A New York lawyer remembers his boyhood in Nebraska and his friendship with Antonia, a courageous immigrant woman. Infused with a gracious passion for the land, My Antonia embraces its uncommon subject- - the hardscrabble life of the pioneer woman on the prairie-- with poetic certitude, rendering a deeply moving portrait of an entire community. Through Jim Burden's endearing, smitten voice, we revisit the remarkable vicissitudes of immigrant life in the Nebraska heartland with all its insistent bonds. Guiding the way are some of literature's most beguiling characters: the Russian brothers plagued by memories of a fateful sleigh ride, Antonia's desperately homesick father and self-indulgent mother, and the coy Lena Lingard. Holding the pastoral society's heart, of course, is the bewitching, free-spirited Antonia Shimerda.
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