New Hope (Bur Oak Book) - Softcover

Suckow, Ruth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0877456305 ISBN 13: 9780877456308

Publisher: University Of Iowa Press, 1998

Synopsis

A writer of wide experience, Ruth Suckow nevertheless remained focused on small-town life; one could even call her the Jane Austen of small-town America. Many of her characters were the "sparrows of Iowa," ordinary folks whom she made extraordinary by writing about them. In her 1942 novel about the little community of New Hope, written during the desperate days of World War II, life is marked by unusual optimism, openness, mutual care, trust, communal spirit, democracy, and above all light.

Life in New Hope recaptures a feeling of youth that would seem overly idealistic if it were not for Suckow's unflinching realism. As seen through the eyes of its Edenic main characters--Clarence Miller, son of the town's banker and chief booster, and Delight Greenwood, daughter of the Congregational minister who serves New Hope during the two years of the novel--the town itself is the protagonist. Death, crime, and heartbreak intervene, but a sense of freedom and possibility, "where all were to share equally in the boundlessness of light and hope," always illuminates the town. This sunlit novel, with its blend of romance and reality, reintroduces a regional writer whom H. L. Mencken called "unquestionably the most remarkable woman . . . writing stories in the republic."

About this title

About the Author

Iowa-born Ruth Suckow (1892-1960) published eight novels, three volumes of short fiction, and numerous essays, short stories, and reviews.

Reviews

"Suckow creates a snug, neighborly little world, in which fried chicken and hot biscuits go nicely with the milk of human kindness. A happy epitaph to a safe and simple period of our history."

Edition details

• Publisher: University Of Iowa Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0877456305
• ISBN 13: 9780877456308
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 358