A Lost Lady

Marian Forrester is the gracious, magnetic wife of Captain Daniel Forrester, an aging railroad pioneer whose fortunes are fading along with the frontier West he helped build. In the small Nebraska town of Sweet Water, young Niel Herbert idolizes her, and it is largely through his watching eyes that Willa Cather traces Marian’s charm, her restlessness, and the compromises she makes as the old order gives way to a cruder, more grasping generation. Spare and elegiac, this short novel mourns the passing of the pioneer era while refusing to sentimentalize the woman at its center. It ranks among Cather’s most admired and enduring works. Free to read as a PDF and EPUB edition.