A 1907 novel by Harold Wright Bell inspired by his summer vacations to turn of the century Ozarks. It chronicles the lives of local residents such as Young Matt, the local Gentle Giant, Dad Howitt, a cultured outsider who becomes accepted as one of their own, and Wash Gibbs, local ruffian and main villain. It also inspired a number of film adaptations and a theater production.
This novel contains examples of:
- Blackmail: Wash Gibbs forces Jim Lane to rejoin the Baldknobber gang (which began as genuine protection but turned into a gang of thugs) with the unspoken understanding that Gibbs will hurt Lane's daughter Sammy if he doesn't. His hold on Lane finally breaks when Gibbs tries to assault Sammy when Jim isn't present and only Young Matt's intervention prevents the worst from happening.
- The Atoner: While not an out-and-out villain even in his past, Daniel Howitt has shades of this, which are alluded to early on but not fully explained till later in the book. Before coming to the Ozarks, he was a successful pastor of a big church with a beloved painter son. When his son went missing after exhibiting some depression and apparently hiding some secret, Howitt's doctor-friend prescribed a rest away from all the stress, which prescription Howitt enacted by disappearing into the Ozarks...where he found out on his first night that his son had impregnated and abandoned his welcoming host's daughter due to fear of what his father would say of the class differences. Howitt spends the next several months shepherding for the family, both literally and emotionally, as penance for his son's crimes and his own part in it.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Young Matt and Sammy are both considered attractive (though interestingly it's observed by Howitt that Sammy doesn't fit the city ideal of beauty, e.g. delicate and consumptive, being instead healthy and fit, which is shown as a good thing), and are good. Conversely, Wash Gibbs, Matt's foil, is nearly as large and strong as Matt but is described as coarser in appearance which matches his demeanor. Ollie, Sammy's suitor who went to the city to make it big, is described as skinny, weak, and, after he's been in the city awhile, dandified, which reflects his shallow character.
- Good Shepherd: Daniel Howitt who substitutes for the Sunday preacher on occasion when he can't make it, speaks at Jim Lane's funeral and is a spiritual counselor and well-loved figure in the area...and also turns out to be an ordained pastor of a big church back in the cities (where he himself admits later his faith was washed out and more about achievement, so ironically, he's a better pastor in the place where no one realizes he's a pastor). Bonus points for being a literal shepherd during his sojourn in the Ozarks.
- Hollywood Psych: Pete, who sees himself as nobody and Pete as some separate being who shares his body except when with his father, Howard, where Pete's dual view of himself merges. Refreshingly, while his family and the locals do find his outlook confusing and his habit of roaming the woods a little concerning, he's an accepted part of the community, and Howitt notes that while they called him "Poor Pete," he wonders if Pete saw more truly than any of them (spiritually speaking).
- Love Triangle: Matt and Ollie both are in love with Sammy, who is sort of engaged to Ollie at the beginning of the book and married to Matt by the end after Ollie proved to be shallow. Could possibly be considered a square if one counts Wash Gibbs who is in lust with Sammy but being an utter jerk is never even considered.
- Redemption Equals Death: Jim Lane finally stands up to Wash Gibbs and tells the gang that they can take the stolen money they forced him to hide but that he's out. As Lane probably suspected given his goodbye to Sammy, he's killed by Wash Gibbs. Fortunately for justice, the police got wind of the meeting and had staked out the place, so Gibbs swiftly follows his victim in the resulting shoot-out.
