Pleasant Valley

I bought this because it was one of several valuable books recommended by Gene Logsdon in his own book, THE CONTRARY FARMER. Logsdon said that the chapter entitled, "My Ninety Acres" was one of his favorite short stories. After reading it, all I can say is: me too, me too. Romantic? Sure. But it gets to the core of what is really important in life.

Novelist Louis Bromfield won the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1927 (Early Autumn). He wrote a total of 31 books in his lifetime. But, for my money at least, Pleasant Valley is the best book he ever wrote. Malabar Farm comes a close second. Bromfield's other farm books include: The Farm, 1933 Out of The Earth, 1950 Animals and Other People, 1955 From My Experience, 1955In 1962, his youngest daughter, Ellen, wrote The Heritage -- A Daughter's Memories of Louis Bromfield. She tells the story of growing up in the shadow of her famous father and his Hollywood pals -- Bogie and Bacall were married at Bromfield's Malabar Farm in 1945 -- wonderfully well. But even better, I think is her 1957 Strangers In The Valley, the story of how she and husband Carson moved to Brazil to start a Bromfield-style farm on the new frontier there.Jim Breiner is right: Louie Bromfield was a genius and a brilliant writer. Living in France in the '20s, he helped Hemingway first get published, and was compared favorably with Fitzgerald, thurber and Steinbeck, among others. His fiction is now dated, but his farm writing is immortal.

I grew up in Mansfield, Ohio and visited Malabar Farm on occassion. However, I never read any of Louis Bromfield's book until recently. After reading Pleasant Valley I was very touched by the stories of the people and animals Louis writes about in the book. I am reminded of the beauty of life we all experience no matter where we live if only we allow ourselves the opportunity to look around. Wonderful book.