The First Four Years (novel)
Front dustjacket with Williams illustration
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| Author | Laura Ingalls Wilder |
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| Illustrator | Garth Williams |
| Country | United States |
| Series | Little House |
| Genre | Children's historical novel, realistic fiction Family saga Western |
| Publisher | Harper & Row |
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Publication date
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February 1, 1971 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 134 pp. |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 855276032 |
| LC Class | PZ7.W6461 Fi |
| Preceded by | These Happy Golden Years |
| Followed by | On the Way Home |
The First Four Years is an unfinished autobiographical novel by Laura Ingalls Wilder, published in 1971 and commonly considered the last of nine books in the Little House series. In 1943, These Happy Golden Years had concluded the series at eight children's novels following Laura to age 18 and her marriage with Almanzo Wilder.
Roger Lea MacBride found the work in the belongings of Wilder's daughter Rose Wilder Lane while going through Rose's estate after her death in 1968. Laura wrote all of her books in pencil on dime store tablets, and the manuscript of The First Four Years was found in manuscript form as Laura had written it.
It is not clear whether Laura intended this first draft to be a ninth book in the Little House series, or possibly a standalone novel for adults. Much of the material is more for an adult audience than anything in her Little House books. She seems to have written the extant first draft sometime around 1940, and then apparently lost interest in the project. MacBride, the adopted grandson of Rose Wilder Lane, and executor of her estate, made a decision to publish The First Four Years without any editing (except for minor spelling errors) so it came directly from Laura's pencil to the written page. Because Laura never reworked the manuscript - and Rose never edited it as she had her mother's previously published works, The First Four Years is less polished in style than the books of the Little House series, but it is still unmistakably Laura's writing.
The First Four Years gets its title from a promise Laura made to Almanzo when they became engaged. Laura did not want to be a farmer's wife, but decided to try farming for three years.
Laura keeps house and Manly tends the land and the stock, and they go on frequent pony rides together. At the end of the first year, just as the wheat is ready to harvest, a serious hailstorm destroys the entire crop, which would have brought them approximately three thousand dollars and paid off their debts on farm equipment and the building of the house.
Faced with mounting debt, Manly decides to mortgage the homestead claim. He and Laura will have to live on it as a condition of the mortgage, so they rent out the house on the tree claim and Manly builds a small home on the homestead claim. Their daughter Rose is born there in December. At the end of the second year, they harvest a fair wheat crop,and share the proceeds of the sale of the wheat with the tree claim's renter, making enough money themselves to pay some of their smaller debts.
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Wikipedia