The Time of Man

Book excerpt: This Pulitzer Prize–nominated classic is “one of the most authentic and moving depictions of a woman’s identity and experience” (Appalachian Journal). With her 1926 debut novel, Kentucky writer and poet Elizabeth Madox Roberts delivers a poignant look at a young girl’s coming of age on the farms where her family toils. Ellen Chesser is used to life on the rural roads of Kentucky, traveling from place to place with her family—led by her father, Henry, an itinerant farmer—to put money in their pockets and food in their mouths. But after their wagon breaks down, Henry is offered work on a tobacco farm and a house to stay in—a job that becomes permanent when he is offered the tenant’s place. Accustomed to the wandering life, at first Ellen does not want to settle down, especially with her best friend still on the road. But she soon comes to enjoy the daily rhythms of the farm, her bed, and a newfound feeling of security. And when her father gets an even better job at another farm, Ellen finds that her solitary days have come to end. In the small community, she begins to make friends—and even finds an opportunity to fall in love. But like the seasons, good and bad times come and go, and dark secrets threaten Ellen’s newfound happiness and peace . . . “This is a book that embraces life. . . . Written in a prose at once lucid and arresting, rhythmical, fresh in phrasing and construction, giving always the effect of effortless arrangement.” —The New York Times “This . . . epic novel of Americana is now considered a classic.” —Kentucky Living