A Thousand Acres: A Novel - Softcover

"Brilliant. . . . Absorbing. . . . A thrilling work of art." --Chicago Sun-Times

"A family portrait that is also a near-epic investigation into the broad landscape, the thousand dark acres of the human heart. . . . The book has all the stark brutality of a Shakespearean tragedy." --The Washington Post Book World

"Powerful and poignant." --The New York Times Book Review

"Superb. . . . There seems to be nothing Smiley can't write about fabulously well." --San Francisco Chronicle

"It has been a long time since a novel so surprised me with its power to haunt. . . . A Thousand Acres [has] the prismatic quality of the greatest art." --Chicago Tribune

"Absorbing. . . . Exhilarating. . . . An engrossing piece of fiction." --Time

"A full, commanding novel. . . . A story bound and tethered to a lonely road in the Midwest, but drawn from a universal source. . . . Profoundly American." --The Boston Globe

On a prosperous Iowa farm in the 1970s, wealthy farmer Lawrence Cook announces his intentions to divide the farm among his daughters, setting off a family crisis reminiscent of Shakespeare's "King Lear." Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 12,500 first printing.