Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie

Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie, novel by Rölvaag, published in Norway (1924–25) and in translation in the U.S. (1927). Peter Victorious⧫ and Their Fathers' God are sequels. The novel formed the basis for an opera (1951) by Douglas Moore.

In 1873 a small company of Norwegian farmers treks from Minnesota to settle in Dakota Territory. There are four families in this Spring Creek settlement: Per Hansa, his wife Beret, and their two sons and daughter; Hans Olsa, his wife Sörine, and their daughter; Syvert Tönseten and his wife Kjersti; and the brothers, Sam and Henry Solum. They erect rude sod huts and break the virgin surface of the prairie to plant their first crop; as years pass they make improvements, but their hold remains insecure, and the environment seems to seek ways of showing malevolence. Winter blizzards terrify them, destroying cattle and crops, and for five years a plague of locusts despoils their grain, but they persist. Per is a daring, ambitious fellow, but his schemes are often thwarted by the fears and melancholy of his pious wife, who cannot feel at home in this wilderness. Hans Olsa, equally strong and purposeful, is steadier; while Tönseten is a craven braggart, although he conceives plans for a school and church, and persuades newcomers to join the community. Beret nearly dies at the birth of a third son, whom Per names Peder Victorious, and later she has periods of insanity, in which her fear of the evil powers of the land is accentuated. Per ages under the strain of violent labor and family difficulties, but Beret is cured when a visiting minister reassures her and consecrates Peder to a holy life. During a phenomenally hard winter, Hans Olsa is fatally stricken by pneumonia, and Beret, concerned over his spiritual welfare, asks Per to bring a minister. He sets out on this errand, but dies in a bitter snowstorm.