Which novel by Jane Smiley won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992?

Jane Smiley’s novel A Thousand Acres won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992.

Published in 1991, the novel is set on a thousand-acre Iowa farm owned by Larry Cook and his three daughters, Ginny, Rose, and Caroline. When Larry transfers ownership of the farm, a family conflict begins that exposes long-suppressed resentments and painful secrets. The story is narrated by Ginny, the eldest daughter.

A Thousand Acres is a modern retelling of William Shakespeare’s King Lear. Larry parallels Lear, Ginny and Rose echo Goneril and Regan, and Caroline corresponds to Cordelia. Smiley relocates the tragedy from a royal court to an American farming family, using land, inheritance, gender roles, and memory to explore power within families.

The book also won the 1991 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and was adapted into a 1997 film. The other options are novels by different authors: Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver, The Bean Trees by Kingsolver, and The Poisonwood Bible by Kingsolver.