Novel
Settlers of the Marsh
Frederick P. Grove · 1925
Synopsis
North of the small town of Minor, Niels Lindstedt, a young Swede who arrived poor, takes a piece of land at the edge of the Big Marsh, clears it, builds the largest house in the district and becomes one of the most prosperous settlers. He dreams of a home with Ellen Amundsen, who rejects him: she saw her father break her mother and swore to her dying mother that no man would ever have power over her. Niels withdraws into work, until the evening when, detained in town, he meets Mrs. Vogel, the merry widow of the district, who has been watching for him for years.
Context
It is its author's first Canadian novel, published in 1925 in Toronto after two volumes of prairie sketches. It was accused of obscenity, and Churches warned their faithful against it. It appeared in the same year as Wild Geese by Martha Ostenso, another novel of the Prairies that critics compare to his. Since 1971, it has been known that its author was not the Swede he claimed to be, and that the pioneer of the narrative was not his compatriot.
Who it is for
A novel about the life of settlers in a district of Manitoba, in which farm work and the seasons take up a large place.
Prizes and reception
He is said to have introduced realism into the Canadian novel; it is reissued today in the Penguin Modern Classics.
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