Barren Ground

The dramatic story of one woman's struggle to find her destiny—and herself—in Reconstruction-era Virginia by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author.

In the years following the Civil War, joy is hard to come by for twenty-year-old Dorinda Oakley. The daughter of a struggling farmer in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Dorinda is an intelligent, independent, and passionate young woman who dreams of life outside of her poor community. For the past year, she has worked at Nathan Pedlar's Store to h...