The Light of the Star. A Novel

The harsh conditions of life as a farm laborer in Wisconsin, Iowa, and South Dakota spurred Hamlin Garland to seek refuge in Boston, where he encountered realist writer William Dean Howells. With Howells' encouragement, Garland sought to recapture the experiences of his youth in fiction, resulting in Main-Travelled Roads (1891), Boy Life on the Prairie (1893) and Wayside Courtships (1897). With time, Garland came to believe that realistic fiction must be combined with a democratic purpose, resulting in novels supporting the Populist Party and exposing injustice against Native Americans. His non-fiction work A Daughter of the Middle Border (1921) won the Pulitzer Prize.