The Land Breakers
“You can’t build a settlement here if you go alone,” could sum up the theme of this novel originally published in 1964. It’s 1779, and former apprentices Mooney and Imy Wright seek their own land in North Carolina. They buy a plot on a mountain outside of Morganton, but Imy is soon stricken with an illness and dies. Then well-off Tinkler Harrison arrives, accompanied by several slaves, his wife Belle, and his grass-widow daughter Lorry. Next comes work-shy Ernest Plover, father of Belle and Mina. Mooney contemplates marrying Mina, but decides Lorry will suit him better, despite the fact that she may still be married to long-absent husband Lacey. Lorry and her boys move in with Mooney, but she is faced with a dilemma when Lacey finally turns up. The climax involves a fateful drive of the settlement’s livestock to market, upon which all their fortunes may turn.
Ehle can trace his ancestry back to the first settlers in North Carolina and still lives there, according to Linda Spalding’s introduction. This undoubtedly gives him insight into effectively depicting the utter hardships of early settlers: being out of salt and with no means to get more, or fighting off bears that deplete their meager livestock. In one especially memorable scene, an immigrant couple accidentally stirs up a nest of overwintering snakes. Simple, spare prose such as: “Everybody was happy, was smiling now at this glistening house, slick and fat, like a solid toy…” creates vivid word pictures. A recommended classic.
