Lantern in Her Hand

First published in 1928, "A Lantern in Her Hand" has outlasted literary fashions to touch generations of readers. In this classic story of a pioneer woman, Bess Streeter Aldrich modeled protagonist Abbie Deal on her own mother, who in 1854 had traveled by covered wagon to the Midwest. In "A Lantern in Her Hand", Abbie accompanies her family to the soon-to-be-state of Nebraska. There, in 1865, she marries and settles into her own sod house. The novel describes Abbie's years of child-raising, of making a frontier home able to withstand every adversity.A disciplined writer knowledgeable about true stories of pioneer days in Nebraska, Bess Streeter Aldrich conveys the strength of everyday things, the surprise of familiar faces, and the look of the unspoiled landscape during different seasons. Refusing to bebroken by hard experience, Abbie sets a joyful example for her family-and for her readers. This Bison Books edition includes Bess Streeter Aldrich's own story of how she came to write "A Lantern in Her Hand". Among the other Aldrich books reprinted by the University of Nebraska Press is "A White Bird Flying" (first published in 1931), the sequel to "A Lantern in Her Hand".