A Thousand Acres

Summary

A retelling of King Lear set on a thousand-acre Iowa farm, where an aging patriarch's sudden decision to divide his land among his three daughters cracks open long-buried family violence and the costs of postwar industrial agriculture. Smiley narrates from the eldest daughter's point of view, recasting Shakespeare's drama as a story about land, inheritance, and women's silenced histories. The novel is a landmark of late-twentieth-century American feminist fiction.