New Hope

by Ruth Suckow, Patricia E.M. Daly (Foreword)

A writer of wide experience, Ruth Suckow nevertheless remained focused on small-town life; one could even call her the Jane Austen of small-town America. Many of her characters were the "sparrows of Iowa," ordinary folks whom she made extraordinary by writing about them. In her 1942 novel about the little community of New Hope, written during the desperate days of World War II, life is marked by unusual optimism, openness, mutual care, trust, communal spirit, democracy, and above all light. Life in New Hope recaptures a feeling of youth that would seem overly idealistic if it were not for Suckow's unflinching realism. As seen through the eyes of its Edenic main characters--Clarence Miller, son of the town's banker and chief booster, and Delight Greenwood, daughter of the Congregational minister who serves New Hope during the two years of the novel--the town itself is the protagonist. Death, crime, and heartbreak intervene, but a sense of freedom and possibility, "where all were to share equally in the boundlessness of light and hope," always illuminates the town. This sunlit novel, with its blend of romance and reality, reintroduces a regional writer whom H. L. Mencken called "unquestionably the most remarkable woman . . . writing stories in the republic."

358 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1998

About the author

Ruth Suckow (August 6, 1892 – January 23, 1960) was an American author.

Suckow is sometimes recalled as a "regionalist," but she did not consider herself such a writer. She said that she wrote about "people, situations, and their meaning." Her fiction was often set in Iowa, but was not parochial in outlook. Today her writing has value for readers who enjoy good storytelling as well as for social historians looking for details about life in the early 20th century, particularly in the small towns of Iowa.

Suckow's childhood home has been preserved at Calliope Village in Hawarden, Iowa.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good story about an earlier time (early 1900's).....it follows 2 years in a small town in western Iowa, near the South Dakota border. Suckow is very good at describing ...everything about her story.....the reader can almost feel that they're in that time period!

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me back to a time in which I couldn't have lived because I wasn't born yet, but it felt like I was living it. Sweet, tnder, slow paced, realistic with a great message.