Their Fathers' God

Susie Doheny, an Irish Catholic, and Peder Holm, a Norwegian Lutheran, fall in love and marry in South Dakota in the 1890s. Soon their marriage is tested by drought, depression, and family bickering. Susie believes they are being tested by their fathers' God. Peder blames Susie for the timidity of her beliefs; Susie fears Peder's pride and skepticism. When political antagonism grows between the Norwegian and Irish immigrant communities, it threatens to split their marriage. Against a backdrop of hard times, crisscrossed by Populists, antimonopolists, and schemers, Rolvaag brings the struggle of immigrants into the twentieth century. InGiants in the Earththe Holm family strained to wrest a homestead from the land. InPeder Victoriousthe American-born children searched for a new national identity, often defying the traditions their parents fought to uphold. InTheir Fathers' God, Rolvaag's most soul-searching novel, the first-generation americans enter a world of ruthless competition in the midst of scarcity. The University of Nebraska Press also publishesPeder Victoriousand Paul Reigstad'sRolvaag: His Life and Art.Rolvaag, Ole Edvart is the author of 'Their Fathers' God', published 1983 under ISBN 9780803289116 and ISBN 0803289111.