Skylark

Skylark (1994) is the sequel to Patricia MacLachlan’s Newberry Medal-winning novel Sarah, Plain and Tall. Skylark continues the story of Sarah Wheaton, Jacob Witting, and his two children, Anna and Caleb. Set in the late 19th century on the American prairie, the novel explores themes of The Power of Nature, Hope and Resilience in the Face of Hardship, and The Importance of Family and Home as the Witting family faces the devastating effects of a prolonged drought. The land dries up, and the farm struggles to sustain them and their livestock. The crisis tests Sarah’s love for her new home and the family’s commitment to one another. After Skylark, MacLachlan continued the series with Caleb’s Story (2001), More Perfect than the Moon (2004), and Grandfather’s Dance (2006). The first three books in the series were adapted into three television movies starring Glenn Close and Christopher Walken. 

The source material comes from the 1994 Harper Collins eBook edition.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide briefly reference parental death.

Plot Summary

In the previous book in the series, Sarah, Plain and Tall, Sarah Wheaton leaves her home in Maine and travels to the prairie, answering the ad that widowed farmer Jacob Witting placed in the newspaper for a wife. She goes on to marry Jacob and become a mother to his two children, Anna and Caleb. Skylark begins with Jacob and Sarah happily married and adjusting to their new life together. However, a severe drought threatens trouble. The family attempts to conserve water as the rivers and wells dry up, and everyone suffers the extreme heat and dryness. Jacob—or “Papa,” as the children call him—worries about wildfires. Anna writes in her journal every night, expressing nostalgia for the days when the pond was full of water and the fields full of flowers.

One day, they visit the town to collect their mail and discover that another family is leaving the area because their well has run dry. Sarah is upset, but her friend and neighbor Maggie chastises her for not understanding that leaving is sometimes the only option. Sarah’s family in Maine write her letters detailing the abundant rain they have received, which has resulted in a lush, green summer. Consequently, the children—and Jacob—worry that Sarah wants to leave the hot, dry prairie and return to the comfort of Maine. On the way home, the family notices and extinguishes a brushfire, and Jacob’s worry grows. Despite their troubles, Jacob and Sarah love each other, and Anna takes comfort in watching them embrace and kiss. 

Jacob arranges a surprise birthday party for Sarah to lift her spirits. She enjoys spending time with Maggie, her husband Matthew, and their children, especially Maggie’s baby Tom. Anna can tell that Sarah wishes she had a baby, too. Papa gifts Sarah a phonograph, and they dance together, which reminds Anna of happier times. Soon after, Maggie and Matthew’s well dries up, and they leave the prairie, as well. Sarah insists that they must stay, but Maggie helps her see that leaving doesn’t mean giving up. Following their departure, Sarah grows lonelier and more anxious. Afterward, a wildfire breaks out and burns the Wittings’ barn to the ground. Sarah and Jacob decide she must take the children to Maine to keep them safe—the drought has made the prairie a dangerous place.

Sarah and the children arrive in Maine by train and find it as green as her aunts’ letters described. Anna is almost immediately homesick and worries about Papa, who is alone on the farm, but Caleb loves swimming in the sea and fishing with Sarah’s brother. Sarah discovers that she is pregnant, though she doesn’t announce it to the children yet. Her aunts are kind, but everyone misses Jacob. After a while, Caleb, too, becomes very homesick and begins having nightmares. He worries that they might never be able to return home to the prairie, and Anna comforts him, though this is a worry she shares, too.

However, in the fall, Jacob surprises them with a visit, telling them it finally rained on the prairie. Then, he and Sarah break the news to the children that Sarah will have a new baby in the spring, and the children are overjoyed to hear this. The family happily returns home. Papa has rebuilt the barn, and the prairie slowly grows green again. Sarah writes her name in the dirt, glad to be back home.