The Whistling Season - by Ivan Doig (Paperback)

About the Book

The saga of how a widow from Minneapolis and her brother--soon to become the new teacher in a tiny Montana community in 1909--change lives in unexpected ways has all the charm of old-school storytelling, from Dickens to Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Book Synopsis

"Can't cook but doesn't bite." So begins the newspaper ad offering the services of an "A-1 housekeeper, sound morals, exceptional disposition" that draws the attention of widower Oliver Milliron in the fall of 1909. That unforgettable season deposits the ever-whistling Rose Llewellyn and her font-of-knowledge brother, Morris Morgan, in Marias Coulee along with a stampede of homesteaders drawn by the promise of the Big Ditch--a gargantuan irrigation project intended to make the Montana prairie bloom.

When the schoolmarm runs off with an itinerant preacher, Morris is pressed into service, setting the stage for the "several kinds of education"--none of them of the textbook variety--Morris and Rose will bring to Oliver, his three sons, and the rambunctious students in the region's one-room schoolhouse.

"Flawless...The Whistling Season is a book that strives for more than beauty, which it achieves, it reaches for joy."--O, the Oprah Magazine

From the Back Cover

A "New York Times" Editors Choice
A "Washington Post Book World"Best Book of the Year

[quote side bar]

"Flawless." "O, the Oprah Magazine
"
"Courageous." "Washington Post Book World
"
"Evocative." "The New Yorker
"
"Life-affirming." "Los Angeles Times Book Review
"
"Magical." "Star Tribune" (Minneapolis)

"Luminous." "Seattle Times
"
[body copy]
"[A] memorable tale set in the historical West but contemporary in its themes and universal in its insights into the human heart." "Seattle Times
"
"Can t cook but doesn t bite." So begins the ad that deposits the noncooking, nonbiting, ever-whistling housekeeper Rose Llewellyn and her font-of-knowledge brother, Morris Morgan, in Marias Coulee, Montana in the fall of 1909. In the unforgettable season that follows, Morris and Rose bring "several kinds of education" none of them of the textbook variety to widower Oliver Milliron, his three sons, and the rambunctious students in the region s one-room schoolhouse. A paean to a vanished way of life and the eccentric individuals and institutions that made it fertile, "The Whistling Season" is Ivan Doig at his best.

""The Whistling Season "takes the chill out of today s literary winds." "Los Angeles Times Book Review
"
"Lovely storytelling, whether you re in Montana or New York." "USA Today
"
Ivan Doig is the author of ten previous books, including the novels "Prairie Nocturne" and "Dancing at the Rascal Fair." A former ranch hand, newspaperman, and magazine editor, Doig holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Washington. He lives in Seattle. "

Review Quotes

PRAISE FOR IVAN DOIG
"The reigning master of new Western literature . . . [Doig is] bigger than the Big Sky. He stands upon the shoulders of Wallace Stegner and A. B. Guthrie, taller than Edward Abbey and Tom McGuane, and sees much farther. He looks homeward, and he sees a place in all our minds, not just those who live in and write about the West."--San Francisco Chronicle
--

About the Author

Ivan Doig is the author of ten previous books, including the novels Prairie Nocturne and Dancing at the Rascal Fair. A former ranch hand, newspaperman, and magazine editor, Doig holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Washington. He lives in Seattle.