Jane Smiley writes literary and historical fiction about families, land, work, marriage and the ways economic or social systems shape private relationships. A Thousand Acres relocates the structure of King Lear to an Iowa farm, where an ageing father transfers property to his daughters and long-suppressed family history begins to surface. Moo uses a large cast and satire to portray a Midwestern university as competing departments, administrators, students and financial interests pull in different directions. The Last Hundred Years trilogy, beginning with Some Luck, follows the Langdon family from an Iowa farm across much of the twentieth century, using successive generations to connect domestic life with wider historical change. Smiley has also written nonfiction about horses and the novel Horse Heaven, reflecting a sustained interest in animals and rural life. Her work suits readers of American literary fiction, family sagas, campus satire and agricultural settings, with A Thousand Acres the strongest standalone introduction. Read more Less
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