A Thousand Acres - Jane Smiley

'A Thousand Acres', set in America in the 1970s, is a fascnating update of Shakespeare's 'King Lear' which casts light on the older text, as well as being an excellent story in its own right. It isn't necessary to know 'King Lear' before you approach this book, but those who do may well find themselves encountering some surprisng parallels. 'King Lear' in brief, is about a King who divides up his Kingdom between his daughters, disliked something his favourite, youngest child says and cuts her out. The older two sisters don't like how he behaves and between them conspire to drive him mad. There's a lot of fighting ...