The Fields tells the story of Sayward as a wife and mother, working with
her own brood on that hard frontier to create a durable home, and
aspects of civilization in a region where life is still difficult and
towns are just beginning to appear. It is a rich and human novel about
personal conflicts and strife in the midst of a land that itself is
striving. And it has an epic quality that perfectly reflects the
sweeping conquest of the frontier.