FOUR IN A WILD PLACE

by John Stallard ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 24, 1971

The four includes John and Sandra Stallard and their two youngsters, Beth (five) and Johnny (three), and the wilderness is a decayed farm in Wisconsin where they homestead. The account of their year there of what was grim, unremitting toil, eased here and there by covered-dish community ties, would not send most urbanites, like the Stallards, to the back country. A first night alive with the songs of mosquitoes heralded what was to come, as Sandra cursed and wept at bats, landry loads, and a wood burning stove, and John chopped that wood, chased their horse Kitty, and rode her for some time with the bridle upside down. In fact the Stallards did a number of things all wrong, but they did manage to butcher their pigs, cure some game, and survive in spite of a frost which destroyed their garden. Stallard recapitulates this experience with an earnest doggedness but it's mainly a manual on how not to.

Pub Date: Sept. 24, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1971

Categories: NONFICTION