A virtuosic portrait of midcentury America itself--physically stalwart, unerringly generous, hopeful that tragedy can be mitigated through faith in land and neighbor alike . . . This is a refined realism of the sort Flaubert himself championed, storytelling that accrues detail by lean detail . . . Hunt's prose is galvanized by powerful questions. Who were those forebears who tilled the land for decades, seemingly without complaint? How did they fashion happiness, or manage soaring passions, in their conformist communities? He re-examines the pastoral with ardent precision . . . What Hunt ultimately gives us is a pure and shining book, an America where community becomes a 'symphony of souls,' a sustenance greater than romance or material wealth for those wise enough to join in.