I have read several books by this Nebraskan author of early last century, and while I enjoyed them all, this one is my favorite. I identified personally with the main character, Laura Deal, on many different levels and so this book spoke to me in ways that the others didn’t.
We start the story with Laura Deal at twelve years old, visiting the house of her recently departed grandmother one last time. She walks through the house dispassionately at first, seeing herself as one of the characters in the stories she loves to write, but then the realization that her grandmother is gone sinks in and she finds herself sobbing uncontrollably. Grandma was the only person who understood the fierce desire she had to write; everyone else thought she was odd. Now that Grandma is dead, who will listen to her dreams?
Laura pulls out her grandmother’s scrapbook and reads one of the last entries made, a snippet of a poem by Margaret Widdemer. It reads: “Pain has been and grief enough and bitterness and crying, sharp ways and stony ways I think it was she trod, But all there is to see now is a white bird flying, Whose bloodstained wings go circling high, circling up to God.” Laura vows then and there to keep searching for that white bird in the sky, the one that will carry her far away and be the symbol of the fulfillment of her dreams.
As she grows up, Laura gets several chances to date, but she declines. Her life must be devoted to writing, and romance will only get in her way. Her family still thinks she is odd, and so she is, but she’s odd with a purpose now. Studying literature in school and determined to become a famous author, she focuses so intently on her budding career that she almost loses sight of the things that really matter, and comes disastrously close to selling her birthright for a mess of pottage.
This book was beautifully written, well constructed, and evoked tender emotions within me as I read.
(This book was first published in 1931 by D. Appleton and Company.)
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