Which novel by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1939? The answer is The Yearling.
Rawlings's novel was published in March 1938 and is set in the scrub country of central Florida. It follows young Jody Baxter, the only child of Penny and Ora Baxter, as he adopts a fawn and names it Flag. The story combines the wonder of childhood with the harsh demands of survival in a remote frontier environment.
The Yearling became a major commercial success. It was selected as the Book-of-the-Month Club's main choice in April 1938 and sold more than 250,000 copies in the United States during its first year. Rawlings's editor was Maxwell Perkins, who also edited major writers including F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.
The Pulitzer was awarded in 1939, although the winning book had been published the previous year—a standard feature of the prize's historical timing. The novel was also adapted into a 1946 film starring Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman. The listed alternatives are novels by other authors or winners from different eras.