Writing for her life

"Drawing on family memories, letters, diaries, reviews, and, in particular, the notebooks that Mildred Walker (1905-1998) kept for each novel, Hugo fashions an absorbing account of how her mother's characters emerged in the landscapes that she visited again and again: Vermont, the Midwest, and, most frequently, Montana, the setting for the classic Winter Wheat.

Alongside this developing picture of a writer at work - shaping her contribution to western America's literary history over half a century - Hugo shows us the proper mother and social creature as carefully and consciously crafted; between the two lovingly detailed portrayals, we glimpse the depths of a life thus divided."--BOOK JACKET.