''The Rolling Years'' is the first novel by the American writer Agnes Sligh Turnbull (1888–1982) set in her childhood

Laurel Highlands The Laurel Highlands is a region in southwestern Pennsylvania made up of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, Fayette County, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, Somerset County, and Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Westmoreland County. It has a populat ...

and

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range ( ) — also spelled Alleghany or Allegany, less formally the Alleghenies — is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada. Historically it represented a significant barr ...

Western Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania is a region in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the Unite ...

. It is the first of Turnbull's three "Westmoreland novels" set in

Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Westmoreland County is a county in the state of Pennsylvania, United States, in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census the population was 354,663. The county seat is Greensburg and the most populous community is ...

. The three novels feature happy endings while critiquing excesses of patriarchy, strict

Calvinism Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyteri ...

, and industrialization from a woman's perspective. ''The Rolling Years'' is considered an understudied example of Northern Appalachian fiction. ''The Rolling Years'' is a family chronicle (1852–1910) of three generations of Scotch-Irish

Presbyterians Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

in rural

and their struggles to maintain their strict faith. The first generation is Daniel and Sarah McDowell, a farm couple. Sarah bears 12 children (of whom five survive) to her dour Calvinistic husband; her bitterness about her repeated, difficult confinements is effectively shown. The second generation is about their children, David and Jeannie. David moves to Pittsburgh where he becomes a judge. Jeannie marries a minister who has been serving as the local schoolteacher to earn money to complete his education. Jeannie's daughter, Constance, represents the third generation. She becomes a schoolteacher and struggles to find her place in a changing world. The novel dramatizes the gradual weakening of the strict Calvinism of the Scottish immigrants in an increasingly secular society.

References

* * *DeMarr, Mary Jean. "Agnes Sligh Turnbull and the World of the Pennsylvania Scotch-Irish Presbyterians." ''Journal of Popular Culture'' 19 (1986): 75-83. *Richards, Samuel J. "Middlebrow Bestseller Obscured: Reconsidering Agnes Sligh Turnbull's Westmoreland Novels," ''Appalachian Journal'' 52:1-2 (2024-2025): 78-95. 1936 American novels Novels set in Pennsylvania Family saga novels Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania 1936 debut novels {{1930s-family-novel-stub