The Lost Landscape

Written with the raw honesty and poignant insight that were the hallmarks of her acclaimed bestseller A Widow’s Story, an affecting and observant memoir of growing up from one of our finest and most beloved literary masters.

The Lost Landscape is Joyce Carol Oates’ vivid chronicle of her hardscrabble childhood in rural western New York State. From memories of her relatives, to those of a charming bond with a special red hen on her family farm; from her first friendships to her earliest experiences with death, The Lost Landscape is a powerful evocation of the romance of childhood, and its indelible influence on the woman and the writer she would become.

In this exceptionally candid, moving, and richly reflective account, Oates explores the world through the eyes of her younger self, an imaginative girl eager to tell stories about the world and the people she meets. While reading Alice in Wonderland changed a young Joyce forever and inspired her to view life as a series of endless adventures, growing up on a farm taught her harsh lessons about sacrifice, hard work, and loss. With searing detail and an acutely perceptive eye, Oates renders her memories and emotions with exquisite precision, transporting us to a forgotten place and time—the lost landscape of her youth, reminding us of the forgotten landscapes of our own earliest lives.

What forges a writer in the stark, beautiful landscape of a forgotten America?

Farm Life and Loss: From the surprising friendship with a pet hen named Happy Chicken to the harsh lessons of sacrifice, life on a farm shapes a young girl’s understanding of the world. A One-Room Schoolhouse: Discover the magical, rough-hewn world of District School #7, the same school her mother attended, where a love for words and stories first took root. The Power of Books: How a gifted copy of Alice in Wonderland transformed a young girl’s view of life, inspiring a journey into endless literary adventures and the dream of becoming a writer. Deeply Buried Family Secrets: Oates unflinchingly explores the hidden tragedies and unspoken truths that defined her family history, revealing the profound impact of the past on the present.