The Beautiful Plain: A Novel

by Jennifer Sinor

Set amid the cornfields of central Nebraska, The Beautiful Plain opens on a hot afternoon in a hay barn, where three adolescents push a cardboard box filled with a girl to the edge of the loft. What begins as a prank will reverberate for decades, especially for Laura, who learns that afternoon just how far she will travel for acceptance.

Rejected by her former husband and with her precocious child in tow, Laura returns to her hometown of Platte, Nebraska, to see if she can recover what was sent to the ground that summer afternoon long ago. Immersed in the unassuming beauty of the Great Plains and following a single year of one woman's life, The Beautiful Plain invites the reader to reconsider where beauty and grace reside.

262 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2026

About the author

Jennifer Sinor is the author of Letters Like the Day: On Reading Georgia O'Keeffe, a collection of essays inspired by the letters of the American modernist Georgia O'Keeffe and Ordinary Trauma, a memoir of her military childhood told through linked flash nonfiction. She teaches creative writing at Utah State University where she is a professor of English. She is also the author of The Extraordinary Work of Ordinary Writing: Annie Ray's Diary, a book about the diary of her great, great, great aunt, a woman who homesteaded the Dakotas in the late nineteenth century. All of her books work to reveal the extraordinary possibilities that arise in the most ordinary moments of our lives.

Born into a military family, Jennifer has lived all over the United States. While she considers Hawaii her first home, she has come to love northern Utah, where the mountains remind her of the ocean in the way they crest all around her.

Jennifer graduated from the University of Nebraska, the University of Hawaii, and the University of Michigan. She is married to the poet Michael Sowder, and they have two boys as well as a passel of animals.

Reviews

[Lori]

I obtained this advanced copy through NetGalley. When I started this book, I thought it would be a different story than what it was. I really fell in love with the character of Laura and her story.

I did finding a it a little confusing between timelines and wished for a little more context in some parts of her life. Also, I felt it took a little long to find out what happened to Kelly from the beginning of the book Overall, it was a good read and I could picture in my mind the house on the lake and the cranes that visited yearly. Now I want a cup of coffee I can chew on too.

[Sara Aoyama]

I loved how very evocative this book was of Nebraska. It just feels Nebraska in every way. The writing feels simple, but is very beautifully done. When a book is both well-crafted and a smooth read it is a work of art.
I did feel bogged down in some places. And there were other places where I wanted more. I wanted more of Wolfie and more about the four girls immediately following the scene in the barn. But all in all, it was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. A short book with everything you need.

[Melanie]

“... nothing in the day was truly ordinary.”

The Beautiful Plain by Jennifer Sinor, is a stunning portrait of a woman coming to terms with the past and finding a way into her future. Following multiple timelines: childhood, college days, and the present day, the story reveals the experiences that shape her life. Through well-written dialog and beautifully descriptive passages, the author takes us from an ordinary life into an extraordinary existence.

This book touched my heart with its emotional themes of acceptance, motherhood, forgiveness, and love. It spoke to my inner child with unresolved childhood trauma. The story delighted my imagination with its stunning descriptions of the natural world and the places we choose to live. I cared about the characters because they are not just characters, they are people. Part coming of age, part family dynamics and relationships, The Beautiful Plain is a poignant anthem to living an exceptional life.

Thanks to Edelweiss, the author, and the publisher for the advanced reader copy.