The Case for Goneril and Regan

In a powerful novel, Jane Smiley goes farming to find some home truths

Larry Cook owns 1,000 acres of rich soil in Iowa. He is a tough, autocratic man, well suited to his unforgiving job, "a man willing to work all the time who's trained his children to work the same way." The Cook place is a model modern establishment with all the signs of a good farm: "clean fields, neatly painted buildings, breakfast at six, no debts, no standing water." Life is a round of chores -- the endless regimen of meals, the canning frenzies, the tireless pursuit of new and fancier equipment.

One day, without warning, Larry decides to turn the property...

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