The Lost Landscape: A Writer's Coming of Age

Written with the raw honesty and poignant insight that were the hallmarks of her acclaimed bestseller A Widow’s Story, an affecting and observant memoir of growing up from one of our finest and most beloved literary masters.

The Lost Landscape is Joyce Carol Oates’ vivid chronicle of her hardscrabble childhood in rural western New York State. From memories of her relatives, to those of a charming bond with a special red hen on her family farm; from her first friendships to her earliest experiences with death, The Lost Landscape is a powerful evocation of the romance of childhood, and its indelible influence on the woman and the writer she would become.

In this exceptionally candid, moving, and richly reflective account, Oates explores the world through the eyes of her younger self, an imaginative girl eager to tell stories about the world and the people she meets. While reading Alice in Wonderland changed a young Joyce forever and inspired her to view life as a series of endless adventures, growing up on a farm taught her harsh lessons about sacrifice, hard work, and loss. With searing detail and an acutely perceptive eye, Oates renders her memories and emotions with exquisite precision, transporting us to a forgotten place and time—the lost landscape of her youth, reminding us of the forgotten landscapes of our own earliest lives. 

This essential writer’s memoir unearths the moments that shaped a literary life:

• A Writer’s Memoir: Discover how a girl from a hardscrabble farm, inspired by Alice in Wonderland, grew into a National Book Award-winning literary master.
• Rural New York: A vivid, unflinching portrait of life in Millersport during the 1940s and 50s, a world of one-room schoolhouses, family secrets, and hard-won lessons.
• The Creative Process: Oates offers a rare glimpse into the development of an artist’s consciousness, tracing the indelible influence of her youth on the stories she was born to tell.
• Unforgettable Characters: Meet the family, friends, and neighbors—and one special red hen—who populated her world and shaped her unique, poignant, and powerful voice.