Review of The Harvester by Gene Stratton Porter

My deep affection for The Harvester by Gene Stratton Porter has been such a surprise to me! While I’ve read other Porter books, also set in the Limberlost area of Indiana, I fell head over heels in love with this tale.

The book begins with an introduction to our main character, The Harvester himself. We meet his dog Belshazzar and through his inner thoughts are made to understand that he lives alone, save his animals. He has lost his parents although still adores his beloved mother who is buried on his land. The Harvester, known as David Langston we come to learn, is a self-made, misunderstood man who has only a few friends in this world. However, these friends are wholly devoted to him and have know him for most of his life.

The reader is introduced through luscious descriptions to his land and all the wild plants an animals inhabiting it. The names of specific areas are enthralling: Loon Lake and a brook called Singing Water. The surrounding land is Medicine Woods, aptly named as The Harvester’s vocation is cultivating and harvesting the wild fauna in the Limberlost into a form that is useful as medicine to the medical industry in his general area.

One night, the Harvester has a vision of a startling lovely but heartbreakingly distraught young woman. He believes this vision to be his Dream Girl and he sets out to prepare a place for her in his life. And to actually find her in the world.

What follows is one of the most wholesome and whimsical romantic books I’ve read in a long while (possibly ever). The passion for honorable pursuit that the Harvester exhibits is compelling and enchanting.

On a personal note, I am not much of a romance reader. At least not modern books that are predominantly romance. Don’t get me wrong though…I do like a bit of romance sprinkled into historical fictions, fantasy and literary works, but I usually look for more in the plot than banter and flirtation.

And while The Harvester does contain a mystery and some peril (as do her other books), this book is so utterly romantic in a wholesome and whimsical way, that I am enthralled. Add in the descriptions she creates of the land, the flora, and the fauna, as well as the cabin nestled into this peaceful woods setting, and I am done for.

This has easily been my favorite book of the year thus far and one that I will cherish forever.