1903. Hamlin Garland was born near La Crosse, Wisconsin and lived in the area for nine years before his family moved to South Dakota. As an adult he lived in major cities throughout the United States but visited his birthplace often. In 1922 he received a Pulitzer Prize for A Daughter of the Middle Border, and was also director of the American Academy of Arts and Letters for a number of years. Hesper begins: Nearly the entire boatload of passengers was jammed along the forward gates, ready to spring out upon the Jersey wharf, restive to reach the waiting trains. But quite apart from all these whose faces were set westward, three people-a girl, a man nearing forty, and a slim lad-lingered on the afterdeck as though loath to take their leave of the imperial city whose singular skyline was becoming each moment more impressive, more unaccountable to those who were looking upon it for the first time. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.