The Able McLaughlins (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. A Pulitzer-Winning Prairie Saga of Civil War, Faith, Family Secrets, and Scottish American Frontier LifeBy Margaret Wilson
Length7h 45m
About this audiobook
Margaret Wilson's The Able McLaughlins is a finely wrought work of American regional realism, set among Scottish Presbyterian settlers on the Iowa prairie during and after the Civil War. Centered on Wully McLaughlin, a young Union veteran returning to the moral complexities of home, the novel examines love, violence, family loyalty, religious conscience, and communal judgment. Its style is spare yet resonant, enriched by dialect, biblical cadence, and a deep attentiveness to rural custom, placing it within the tradition of Willa Cather and other chroniclers of immigrant frontier life. Wilson drew upon a world she knew intimately. Born in Iowa to a Presbyterian family and later a missionary in India, she possessed both an insider's understanding of Calvinist discipline and an outsider's gift for observing social codes. Her background helps explain the novel's unusual moral seriousness: it is neither sentimental pioneer romance nor simple tale of rustic virtue, but a study of how inherited faith confronts human injury and desire. Readers interested in early twentieth-century American fiction, women's regional writing, or the ethical dramas of frontier communities will find this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel rewarding. It offers a searching portrait of resilience, justice, and grace.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes.
- The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists.
- A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing.
- A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings.
- Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life.
- Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance.
- Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 3.7 (1.8K)
Includes Goodreads, LibraryThing
GenreHistorical Fiction, General Fiction
Length7 hrs 45 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateJul 18, 2020
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1The Able McLaughlins (Annotated)
16Chapter XII
2Introduction
17Chapter XIII
3Synopsis
18Chapter XIV
4Historical Context
19Chapter XV
5Chapter I
20Chapter XVI
Show all chaptersShow less
6Chapter II
21Chapter XVII
7Chapter III
22Chapter XVIII
8Chapter IV
23Chapter XIX
9Chapter V
24Chapter XX
10Chapter VI
25Chapter XXI
11Chapter VII
26Chapter XXII
12Chapter VIII
27Analysis
13Chapter IX
28Reflection
14Chapter X
29Memorable Quotes
15Chapter XI
More from Margaret Wilson
The Things We Cannot SayKelly Rimmer13h 48m4.5 (359.1K)$33 · $0.00
Lieutenant Hornblower (Annotated)C. S. Forester11h 41m4.5 (2.9K)$2 · $0.00
A Christmas Carol (Illustrated Edition)Charles Dickens3h 23m4.5 (21.2K)$1.99 · $0.00
Rilla of InglesideLucy Maud Montgomery11h 44m4.5 (48.2K)$2 · $0.00
The Viennese DressmakerKathryn Gauci11h 46m4.5 (2.1K)$23 · $0.00
The Man in the Brown Suit & They Came to BaghdadAgatha Christie15h 43m4.6 (495)$33 · $0.00
Under the Light of the Italian MoonJennifer Anton12h 28m4.5 (5.3K)$23 · $0.00
Jubilee, 50th Anniversary EditionMargaret Walker15h 43m4.5 (9.5K)$25 · $0.00
Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen14h 44m4.4 (4.7M)$2 · $0.00
Flying Colours (Annotated)Cecil Louis Troughton Smith9h 26m4.4 (10.1K)$2 · $0.00
With Love from HarlemReShonda Tate13h 48m4.5 (2K)$6 · $0.00
Sweet Home Highland ChristmasMay McGoldrick, Jan Coffey2h 54m4.5 (1.4K)$7 · $0.00
Rilla of InglesideL. M. Montgomery12h 25m4.4 (67.5K)$2 · $0.00
Death Comes for the Archbishop (Annotated)Willa Cather9h 13m4.4 (4.7K)$2 · $0.00
The Alice NetworkKate Quinn15h 7m4.4 (887.1K)$33 · $0.00
The Goddess of WarsawLisa Barr13h 4m4.4 (36.4K)$33 · $0.00
The Ohio River Trilogy: Betty Zane, The Spirit of the Border & The Last TrailZane Grey29h 8m4.4 (1.8K)$1 · $0.00
The Attic ChildLola Jaye14h 46m4.4 (21K)$33 · $0.00
Martyr of the CatacombsJames De Mille3h 41m4.5 (744)$1 · $0.00
Quo VadisHenryk Sienkiewicz22h 52m4.4 (62K)$21 · $0.00
WhistlerAnn Patchett10h 45m4.6 (4.6K)$29 · $0.00
Demon CopperheadBarbara Kingsolver21h 3m4.5 (949.4K)$46 · $0.00
To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee12h 18m4.5 (7.4M)$29 · $0.00
Remarkably Bright CreaturesShelby Van Pelt11h 17m4.4 (1.7M)$29 · $0.00
Black History CollectionFrederick Douglass, Harriet Ann Jacobs, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois27h 9m4.6 (2.6K)$18 · $0.00
The Old Man and the Sea (Annotated)Ernest Hemingway4h 27m4.6 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
White HotIlona Andrews13h 18m4.5 (136.9K)$5 · $0.00
The Ghost by the Billabong (The Matilda Saga, #5)Jackie French14h 58m4.6 (773)$33 · $0.00
Cast in BloodMichelle Sagara16h 35m4.6 (607)$33 · $0.00
The Captain Blood Trilogy (Annotated)Rafael Sabatini29h 20m4.6 (1K)$3 · $0.00
Ship of the Line (Annotated)Cecil Louis Troughton Smith11h 13m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
The George Orwell CollectionGeorge Orwell24h 46m4.5 (14.4K)$12 · $0.00
ShivajiRanjit Desai25h 13m4.6 (3.1K)$24 · $0.00
Time RegainedMarcel Proust15h 38m4.5 (9.2K)$2 · $0.00
Driving ForceElle James4h 58m4.6 (407)$20 · $0.00
When God Calls the HeartBrian Bird, Michelle Cox3h 24m4.6 (439)$10 · $0.00
Five Little IndiansMichelle Good10h 34m4.5 (64.5K)$29 · $0.00
Lolth's WarriorR. A. Salvatore13h 20m4.6 (2.4K)$33 · $0.00
The Things We Cannot SayKelly Rimmer13h 48m4.5 (359.1K)$33 · $0.00
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du BoisHonoree Fanonne Jeffers29h 49m4.5 (58K)$8 · $0.00
You may also like
Adam BedeGeorge Eliot22h 17m3.9 (31.9K)$3.50 · $0.00
My Secret to KeepBarbara Conrey9h 24m4.4 (734)$20 · $0.00
Poor Folk and Other Stories (Unabridged)Fyodor Dostoyevsky21h 29m4.0 (1.7K)$2 · $0.00
Dimanche and Other StoriesIrène Némirovsky8h 21m4.0 (1.3K)$17 · $0.00
ResurrectionLeo Tolstoy20h 28m4.2 (35.3K)$1 · $0.00
Edith Wharton: New Year's Day, False Dawn, The Old Maid & The Spark (4 Books in One Edition)Edith Wharton10h 3m4.1 (3.2K)$1.99 · $0.00
Anna KareninaLeo Tolstoy33h 35m4.3 (1.1M)$30
The Hidden Life of Cecily LarsonEllen Baker13h 55m4.0 (21.3K)$33 · $0.00
Leo Tolstoy: The Complete Novels (The Greatest Novelists of All Time – Book 4) (Annotated)Leo Tolstoy165h 48m4.6 (1K)$0.99 · $0.00
Washington SquareHenry James7h 16m3.7 (30.2K)$17
The DevilLeo Tolstoy2h 2m3.9 (9.2K)$2.30
The Scarlet LetterNathaniel Hawthorne6h 7m3.7 (1M)$11 · $0.00
Tales of Old New YorkEdith Wharton10h 2m4.1 (3.8K)$1.99 · $0.00
The Horsemaster's DaughterSusan Wiggs11h 41m4.3 (2.7K)$27 · $0.00
The Lambs of LondonPeter Ackroyd6h 49m3.2 (2.9K)$17 · $0.00
The Jews of Barnow: StoriesKarl Emil Franzos8h 49m4.2 (10)$1 · $0.00
Gobseck & At the Sign of the Cat and RacketHonoré de Balzac4h 46m$2.30
Wild HeatherL. T. Meade7h 10m$2 · $0.00
Secrets of the Streets: 10 Books of Captivating Prostitution TalesGeorge Bernard Shaw, George J. Kneeland, Fflorens Roberts, Robert O. Harland, Samuel Paynter Wilson, H. M. Lytle, Elizabeth W. Andrew, Katharine C. Bushnell56h 34m$0.99 · $0.00
Avarice--Anger: Two of the Seven Cardinal SinsEugène Sue10h 11m$2 · $0.00