Wow. This one starts as a romance, instead of starting as a nature story and growing a romance later - the nature parts are nicely intertwined with the romance. It's truly wonderful - for all the Cinderella aspects. And since the reader has been with him since he fell in love, we can see it from his side with no Cinderella to it at all...Love it. Lots of twists and turns - seems like he keeps bringing men to the house for her to choose from. But a proper happy ending, despite the misunderstandings right near the end. Best Stratton-Porter book yet. ( )

Gene Stratton-Porter was fond of writing romantic novels with settings that emphasized the wonders and beauty of nature. The Harvester is one of her most successful works. Like Freckles and A Girl of the Limberlost it is set near the fictional Indiana town of Onabasha in 1910. David Langston lives alone in a small cabin on the land where he has established America's only farm devoted to growing wild medicinal plants in their ideal natural conditions. Raised by his mother after his father's death, Langston has spent his life in an effort to be honest, manly, and "clean" (Stratton-Porter's code word for sexual abstinence). Each year he leaves it to his dog to decide whether he should stay on his land, or go to Onabasha to look for a wife, and every year the dog indicates the land is best--until this year. The Harvester is unwilling to change his lifestyle until the night he experiences a wonderful vision of his perfect woman, decides he can't live without her, and begins his search. When he does find her, he also finds that love is a harder thing than he ever anticipated, and that he will need all his strength, courage, patience, and skill to win and to keep his mate. Set in idyllic surroundings, this is one of Stratton-Porter's best-written novels, and the Harvester himself is one of her most memorable characters. ( )