The Able McLaughlins

262 pp. Winner of the 1924 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, and the first Harper Prize Novel Contest (1923-24, the first year this was awarded). Follows a family of Scotch Covenanters who settled the American prairies in the 1860s. The McLaughlin's oldest son Wully has just returned from the Civil War planning to marry his sweetheart Christie McNair, but for some reason, she won't talk to him anymore. Wully finds himself hurt and perplexed until he finds out that the cause of her rejection is the terrible secret she has been keeping…