The Harvester

by Gene Stratton-Porter
Category: "Fiction - Romance"
Pages:516
Year of Publication:1911
Date Added:08/04/2015
Date Read:08/18/2015
Notes:David Langston lives alone in the woods in Indiana. He makes his living growing and harvesting medicinal plants. One night he has a vision of a beautiful girl coming to him on the moonlight. He takes it as a sign and begins watching for the girl. As the months pass, he builds her a cabin in his woods and furnishes it with everything he thinks a girl would want. Finally, he sees his dream girl getting off a train but loses sight of her. He begins searching, going door to door and wandering the streets of the nearby town. He finally meets her while out gathering plants. Her name is Ruth. She is sickly and poor and lives with her sick aunt and abusive uncle. They meet whenever possible, and he teaches her about the woods. When the aunt dies, the uncle threatens her with violence. David responds the only way he can think of ... by offering her refuge in his cabin. They stop in town and get married, but he refuses to touch her until he is sure she loves him as he loves her. She declines in health and is pronounced dead, but David doesn't give up and gives her a dose of an experimental medicine he's been working on. It takes a long time, but she recovers. Then he finds out she is the granddaughter of a wealthy couple in Philadelphia. The grandparents are sad because they were alienated from their daughter (Ruth's mother) and they know there is a granddaughter out there but can't find her. David sends Ruth to visit, and she is introduced to all that wealth and society can afford. But she can't forget David and, in the spring, returns to him with her grandparents and, more importantly, her love.
My Rating: 7

Reviews for The Harvester

Review - Harvester, The

I bought the book when we toured Gene Stratton-Porter's houses in Indiana. The guides at both houses told us that this, while not her most famous book, was the best selling during her lifetime. It was ridiculously corny, with frequent digressions into descriptions of room furnishings, dishes, plants, etc. But still I couldn't help liking, and rooting for the characters. It's not a book that would be published today, and it's never likely to become famous again, but it was hugely popular in 1911 and so is a good picture of that time. Stratton-Porter's theology is apparent throughout, with it's weird mix of traditional Christianity, theistic evolution (she refers to God in one place as "the Great Evolver"), mysticism and fable.

Reviewed by Roger on 2015-08-18 08:51:08

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