Roots in a Parched Ground

The Orphans' Home Cycle #1

by Horton Foote

72 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Albert Horton Foote, Jr. was an American playwright and screenwriter, perhaps best known for his Academy Award-winning screenplays for the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird and the 1983 film Tender Mercies, and his notable live television dramas during the Golden Age of Television. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1995 for his play The Young Man From Atlanta.

Reviews

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The quiet beauty of Horton Foote's language always comforts me. Roots in a Parched Ground is the first of nine plays that comprise The Orphans' Home Cycle written by Horton Foote. The play begins with the death of Horace Robedaux's father. Thus begins the story of Horace throughout these plays. I first became acquainted with this character in the film, 1918, one of the plays of the cycle. 1918 is one of my most favorite films. It is quiet and evocative of another time. That same grace is evident in Roots in a Parched Ground. We are privileged to meet the family and friends that surround Horace as he begins a new life after his father's death. The singing, the conversations define a people who barely exist in today's world. Yet, I found this story moving and true to how I remember things were when I was a child back in the fifties. I know of no other playwright that presents characters with as much love and respect as does Horton Foote. If you are interested in plays, particularly American plays, I highly recommend Roots in a Parched Ground as well as the other plays that comprise The Orphans' Home Cycle. A five star read for me.

[Brian McCann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, old-fashioned play, much like the works of Inge in the 1950s.