The Wheel of Earth

An American novel. In Kentucky in 1925, sixteen-year-old Ellen Gaddy works on the family farm, founded by a French ancestor. Her father, a stern Catholic, pins all his hopes on her younger sister, Frankie, who studies the piano. Ellen falls for Christian, a young farmhand, who forces himself on her and then vanishes; pregnant, she hides her condition from her family and leaves the farm. The novel follows her over a dozen years, through the Great Depression, to the rhythm of the seasons, the animals and folk songs. A sensitive and unvarnished portrait of rural life.