Some Luck

The first novel in her The Last Hundred Years Trilogy, Pulitzer Prize-winning American author Jane Smiley’s Some Luck (2014) is the story of three generations in the lives of an Iowa farm family, the Langdons. An epic family saga of hard existences and changing times, it is an intimate character study of the various people and personalities that populate this specific midwestern clan.

The novel opens in the winter of 1920, as Walter Langdon checks the fence along the creek of his family's property. Just as he is about to ensure the fence's stability, an owl soars out of a nearby tree. In a moment of awe, Walter watches the owl streak across the silver-white sky, first enchanted by its majesty, then impressed by its stealth as it swoops down and scoops up a rabbit. Whether this is an omen of some kind, Walter cannot say; he promptly forgets why he even came out to the creek-side in the first place.

Walter is on the verge of his twenty-fifth birthday. At home is his wife, Rosanna, and their newborn son, Frank. Walter had been called up to serve in the First World War, an experience that changed him in some fundamental ways.



Upon his return to the States and to his Iowa farmstead, he met a young German immigrant, Rosanna Vogel. She provided a welcome distraction for Walter, who wasn't yet ready to fully return to farm life. With her long blond hair and an infectious smile, Rosanna stood out among the empty skies, wide-open cornfields, and often-numbing sameness of this small Iowa town. Though raised Catholic, Rosanna thought for herself, rebelled against authority, and spoke her mind. She openly questioned some of the tenets of her faith, such as the belief that innocent, unbaptized babies go to hell. For the rest of her life, Rosanna would question her religion and feel pulled between the dictates of her faith, the reason of her mind, and the demands of her heart. Despite her freethinking ways and her exotic qualities, Rosanna was drawn to Walter just as much as he was to her. Eventually, they married in the local Methodist church.

Now, Walter and Rosanna Langdon struggle to make ends meet. Rosanna focuses on baby Frank, while Walter worries about whether he has what it takes to become a successful farmer. He feels unequipped to handle the growing of crops, the milking of cows, and the raising of cattle.

It doesn't help matters that his father, Wilmer, successfully operates his own nearby farm, a massive establishment of some 320 acres—all of which Wilmer purchased and paid off in full. Wilmer has no shortage of advice for his son, admonishing Walter for buying a farm when land was at its most expensive point in years. But Wilmer isn't an unkind man. He invites Walter, Rosanna, and Frank to move to his farm, where they can take their time and get back on firmer financial footing. However, Walter declines the offer, his pride insisting that he can do it on his own.



Then, the Great Depression descends upon the country. The economic challenges are only compounded by the Great Drought, which also occurs during this timeframe. Iowa farmers are hit particularly hard, and Walter is no exception. Nevertheless, he continues to work the land, at first learning as he goes, then gaining more mastery, skill, and confidence until he feels somewhat solid in his ability to support his family.

And his family is growing. Rosanna gives birth to another son, Joe, who is the polar opposite of Frank. Where Frank is hale and hearty and strong, Joe is wan and weak and sickly. Privately, Rosanna fears for him. He seems to have inherited the worst traits from both sides of the family. Though her faith tells her that Jesus loves all his children equally, Rosanna struggles to love her sons equally. These feelings cause her great shame, which she largely keeps to herself.

A few years later, Rosanna and Walter have another baby, a daughter named Mary Elizabeth. In Mary Elizabeth, Rosanna sees a chance for redemption, a way to atone for her feelings toward Joe and prove herself as a mother. But at the age of three, a freak accident claims Mary Elizabeth's life. Rosanna, again wracked with guilt over her failures as a mother, never fully recovers from the loss.



Walter and Rosanna's relationship suffers as a result. Rosanna tries to find answers—or, at least, some relief—in her faith, begging God to alleviate her despair. Walter, for his part, cannot relate to his wife. Though neither stupid nor unfeeling, Walter isn't able to think with much depth or reflection about anything, except for his farm. At one point, with the strain of the marriage and the pressures of running the farm, Walter contemplates killing himself.

Ultimately, he soldiers on, as do the rest of the Langdons. Walter and Rosanna have three more children, including Henry, whom Rosanna delivers entirely on her own. The children grow up, eventually leaving the farm, but they are inextricably bound to it, to Walter and Rosanna, and to the unbreakable ties that make them a family.