Trials of the Earth by Mary Mann Hamilton

It's impossible not to root for this woman.'― Amy Gentry, Chicago Tribune Trials of the Earth is a firsthand account of this backbreaking labor. 'Wherever there is men's work, you can bet women's work is happening invisibly in the background. Told with precision and searing honesty, Hamilton's captivating and cinematic autobiography deserves to be a classic.'― Ann Weisgarber, author of The Personal History of Rachel DuPree and The Promise first-person accounts are important testimonials about what used to be.'― Melanie Kirkpatrick, Wall Street Journal How fortunate that the manuscript of Trials of the Earth didn't meet that same fate.'― Maureen Corrigan, NPR's Fresh Air Beyond everything else, this memoir impresses on readers just how easy it was to vanish in an earlier America. 'It's the backstory that will first grab a reader, but it's Hamilton's gift for storytelling in her blunt voice that makes this memoir such a standout. One of the Best Books of the Year, The Chicago Tribune― 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. Written in spare, rich prose, Trials of the Earth is a precious record of one woman's extraordinary endurance and courage that will resonate with readers of history and fiction alike. Eighty-three years later, in partnership with Mary Mann Hamilton's descendants, we're proud to share this irreplaceable piece of American history. It didn't win, and we almost lost the chance to bring this raw, vivid narrative to readers. The result is this astonishing first-person account of a pioneer woman who braved grueling work, profound tragedy, and a pitiless wilderness (she and her family faced floods, tornadoes, fires, bears, panthers, and snakes) to protect her home in the early American South.Īn early draft of Trials of the Earth was submitted to a writers' competition sponsored by Little, Brown in 1933. Near the end of her life, Mary Mann Hamilton (1866 - c.1936) began recording her experiences in the backwoods of the Mississippi Delta. The astonishing first-person account of Mississippi pioneer woman struggling to survive, protect her family and make a home in the early American South

Trials of the Earth by Mary Mann Hamilton