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On The Gull's Road
On the Gulls' Road is a short story by Willa Cather. It was first published in December 1908. On the Gull's Road is a touching memoir of Alexandra Deppling's unrequited love on a ship from Genoa to New York City with Mrs. Ebbling. Despite illness, and a dandy of a husband, their love is indesputable.
Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1908
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107 people want to read
About the author
Willa Cather
948 books2,814 followersWilella Sibert Cather was born in Back Creek Valley (Gore), Virginia, in December 7, 1873.
She grew up in Virginia and Nebraska. She then attended the University of Nebraska, initially planning to become a physician, but after writing an article for the Nebraska State Journal, she became a regular contributor to this journal. Because of this, she changed her major and graduated with a bachelor's degree in English.
After graduation in 1894, she worked in Pittsburgh as writer for various publications and as a school teacher for approximately 13 years, thereafter moving to New York City for the remainder of her life.
Her novels on frontier life brought her to national recognition. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, 'One of Ours' (1922), set during World War I. She travelled widely and often spent summers in New Brunswick, Canada. In later life, she experienced much negative criticism for her conservative politics and became reclusive, burning some of her letters and personal papers, including her last manuscript.
She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1943. In 1944, Cather received the gold medal for fiction from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, an award given once a decade for an author's total accomplishments.
She died of a cerebral haemorrhage at the age of 73 in New York City.
She grew up in Virginia and Nebraska. She then attended the University of Nebraska, initially planning to become a physician, but after writing an article for the Nebraska State Journal, she became a regular contributor to this journal. Because of this, she changed her major and graduated with a bachelor's degree in English.
After graduation in 1894, she worked in Pittsburgh as writer for various publications and as a school teacher for approximately 13 years, thereafter moving to New York City for the remainder of her life.
Her novels on frontier life brought her to national recognition. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, 'One of Ours' (1922), set during World War I. She travelled widely and often spent summers in New Brunswick, Canada. In later life, she experienced much negative criticism for her conservative politics and became reclusive, burning some of her letters and personal papers, including her last manuscript.
She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1943. In 1944, Cather received the gold medal for fiction from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, an award given once a decade for an author's total accomplishments.
She died of a cerebral haemorrhage at the age of 73 in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
July 12, 2017
Everything about this short story by Willa Cather is simply breathtaking. I was consumed by the sea, soaking in the beautiful images of the lilac haze over Vesuvius, the tranquil, purple sea off the coast of Sardinia, and the swelling, bright blue waters of the Atlantic. The sea itself seemed to echo the stirring emotions of these kindred souls. I didn't have a tissue at hand, but I sure could have used one. If you haven't read Cather yet, please hurry up and do so!
March 9, 2016
Another beautiful story by Willa Cather. All of it; the characters, the writing, the story, all of it. Love at first sight; not just visual and physical, but mind melding, heart melding, love at first sight. But there is a catch, and it's the catch that will give you a big sigh, and maybe even cause you to shed a tear.
September 19, 2017
3.5 ★
I haven't read Cather's novels . . . yet.
I was hoping this very early short story written before her more famous works might wet my appetite.
Success! It also made me want to cruise the seas surrounding Italy. Beautiful descriptions and writing which I enjoyed more than the story itself.
It can be read online at the following link:
https://americanliterature.com/author...
I haven't read Cather's novels . . . yet.
I was hoping this very early short story written before her more famous works might wet my appetite.
Success! It also made me want to cruise the seas surrounding Italy. Beautiful descriptions and writing which I enjoyed more than the story itself.
It can be read online at the following link:
https://americanliterature.com/author...
September 15, 2017
3.5 stars
On Gull's Road by Willa Cather gives us a taste of her beautiful descriptive writing. The tenderness, and love between the narrator and beautiful, ill Alexandra while on a ship crossing the ocean from Italy to New York City is unmistakable. It was as if I was also on the ship feeling the movement on the water, the wind blowing, smelling the salt water, the magnolias, hearing him ask for permission to draw her picture and her whisper with permission, watching the sea and discretely watching the two of them. This short story is very believable and sad.
I found some background knowledge about Willa Cather on the back cover of her book O Pioneers!
-'WILLA SIBERT CATHER was born in rural Virginia in 1873, but at the age of nine she moved with her family to the virtually uninhabitable Nebraska frontier, an uprooting that one critic called "undoubtedly the determinative event of [her] life." One of seven children, she distinguished herself in the small town of Red Cloud by cutting her hair short and dressing as a boy. She graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1895, then moved to Pittsburgh and worked for 10 years as a journalist and high school English teacher, writing and publishing stories and poetry all along. Her first book was a collection of poems, April Twilight (1902), and a volume of stories, The Troll Garden, followed two years later. At the age of 32 Cather moved to New York City to work at McClure's magazine, and continued publishing stories in that and other prestigious publications. Cather resigned from McClure's right before the appearance of her Jamesian first novel, Alexander's Bridge (1912), and began traveling in the Southwest, a region that would figure prominently in her later writing. With her second novel, O Pioneers!, Cather discovered her distinctive voice. Her other works include The Song of the Lark (1915), One of Ours(1922; Pulitzer Prize), A Lost Lady (1923), The Professor's House (1925), and Shadows on the Rock (1931). She died in her New York apartment on April 24, 1947.'.
On Gull's Road by Willa Cather gives us a taste of her beautiful descriptive writing. The tenderness, and love between the narrator and beautiful, ill Alexandra while on a ship crossing the ocean from Italy to New York City is unmistakable. It was as if I was also on the ship feeling the movement on the water, the wind blowing, smelling the salt water, the magnolias, hearing him ask for permission to draw her picture and her whisper with permission, watching the sea and discretely watching the two of them. This short story is very believable and sad.
I found some background knowledge about Willa Cather on the back cover of her book O Pioneers!
-'WILLA SIBERT CATHER was born in rural Virginia in 1873, but at the age of nine she moved with her family to the virtually uninhabitable Nebraska frontier, an uprooting that one critic called "undoubtedly the determinative event of [her] life." One of seven children, she distinguished herself in the small town of Red Cloud by cutting her hair short and dressing as a boy. She graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1895, then moved to Pittsburgh and worked for 10 years as a journalist and high school English teacher, writing and publishing stories and poetry all along. Her first book was a collection of poems, April Twilight (1902), and a volume of stories, The Troll Garden, followed two years later. At the age of 32 Cather moved to New York City to work at McClure's magazine, and continued publishing stories in that and other prestigious publications. Cather resigned from McClure's right before the appearance of her Jamesian first novel, Alexander's Bridge (1912), and began traveling in the Southwest, a region that would figure prominently in her later writing. With her second novel, O Pioneers!, Cather discovered her distinctive voice. Her other works include The Song of the Lark (1915), One of Ours(1922; Pulitzer Prize), A Lost Lady (1923), The Professor's House (1925), and Shadows on the Rock (1931). She died in her New York apartment on April 24, 1947.'.
July 12, 2017
A beautifully written, bittersweet love story. Willa Cather always pleases, on both a sensual and an emotional level.
June 27, 2017
Beautiful short story. Willa Cathers writing is wonderful. So many emotions and the descriptions of the sea are stunning..
I love this story.
Wonder if she has a short story collection?
I love this story.
Wonder if she has a short story collection?
September 3, 2017
3 stars
Regretfully I did not enjoy this short story very much. Which really surprised me because I have fully enjoyed Cather's novels.
While sailing to a new job, a young man falls in love with an ill, and married, woman on the ship. He spends time with her, draws her picture, and eventually asks her to run away with him. She declines and upon leaving gives him a small box, asking him not to open it until he hears from her again. After her death her letter reaches him. It is then that he is able to open the keepsake she left for him.
Cather is known to 'attend to landscape and seascape, as well as the relationships between people.' And she did a good job of that in this brief story, however I guess I did not feel and read the richness that she brings to her novels. I can't say I was left wanting after reading this story, but I was just not as fulfilled as I expected.
Regretfully I did not enjoy this short story very much. Which really surprised me because I have fully enjoyed Cather's novels.
While sailing to a new job, a young man falls in love with an ill, and married, woman on the ship. He spends time with her, draws her picture, and eventually asks her to run away with him. She declines and upon leaving gives him a small box, asking him not to open it until he hears from her again. After her death her letter reaches him. It is then that he is able to open the keepsake she left for him.
Cather is known to 'attend to landscape and seascape, as well as the relationships between people.' And she did a good job of that in this brief story, however I guess I did not feel and read the richness that she brings to her novels. I can't say I was left wanting after reading this story, but I was just not as fulfilled as I expected.
June 6, 2015
I've arranged my thoughts into a haiku:
"Sometime love's sweeter
When reason isn't present,
And it's only words."
"Sometime love's sweeter
When reason isn't present,
And it's only words."
November 19, 2021
A beautiful love story that reminded me of the movie Titantic but with an ill woman and an ending as if it never sunk and what could have happened after. Willa Cather's writing is such perfection and so eloquent that she brings you in quickly and you never want to let go. Author's who can do that in short stories are unbelievable talented.
October 12, 2014
"The sea before us was so rich and heavy and opaque that it might have been lapis lazuli. It was the blue of legend, simply; the color that satisfies the soul like sleep."
"There is something in each of us that does not belong to the family or to society, not even to ourselves. Sometimes it is given in marriage, and sometimes it is given in love, but oftener it is never given at all. We have nothing to do with giving or withholding it. It is a wild thing that sings in us once and flies away and never comes back, and mine has flown to you."
"There is something in each of us that does not belong to the family or to society, not even to ourselves. Sometimes it is given in marriage, and sometimes it is given in love, but oftener it is never given at all. We have nothing to do with giving or withholding it. It is a wild thing that sings in us once and flies away and never comes back, and mine has flown to you."
January 20, 2019
The reader who starts reading the short story 'On the Gull's Road' written by Willa Cather will probably be impressed by the excellent writing style of this author. Basically, it is a story of love told by the narrator. Twenty years ago he had a journey on a cruise ship from Genoa to New York City.
A recollection of the time he had during the meetings on the ship's deck with a young married woman was kept in his memory forever. They talked about traveling, about Italian cities which they were floating through, and about the places where they had come which were very remarkable. The text creates the feeling for readers of being there; a kind of "effect of presence".
The story doesn't have a happy ending. It left readers with a feeling of nostalgia and, in some cases, recalled the past love: romantic and sincere.
This is a link to the text of the story:
https://americanliterature.com/author...
A recollection of the time he had during the meetings on the ship's deck with a young married woman was kept in his memory forever. They talked about traveling, about Italian cities which they were floating through, and about the places where they had come which were very remarkable. The text creates the feeling for readers of being there; a kind of "effect of presence".
The story doesn't have a happy ending. It left readers with a feeling of nostalgia and, in some cases, recalled the past love: romantic and sincere.
This is a link to the text of the story:
https://americanliterature.com/author...
July 22, 2017
Oh my, oh my...everything about this story is tremendously beautiful. The writing is so good - pure poetry. The characters are real, but not dull - very much alive and full of spark and vigour. And then the sea...ah! I couldn't ask for a better setting and leitmotif. The overall effect is quite emotionally stirring and touching, but not in a sentimental way. This is something that I usually have a hard time finding in works that deal with love as it takes a great artistic ability to portray the depths of the feeling verily. This is the type of story that will keep you so engaged and fully immersed into it that you'll feel the boundaries between fiction and reality starting to get blurred.
November 15, 2023
With all the rich imagery and flourishes of creative writing, the reader is lulled into thinking they have read a longer story than it is. This is a beautiful story of "it might have been." A young man falls in love with a beautiful married woman who is ill. They are traveling on a ship around the islands of Italy. When they part, she gives the young man a box to be opened when she tells him to do so.
The more I read Willa Cather, the more I know she was a National Treasure. Her stories are thought-provoking and wise. I learned something about human nature in each one.
The more I read Willa Cather, the more I know she was a National Treasure. Her stories are thought-provoking and wise. I learned something about human nature in each one.
July 16, 2017
Cather's beautiful prose and wonderful descriptions of the setting put you on the journey. This is a precious, heartbreaking love story. A small masterpiece. I ached for them and empathized with the hopelessness of the situation. Sob.
February 25, 2021
Oh, what rich, beautiful prose! It made one who never much cared for the sea nearly swoon for the vivid, aquamarine waters and vibrant mist of seawater.
This story shall not soon be leaving my thoughts. It is an unusual story for me—one that I grow fonder of by the minute.
This story shall not soon be leaving my thoughts. It is an unusual story for me—one that I grow fonder of by the minute.
October 7, 2024
A sweet, sad tale of a young man who falls in love with a woman while he is on a cruise ship. There are two issues: she is married, and she has a serious illness. The short story follows the course of their relationship and its inevitable end.
October 10, 2017
This was a great short story. It didn't take much over five minutes to read. I shall read some more of Cather's works.
February 27, 2023
Written so beautifully that you can see each and every moment as you read it. A beautiful yet somewhat tragic ‘what if’
May 22, 2023
I didn't hate it. I didn't love it. But it was well written.
December 31, 2023
A most beautiful and devastatingly real love story. Every word of Willa Cather’s is carefully and intentionally chosen. My heart was moved.
July 24, 2025
Melancholic story, but many of Cather's writings are.
February 16, 2026
Well, the writing is beautiful, without a doubt. But this kind of painstaking love, that appears out of nowhere is a bit hard to comprehend for me.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews