Jim Burden, a young orphan sent to live with relatives in Nebraska, grows up alongside Bohemian immigrant Ántonia Shimerda. But while their childhoods are shared, their paths soon diverge, spurred on by the effects of dire poverty on the Shimerda family.
Cather’s novel was met with instant acclaim: in it she paints a portrait of the beautiful, unforgiving Nebraskan landscape and honours the lives of ordinary people during a pivotal era in American history.
Romance