Lamb In HIs Bosom

LAMB IN HIS BOSOM
by Caroline Miller

 Award: Pulitzer Winner 1934

 Date Read: February 18, 2017

 Lamb In His Bosom cannot be mentioned without references to Gone With The Wind. Due to the popularity of Lamb In His Bosom, the publisher sought out other southern novels and stumbled onto Margaret Mitchell. Of course, I will get to Gone With The Wind in due course.

 This novel tells the story of Lonzo and Cean, a young married couple, who are attempting to make their way in the world through grit and determination. Lamb In His Bosom describes the harsh realities of the Georgia frontier and the skills and mindset necessary to survive, both internal and external. Miller has an exceptional ability to describe the mundaneness of daily life - from the joy and sorrow of raising multiple children, to the faith required to trust your very existence to the soil. 

 Lamb In His Bosom is unique in that it tells the story of an alternate South to that of Gone With The Wind, the non-slaveholding, poor South that had no real stake in the Civil War. The other notable feature of this novel is Miller's focus on the struggles of Cean and what a young mother must endure to raise her family. I am so glad this novel was among the award winners I read because I never would have known of its existence, let alone picked it up.

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