''Some Luck'' is a 2014 novel by

Jane Smiley Jane Smiley (born September 26, 1949) is an American novelist. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992 for her novel ''A Thousand Acres'' (1991). Biography Born in Los Angeles, California, Smiley grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, a subu ...

. It is the first in a trilogy of novels about an

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

family over the course of generations. It was longlisted for the 2014

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

Summary

Beginning in 1920 on an Iowa farm, with each chapter of the novel covering a single year, the story follows the Langdon family over three decades as children are born, grow up, and go on their own adventures and facing various challenges.

Reception

The reviews have been generally favorable, with the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' concluding that "Smiley delivers a straightforward, old-fashioned tale of rural family life in changing times. Her no-muss, no-fuss storytelling, if unsurprising, is also frequently subtle, wry and moving." The ''New York Times'' review said that 'Some Luck' was "...very skillfully conceived, an elegant solution to the historical novelist’s problem of how to raise the big barn that is the past without relying too much on power tools or hired help."

Footnotes

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External links

Knopf Doubleday official website for 'Some Luck'Jane Smiley's official website
2014 American novels Alfred A. Knopf books Novels set in Iowa American historical novels Fiction set in 1920 Novels by Jane Smiley