Second Growth [B2035]

1985 PB reprint of the 1947 original, with amazingly little wear. A New England village, untouched by history since the American Revolution, is the unquiet arena containing, but just barely, the aloof natives and the summer residents. Their paths cross, happily or disastrously, in a book that seems too real to be fiction. As Wallace Stegner writes, the conflict on this particular frontier "has been reproduced in an endlessly changing pattern all over the United States."

From recent-ish Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Not Stegner's usual but highly recommended. Early Stegner."; "Three stories blended into one. Stegner is a craftsman. Terrific read about small town life and human behavior."; "A plot as relevant today as it was when first published in 1947. The age-old story of a rural community in decline. Could be a village in any country in the world. The paradox of the residents and their dying town and the neighboring academics who find refuge and sustenance in the same community every summer. An early Stegner novel, brilliantly written and with incredible texture. Stegner never disappoints, and this is one to be especially savored."; "As with all books I've read by Wallace Stegner, I loved this one. I really felt like I was living in that town; kind of a readjustment to remember I wasn't after finishing the book."