Daughter of Earth

Another vintage Virago from my local second-hand book store! Agnes Smedley's Daughter of Earth is the coming of age story of Marie Roberts, a girl of American Indian heritage who rises from extreme poverty to find a sense of self and purpose when she discovers socialism. It's also a semi-autobiographical account of the life of Agnes Smedley. It's certainly not a light read, but an absorbing account of poverty-stricken American families living and working on the land in the early part of the twentieth century. Reading this novel has made want to re-read Willa Cather and Louise Erdrich, powerful writers who examine the lives of those who live and work on the prairies and plains. Here's an extract from Daughter of Earth:

I recall a crazy-quilt my mother once had. She made it from the remnants of gay and beautiful cotton materials. She also made a quilt of solid blue. I would stand gazing at the blue quilt for a little time, but the crazy-quilt held me for hours. It was an adventure. I shall gather up these fragments of my life and make a crazy-quilt of them. Or a mosaic of interesting patterns - unity in diversity. This will be an adventure.