This is another delightful re-read, though my initial read would have been prior to blogging about books.
Antonia is the daughter of Czech immigrants to Nebraska; she arrives with her family (the Shimerda family) on the same train bearing newly-orphaned Jim Burden, who will be living with his grandparents on their Nebraska farm just a short distance from the Shimerdas.
Jim is four years younger than Antonia; helps her learn English at the request of her father (a strong character who didn't adapt well to moving across the ocean); he admires and falls in love with Antonia after a fashion, though separation by age and life trajectory didn't permit anything to happen (other than a lifelong friendship, if often separated by distance).
The book is rightly famous for its descriptions of the Nebraska prairie and of life in those frontier days. The Shimerdas were not well prepared and received quite a bit of help from Jim's grandparents in the early going.
The story isn't quite as interesting once Jim and his grandparents move into town (as they aged off the farm); arrangemenets are made for Antonia to get off her farm (overworked by her brother) and take domestic jobs in town. We meet several other immigrant girls. Antonia with a bad experience with a railroad guy that promised marriage. Jim eventually comes back to Nebraska and meets Antonia's husband and children.
Cather an absolute favorite of mine.
