"A western story set in a small town in Nebraska on 'the rim of the prairie.' The characters include a tantalizing heroine made more attractive by a hint of mystery, a steadfast hero, and two delightful pioneers."--Cleveland Open Shelf "Very well written. Mrs. Aldrich realizes real, living figures."--Literary Review "Exciting and realistic. A wholesome story without being sentimental or cloying."--Boston Transcript "An understanding presentation of small town life with a pioneer background. Good for any library."--Wilson Library Journal

Contains twelve short Christmas stories about reunited families, fellowship, and restored faith including 'I Remember,' a story about the author's childhood in Iowa.

Published in 1931, Bess Streeter Aldrich's novel 'A White Bird Flying' is about Abbie Deal, the matriarch of a pioneer Nebraska family, who has died at the beginning of the story. She left her china and heavy furniture to others, and to her granddaughter Laura - the secret of her dream of finer things. Grandma Deal's literary aspirations had been thwarted by the hard circumstances of her life, but Laura vows that nothing, no one, will deter her from a successful writing career. Childhood passes, and the more she repeats her vow the more life intervenes.

Acclaimed for her 1928 novel A Lantern in Her Hand, Bess Streeter Aldrich became one of the most widely read interpreters of the prairie pioneer experience. In 1935, she published her masterpiece, Spring Came on Forever, a novel of two Nebraska pioneer families from settlement to the 1930s. Elsewhere an artist of the romance, here Aldrich turns romance on its head. The heroine is Amalia Holmsdorfer, one of a band of German immigrants who settle on the prairie. From her late teens to her mid-eighties she confronts and defeats the forces of nature and society that discourage or ruin others. Her life might be a modest triumph but for one detail: she married the wrong man. Quickly paced and precisely drawn, this novel is Aldrich's greatest tribute to the complexity, humor, endurance, and intelligence of the people who settled the prairie. Whatever its sentiments, it has as many cutting edges as a buzz saw.

The unforgettable story of a housepainter turned doctor in Big Sky country who finds himself on a darkly funny journey to salvation in this “irrepressibly comic and optimistic” novel (The New York Times Book Review) from the acclaimed author of Ninety-two in the Shade and Cloudbursts Berl Pickett is living in the small town of Livingston, Montana. The son of Pentecostal rug-shampooers, Pickett has never been the social toast of the town, but when he is accused of negligent homicide in the death of his former lover, he finds himself ostracized by his colleagues and realizes just how small his little village truly is. But fortunately for Berl, the very thing that sets him apart—his inability to follow the pack—proves to be his saving grace. With this inglorious hero, McGuane has created an unforgettable voyager.