Come Spring

The plains of Kansas in the 1880s serve as background to this first novel of homesteading life. In a situation reminiscent of Oklahoma!, the homesteaders vie for land with the town-buildersgrit and determination pitted against the wily, avaricious interests of the railroads. Fragile, artistic Aura Lee leaves her comfortable existence in St. Jo to live with her new husband, Daniel Hollingworth, in a primitive soddy on the prairie. The well-detailed rigors of daily life on the plains stretch Aura Lee to her limits, and when Daniel is forced to do railroad work to tide them over another season, she moves to a nearby embryonic town. Gateway City is the project of Graham Chapman, an unscrupulous entrepreneur who pursues Aura Lee and the Hollingworth homestead; Daniel is meanwhile seduced by the Valkyrian Lucinda, whose passion and stamina are fueled by the land's hardships. The story is painted in broad strokes and primary colors, but, to Hinger's credit, she does not oversimplify the characters or their conflicts. This is the first volume of a trilogy about the Hollingworth family. Reader's Digest Condensed Book Club selection. (March 17)