At the Foot of the Rainbow

Gene Stratton-Porter set this short novel in the marshes and farm country of northern Indiana, the same wetland world she loved and later worked to protect. It follows two close friends, the steady Dutchman Dannie Macnoun and the charming, careless Irishman Jimmy Malone, whose bond is quietly complicated by Jimmy’s wife, Mary, and the feelings Dannie keeps to himself. Their days of fishing, trapping, and working the land carry an easy warmth, but jealousy, a buried secret, and Jimmy’s weaknesses pull the three toward a painful reckoning. Written with the author’s close eye for birds, water, and weather, it reads as both a nature study and a tender story about loyalty and love. Free PDF and EPUB editions are available to read and download.