The Whistling Season
The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig, published by Harcourt in 2007, is a first edition novel that spans 345 pages. Set in the early twentieth century American West, the story captures the unique characters and institutions that shaped the era. The narrative begins with a newspaper ad for a housekeeper, which leads widower Oliver Milliron to the unforgettable Rose Llewellyn and her knowledgeable brother, Morris Morgan, who arrive in Marias Coulee during a transformative season.
Readers will find a rich exploration of family life and the historical context of the time, as the characters navigate the challenges posed by a burgeoning irrigation project and the dynamics of a one-room schoolhouse. The arrival of Rose and Morris introduces various forms of education that extend beyond traditional learning, impacting Oliver and his three sons, as well as the local students. This novel presents a vivid portrayal of a way of life that has largely disappeared, showcasing Doig’s evocative storytelling.
Official synopsis Publisher
Novelist Ivan Doig revisits the American west in the early twentieth century, bringing to life the eccentric individuals and idiosyncratic institutions that made it thrive.
“Can’t cook but doesn’t bite.” So begins the newspaper ad offering the services of an “A-1 housekeeper, sound morals, exceptional disposition” that draws the attention of widower Oliver Milliron in the fall of 1909. That unforgettable season deposits the ever-whistling Rose Llewellyn and her font-of-knowledge brother, Morris Morgan, in Marias Coulee along with a stampede of homesteaders drawn by the promise of the Big Ditch–a gargantuan irrigation project intended to make the Montana prairie bloom. When the schoolmarm runs off with an itinerant preacher, Morris is pressed into service, setting the stage for the “several kinds of education”–none of them of the textbook variety–Morris and Rose will bring to Oliver, his three sons, and the rambunctious students in the region’s one-room schoolhouse. A paean to a way of life that has long since vanished,The Whistling Season is Ivan Doig at his evocative best.
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