I finished reading My Ántonia by Willa Cather (1918). I loved it! It was one of the best reading experiences I’ve had recently.

The novel is told through the eyes of Jim, who grows up on the plains of Nebraska in the late 1800s. A new immigrant family from Bohemia moves to the area to farm and their young daughter, Ántonia, soon befriends young Jim.

Cather brings the characters and the land alive, as Jim and Ántonia grow and their worlds overlap and evolve. The characters and the landscape are given such vivid solidity that the reader can almost feel their presence.

This was a beautiful book that reached both backward to memories and forward to hope.

“The prayers of all good people are good,” he said quietly.