''Spring Came On Forever'' is a 1935 novel by

Bess Streeter Aldrich Bess Streeter Aldrich (pen name, Margaret Dean Stephens; February 17, 1881 – August 3, 1954) was an American author. Life and career Bess Genevra Streeter was born in Cedar Falls, Iowa. She was the last of the eight children of James Wareham a ...

. One of Aldrich's "pioneer novels", it recounts the life of two American characters who head out West into the

Nebraska Territory The Territory of Nebraska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Nebraska. The Nebraska ...

. The two, a German-speaking Lutheran girl and a blacksmith's apprentice, fall in love but their plans at marriage are thwarted by circumstances. Many years later, two descendants of theirs get married and unite two different traditions. The novel, which speaks to the German immigration experience in the United States, was a great commercial success considering the time (the Great Depression); between October 1935 and January 1936 it sold over 45,000 copies. In March 1936, Aldrich was offered $20,000 for the movie rights, for a musical version by

Oscar Hammerstein II Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) director in the musical theater for almost 40 years. He won eight Ton ...

and

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over ...

. In the 1980s and 1990s, the

University of Nebraska Press The University of Nebraska Press, also known as UNP, was founded in 1941 and is an academic publisher of scholarly and general-interest books. The press is under the auspices of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the main campus of the Univer ...

republished a number of works by Aldrich; ''Spring'' was republished in 1985.Quantic 647.

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Bibliography

* *{{cite book, last=Quantic, first=Diane Dufva, title=Updating the Literary West, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s2jHc_wmU3sC&pg=PA647, year=1997, publisher=TCU Press, isbn=9780875651750, pages=641–49, chapter=The Midwest and the Great Plains 1935 American novels Novels set in Nebraska