O Pioneers!

O Pioneers! is the story of Alexandra Bergson, a Swedish immigrant to the Nebraska plains. At the young age of twenty she is orphaned and left in charge of three younger brothers and a farm that is just barely supporting them. The two eldest boys are hard-working but unimaginative and dour. The youngest, Emil, is sweet, smart, and Alexandra’s pet.

Alexandra’s father leaves her in charge because he sees in her the intelligence and steadiness needed to make something of the land. (He suspects the boys will turn tail and run when time gets hard – and they almost do.) It is Alexandra who has the vision to make something of the farm and enrich them all. She is fair-handed with her brothers, but she particularly dotes on Emil. She sends him off to college so that he will have a chance to make something more of himself – the American dream.

Romance