Cross Creek

Name: Cross Creek
Author: Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Cross Creek is a memoir by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, published in 1942. It is a story of her life in rural Florida in the 1920s and 1930s. The book begins with Rawlings' arrival in Cross Creek, a small town in the Florida backwoods. She is a city girl from Washington, D.C., and is immediately taken aback by the rural lifestyle. She quickly learns to appreciate the beauty of the area and the people who live there. Rawlings describes her interactions with the locals, including her neighbors, the farmers, and the Seminole Indians. She also writes about her experiences with nature, such as hunting, fishing, and gardening. Throughout the book, Rawlings reflects on her life in Cross Creek and the changes she has gone through since moving there. She also shares her thoughts on the importance of preserving the natural beauty of the area and the need to protect it from development. Cross Creek is a vivid and heartfelt account of Rawlings' life in the Florida backwoods. It is a story of her struggles and triumphs, and of her love for the land and its people.

By Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings · First published 1928 · Genre: Memoir, Regional Fiction, Historical Fiction · 24 chapters · 125,116 words

First lines

The road goes west out of the village, past open pine woods and gallberry flats. An eagle's nest is a ragged cluster of sticks in a tall tree, and one of the eagles is usually black and silver against the sky. The other perches near the nest, hunched and proud, like a griffon. There is no magic here except the eagles. Yet the four miles to the Creek are stirring, like the bleak, portentous beginning of a good tale. The road curves sharply, the vegetation thickens, and around the bend masses into dense hammock. The hammock breaks, is pushed back on either side of the road, and set down in its brooding heart is the orange grove. Any grove or any wood is a fine thing to see. But the magic here, strangely, is not apparent from the road. It is necessary to leave the impersonal highway, to step inside the rusty gate and close it behind. By this, an act of faith is committed, through which one accepts blindly the communion cup of beauty. One is now inside the grove, out of one world and in the mysterious heart of another. Enchantment lies in different things for each of us. For me, it is in this: to step out of the bright sunlight into the shade of orange trees; to walk under the arched canopy of their jadelike leaves; to see the long aisles of lichened trunks stretch ahead in a geometric rhythm; to feel the mystery of a seclusion that yet has shafts of light striking through it.

What this Textopian page supports

Cross Creek is listed on Textopian as a novel by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, dated 1928 CE.

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Work type: Novel
Author: Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Date: 1928 CE
Language: English
Genres: Memoir, Regional Fiction, Historical Fiction, Nature Writing
Length: 125,116 words
Structure: 24 chapters, 3,777 paragraphs
Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Similar titles

Genres

Memoir — Cross Creek is a memoir written by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, which chronicles her life in rural Florida during the 1930s.
Regional Fiction — Cross Creek is set in rural Florida and focuses on the unique culture and lifestyle of the region.
Historical Fiction — Cross Creek is set in the 1930s and provides a glimpse into the history of the region during that time period.
Nature Writing — Cross Creek contains vivid descriptions of the natural environment of rural Florida, and the author's relationship with it.