The Land Breakers

by John Ehle

Other authorsLinda Spalding (Introduction)

Paperback, 2014

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Publication

NYRB Classics (2014), Edition: Main, 370 pages

Description

A motley band of characters makes its way into a high mountain valley in northwestern North Carolina to tame the land or to be consumed by it. Five years of struggle to create a community ensue, in which part of the struggle is just to survive. This is the story of late 18th century life in an untamed country.

User reviews

LibraryThing member japaul22

The Land Breakers is a work of historical fiction following the lives of a group of American settlers in the late 1700s who attempt to create a life in the mountains of North Carolina. The first there are Mooney and Imy, who claim a remote piece of land. That same year two other families show up.

The book follows this small community as they try to tame the land and create a space for human life in the wilderness. Whether or not they'll be able to come together as a community is constantly in doubt throughout the book.

I really liked this. It reminded me of some of the Scandinavian fiction I've read, like [Growth of the Soil] or [Independent People]. The people don't have a lot of time for talk - they are busy trying to survive. And the main interaction is between the individual and the wilderness. However, within that, the characters grow and you get to know them through their actions and fortitude (or lack thereof!).

One of my favorites so far this year.

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LibraryThing member Candl

A fascinating piece of writing, Ehle puts you inside the minds of illiterate yet aware early settlers of North Carolina. It is an elegiac work that sticks with you like a prayer. Yet oddly there is no god in this place or these people. It is poetry more than history.

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