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Sweet Fields Beyond

A Novel of the Iowa Frontier

By: Nancy Johnston Hall

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Paperback | 31 October 2025

At a Glance

Paperback
314 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
20.96 x 14.61 x 1.78

Paperback

RRP $27.49

$26.75

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A THOUGHT-PROVOKING TALE OF SURVIVAL, MORAL RECKONING AND THE MAKING OF HOME IN A WILD LAND

THE YEAR IS 1837. When widow Louisa Evans, with no belongings or purpose, joins her sister and brother-in-law on a 700-mile arduous trek by wagon train from Pennsylvania, she hopes for a fresh start. Their destination is the Black Hawk Purchase, a wild, unsettled expanse along the Mississippi, soon to be called Iowa.

AND THE JOURNEY WEST IS ONLY THE BEGINNING . . .

WHEN TRAGEDY STRIKES, Louisa and her brother-in-law, Isaac, must build a farm alone on virgin land, enduring backbreaking labor, shared grief, and impossible moral choices. Through her unflinching journal, Louisa records each trial in a voice both lyrical and candid, a widow's quiet passage from invisibility toward self-possession.

Industry Reviews

"This is an extraordinary piece of writing, so beautifully done and so moving. I am a man born in the 20th century, what would I know of a woman in the early 19th century, a farm woman, and I am a city boy? But, I totally feel Louisa in my bones."

Bill Arthur, journalist and author of Fearrington: Creating an English-Style Village in the Carolina Countryside

"Truly gripping and readable. And as any good historical novel does, Sweet Fields Beyond allows the reader to learn factual details, and in the process, to enjoy a rich story well told."

Susan Ketchin, editor and author of The Christ-Haunted Landscape: Faith and Doubt in Southern Fiction

"Nancy nailed it! I loved the story, her use of language, the characters ... I really do miss them all, now that I am through. I will have this story, and Louisa, with me for a long time."

Ruth Decker Steen, Beta Reader, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

"Once I started, I couldn't stop reading. I thought about the characters the whole day. I even had a dream about them!"

Carol W. Runyan, Professor Emerita, Gillings School of Global Public Health

University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

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You Can Find This Book In

Fiction Historical Fiction Contemporary Women's Fiction Romance Western Romance

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Sweet Fields Beyond

A Novel of the Iowa Frontier

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

More in Historical Fiction

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