Willa Cather

Cather was the first born to her family; she had siblings, Douglass, Roscoe, Jessica, Elsie, James, and John. She admitted that she was indeed closer to her brothers than her sisters whom she did not like very much. She read extensively and made friends with a Jewish couple who offered her free entry to access their extensive library.

The best place to start is the Bison Classic Editions series, the earliest of Willa Cather's multi-book series: it opens with The Soul of the Indian (1911) and runs to 12 books across 1911–2018, ending with A Cycle of the West (2018). Willa Cather's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Willa Cather has 87 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1896 and 2023. 15 of them belong to 2 named series — the largest being the Bison Classic Editions series with 12 books — and 72 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Willa Cather's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Bison Classic Editions (1911–2018, 12 books) and Great Plains Trilogy (1913–1918, 3 books).

This guide splits Willa Cather's 87 books into 2 named series and 72 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Bison Classic Editions (12 books, 1911–2018); Great Plains Trilogy (3 books, 1913–1918).