novel evokes vividly the seasonal rounds of living and working on a farm circa 1940. Though Montana was her adopted home (Walker grew up in eastern Pennsylvania and attended Wells College), she writes with an intimate knowledge of farm work that is rare in literature. Also remarkable is the novel's wartime setting, as Walker writes of Pearl Harbor and the impact of entry into WWII on the lives of her characters, even while that war was still being fought (the novel was published in 1944).

I recommend this novel highly for its way of creating very individual characters leading quite plausible lives rooted firmly in very real physical and psychological worlds. Its lessons about hard work and survival, the bonds of love, living with insecurity, and the lifelong effects of choices made affirm a view of life that embraces both loss and reward. Thanks to the University of Nebraska Press for keeping this fine novel in print. Also recommended, Judy Blunt's "Breaking Clean" and Mary Clearman Blew's "All But the Waltz."