The Good Earth
This tells the poignant tale of a Chinese farmer and his family in old agrarian China. The humble Wang Lung glories in the soil he works, nurturing the land as it nurtures him and his family. Nearby, the nobles of the House of Hwang consider themselves above the land and its workers; but they will soon meet their own downfall. Hard times come upon Wang Lung and his family when flood and drought force them to seek work in the city. The working people riot, breaking into the homes of the rich and forcing them to flee. When Wang Lung shows mercy to one noble and is rewarded, he begins to rise in the world, even as the House of Hwang falls.
Where The Good Earth keeps showing up
One of our editors' lists features this novel.
What you might want to know about The Good Earth
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Wang Lung, a poor young farmer in northern China, walks to the great house in town to claim O-lan, a kitchen slave, as his wife. The novel follows their marriage, the children they raise, a famine that drives them south to a coastal city, and the rice land Wang Lung adds field by field.
Yes. The Good Earth won the 1932 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Pearl S. Buck won the 1938 Nobel Prize in Literature, citing The Good Earth among her major works.
Not yet in the United States. The Good Earth was published in 1931 and is scheduled to enter the U.S. public domain in 2027. Free editions are available in countries where it is already public domain.
The Good Earth is 316 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Good Earth takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
The Good Earth is a standalone novel by an unknown author, not part of a series.
The Good Earth is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
