Wolf Willow : A History, A Story, And A Memory Of The Last Prairie Frontier

In Seas of Earth: An Annotated Bibliography of Saskatchewan Literature as It Relates to the Environment, Jill M. Robinson writes:

“Probably the finest work ever written by a Saskatchewan native about Saskatchewan, Wolf Willow is already a classic of Plains literature. While it seems a complex work, combining childhood memories with adult wisdom, Wolf Willow achieves a unified, harmonious vision of human life on the remote frontier of the Cypress Hills. Within the autobiographical frame of the first and last sections, Stegner traces the history of the Cypress Hills region and, in two excellent stories, recreates the ordeal by weather on the western plains during the winter of 1906. The entire work is an important testament to the varying effects of environment on human personality and emotions, as Stegner strives to understand the peculiar power of the Plains environment over its human inhabitants. Moreover, Wolf Willow is beautifully written—an unusually sensitive and moving memoir of boyhood and place.”