''Plainsong'' is a bestselling novel by

Kent Haruf Alan Kent Haruf (February 24, 1943 – November 30, 2014) was an American novelist. Life Haruf was born in Pueblo, Colorado, the son of a Methodist minister. In 1965 he graduated with a BA from Nebraska Wesleyan University, where he would later ...

. Set in the fictional town of Holt,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, it tells the interlocking stories of some of the inhabitants. The title comes from a type of unadorned music sung in Christian churches, and is a reference to both the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

setting and the simple style of the writing. The novel was adapted in 2004 into a

Hallmark Hall of Fame ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'', originally called ''Hallmark Television Playhouse'', is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City-based greeting card company. The longest-running prime-time series in t ...

TV movie on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

. It is the first of a trilogy, the remaining two novels being ''Eventide'' and ''Benediction''.

Plot summary

The book follows several stories of families in a small town in eastern Colorado. Maggie is the link between many of the other characters and strands of the novel. She introduces Victoria to the McPheron brothers, and has a romantic relationship with Tom.

Central characters

*Tom Guthrie, a history teacher whose wife is growing more distant and disturbed. *Ike and Bobby, Tom's young sons that struggle with the abandonment of their mother. *Victoria Roubideaux, one of Tom's teenage pupils. When Victoria becomes pregnant, her alcoholic mother forces her to leave the house. Maggie Jones allows her to live with her until she is frightened by Jones's senile father. She later comes to live with the McPherons. *Raymond and Harold McPheron, bachelor farmers who give Victoria a home and care for her. *Maggie Jones, another schoolteacher at the local school who first takes in Victoria, but Victoria leaves because of Maggie's father's behavior.

Critical reception

The ''New York Times'' called it "a novel so foursquare, so delicate and lovely, that it has the power to exalt the reader." and ''Salon'' described reading the book as "like being in an expertly piloted small plane, finding yourself flying low and smooth over the suddenly wondrous world below". ''Plainsong'' won the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Award, the Maria Thomas Award in Fiction, and was a finalist for the National Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and The New Yorker Book Award.

References

{{reflist

External links

Meet the Writers: Kent Haruf
Barnes and Noble profile and interview
Book review: Plainsong
Salon.com, Maria Russo, October 18, 1999 1999 American novels Alfred A. Knopf books Novels about teenage pregnancy Novels set in Colorado English-language novels American novels adapted into films American novels adapted into television shows