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Filaree: A Novel of American Life
This moving novel of pioneer life in Arizona has become a classic. Based on the life of the author's mother, it overturns every stereotype of western womanhood.
"Comes closer to the truth and the validity of the so-called winning of the West than anything I have ever read. It is terrifying, heartbreaking and remarkable. . . . Filaree is also one of the most magnificent portraits of a woman that exists in our literature."--Howard Fast
"I loved Filaree, I didn't just read it, I crawled between the pages and lived it."--Lily Tomlin
"An extraordinary performance. . . . a powerful antidote to the romantic illusions some people have about ranch people and life on the range. . . . As a writer, Mrs. Noble makes no compromises. She tells her story in plain country American dialect, offers no exaggerated sex or violence, no vulgar talk. She is a realist in the best sense, a breath of fresh air in these free-wheeling times."--C. L. Sonnichsen
"Comes closer to the truth and the validity of the so-called winning of the West than anything I have ever read. It is terrifying, heartbreaking and remarkable. . . . Filaree is also one of the most magnificent portraits of a woman that exists in our literature."--Howard Fast
"I loved Filaree, I didn't just read it, I crawled between the pages and lived it."--Lily Tomlin
"An extraordinary performance. . . . a powerful antidote to the romantic illusions some people have about ranch people and life on the range. . . . As a writer, Mrs. Noble makes no compromises. She tells her story in plain country American dialect, offers no exaggerated sex or violence, no vulgar talk. She is a realist in the best sense, a breath of fresh air in these free-wheeling times."--C. L. Sonnichsen
256 pages, Paperback
First published August 12, 1980
5 people are currently reading
129 people want to read
About the author
Marguerite Noble
11 books5 followersMarguerite Noble was born on January 29, 1910, in the town of Roosevelt, Arizona Territory, where her father furnished mules for the construction of Roosevelt Dam. The waters of Roosevelt Lake eventually inundated this settlement, that had also been known as Tent City.
Her parents, Dan and Mindy Parker from Texas, bought the Bouquet Ranch in Tonto Basin from John Cline in 1903. Marguerite, one of seven children, grew up observing the “cowboy way” and storing memories for her future writing career.
She attended elementary school at Punkin Center, Florence and then Tempe Normal School. Marguerite received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Arizona State University in education. She taught for 30 years at Creighton School in Phoenix, where she emphasized Arizona history in her classes. She also taught high school and university classes.
Marguerite was married to Henry Rogers Buchanan in 1936, and the couple had two children: Roger Buchanan, born September 22, 1940; and Cynthia Dee Buchanan Cowley, born October 23, 1942. Marguerite married Charles F. Noble in 1975, when she retired to Payson.
Marguerite is or has been active in many organizations. She is a charter member of the Northern Gila County Historical Society and a member of the Arizona Historical Society, Tonto Cowbelles, Payson Women’s Club, Daughters of Gila County Pioneers, Phoenix Writers Club, National League of American Pen Women and Western Writers of America.
Her writings include Filaree (Random House, 1979). This novel, based on fact, is considered one of the best ever written about Arizona. An account of the life of a pioneer woman who raised a family and helped run a ranch in turn-of-the-century Gila County, it is required reading in college courses. (sic)
Marguerite published Crossing Trails, which includes a few of the 530 historical vignettes she wrote for broadcast over radio station KMOG in Gila County. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, Western Horseman and The Arizona Republic.
She has received numerous honors, among them the Purple Sage Award (Zane Grey Western Society), Woman of the Year (Daughters of Gila County Pioneers), Spirit of Arizona 1988 (presented by Gov. Rose Mofford), the Sharlot Hall Award 1992 (Sharlot Hall Museum), and the Al Merita Award from the Arizona Historical Society. She was Payson’s Woman of the Year, and July 4, 1979, was declared Marguerite Noble Day in Payson.
She was Grand Marshal of the Payson Rodeo parade in 1996. She has spoken to schools and organizations throughout Arizona, and at local clubs and ceremonies about Arizona history and ranch history. She appeared at the Roosevelt Dam rededication, and she has been on television several times. She was selected as one of Arizona’s first Culture Keepers.
Margurite Noble is still in demand as a story teller and as an Elderhostel speaker, where she appears in pioneer dress and her ever-present sunbonnet. She is an advocate for the teaching of Arizona History in schools. Her lifelong contributions to the awareness of Arizona history are immeasurable.
Donor: Mona McCroskey
February 2004
Her parents, Dan and Mindy Parker from Texas, bought the Bouquet Ranch in Tonto Basin from John Cline in 1903. Marguerite, one of seven children, grew up observing the “cowboy way” and storing memories for her future writing career.
She attended elementary school at Punkin Center, Florence and then Tempe Normal School. Marguerite received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Arizona State University in education. She taught for 30 years at Creighton School in Phoenix, where she emphasized Arizona history in her classes. She also taught high school and university classes.
Marguerite was married to Henry Rogers Buchanan in 1936, and the couple had two children: Roger Buchanan, born September 22, 1940; and Cynthia Dee Buchanan Cowley, born October 23, 1942. Marguerite married Charles F. Noble in 1975, when she retired to Payson.
Marguerite is or has been active in many organizations. She is a charter member of the Northern Gila County Historical Society and a member of the Arizona Historical Society, Tonto Cowbelles, Payson Women’s Club, Daughters of Gila County Pioneers, Phoenix Writers Club, National League of American Pen Women and Western Writers of America.
Her writings include Filaree (Random House, 1979). This novel, based on fact, is considered one of the best ever written about Arizona. An account of the life of a pioneer woman who raised a family and helped run a ranch in turn-of-the-century Gila County, it is required reading in college courses. (sic)
Marguerite published Crossing Trails, which includes a few of the 530 historical vignettes she wrote for broadcast over radio station KMOG in Gila County. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, Western Horseman and The Arizona Republic.
She has received numerous honors, among them the Purple Sage Award (Zane Grey Western Society), Woman of the Year (Daughters of Gila County Pioneers), Spirit of Arizona 1988 (presented by Gov. Rose Mofford), the Sharlot Hall Award 1992 (Sharlot Hall Museum), and the Al Merita Award from the Arizona Historical Society. She was Payson’s Woman of the Year, and July 4, 1979, was declared Marguerite Noble Day in Payson.
She was Grand Marshal of the Payson Rodeo parade in 1996. She has spoken to schools and organizations throughout Arizona, and at local clubs and ceremonies about Arizona history and ranch history. She appeared at the Roosevelt Dam rededication, and she has been on television several times. She was selected as one of Arizona’s first Culture Keepers.
Margurite Noble is still in demand as a story teller and as an Elderhostel speaker, where she appears in pioneer dress and her ever-present sunbonnet. She is an advocate for the teaching of Arizona History in schools. Her lifelong contributions to the awareness of Arizona history are immeasurable.
Donor: Mona McCroskey
February 2004
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
March 23, 2009
When I lived in Arizona, I always wondered
how people lived there without electricity.
This book confirms what I suspected, that
everything was dirty and uncomfortable
and intimidating.
Facininating, and the protagonist is
a great character. Based on a real woman
who came to Tempe as a child.
how people lived there without electricity.
This book confirms what I suspected, that
everything was dirty and uncomfortable
and intimidating.
Facininating, and the protagonist is
a great character. Based on a real woman
who came to Tempe as a child.
June 19, 2022
4.5 stars
Living in the west in the early 1900’s was not for the faint of heart.
This story is about a woman who was 15 when she married her 31 year old husband in Texas, and they moved to Arizona, close to Roosevelt Lake. No electricity, no running water, working from sun up to sun down, raising 7 kids …. and then it gets worse when her husband runs off back to Texas without her.
I cannot even imagine this life-style.
Living in the west in the early 1900’s was not for the faint of heart.
This story is about a woman who was 15 when she married her 31 year old husband in Texas, and they moved to Arizona, close to Roosevelt Lake. No electricity, no running water, working from sun up to sun down, raising 7 kids …. and then it gets worse when her husband runs off back to Texas without her.
I cannot even imagine this life-style.
May 20, 2024
Exhausting, in the best way.
I want to echo the review that this is the book Laura Ingalls Wilder would have written if she was being honest.
Reflecting on this book after a trip to Tempe last Spring.
This book is gut wrenching — but it doesn’t talk down to you. Love love love.
I want to echo the review that this is the book Laura Ingalls Wilder would have written if she was being honest.
Reflecting on this book after a trip to Tempe last Spring.
This book is gut wrenching — but it doesn’t talk down to you. Love love love.
October 4, 2023
Another addition to my Arizona reading, Filaree is probably the book Laura Ingalls Wilder would have written if she was being absolutely truthful. This is an account of Marguerite Noble’s mother, Melissa Baker’s peripatetic life, trying to find the American Dream in the West. She lived to nearly a 100-she came to Arizona in a covered wagon, and a few years before she died, she had learnt to drive a car. The span of change she sees is dizzying. What’s also interesting to read is her fury at the unfairness of her life-having to put up with her wastrel of a husband, shouldering all the responsibilities of childcare, wanting birth control and not having access to it, and the back-breaking grind of trying to make the land work from you, when it’s so clearly not land suited to agriculture. You don’t have enough accounts ofhow women made life possible in the settlement/colonialism of the American West, and you don’t get too many narratives of the anger of women at being confined to the domestic sphere at all-Ma, in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books, is a long-suffering saint, though Laura does display some subversively feminist
views. This is a book that shows you just how difficult it is to make a living off the land, with Melissa’s husband finally abandoning them altogether, and the book takes you through Melissa keeping herfamily together, educating her children, and continuing to scrape a living from various odd jobs-all the while fending off possible sexual assault, exhaustion, illness. She has a stint at California too, among the fruit-pickers, and the descriptions make her physical distress leap off the page. I could have done without her racism-this is one of those instances where it feels like the author’s own views being aired and not just her mother’s, which is uncomfortable. Also unlike Laura Ingalls Wilder, who does not have progressive views about the dispossession of Native Americans, still has them in the books and it’s very clear they’re being unfairly deprived of their homes, there’s no mention at all of the original dwellers of the land, something I found quite odd. I’m glad I read this though-a compelling account of a survivor and how the West wasn’t won- it was struggled through!
views. This is a book that shows you just how difficult it is to make a living off the land, with Melissa’s husband finally abandoning them altogether, and the book takes you through Melissa keeping herfamily together, educating her children, and continuing to scrape a living from various odd jobs-all the while fending off possible sexual assault, exhaustion, illness. She has a stint at California too, among the fruit-pickers, and the descriptions make her physical distress leap off the page. I could have done without her racism-this is one of those instances where it feels like the author’s own views being aired and not just her mother’s, which is uncomfortable. Also unlike Laura Ingalls Wilder, who does not have progressive views about the dispossession of Native Americans, still has them in the books and it’s very clear they’re being unfairly deprived of their homes, there’s no mention at all of the original dwellers of the land, something I found quite odd. I’m glad I read this though-a compelling account of a survivor and how the West wasn’t won- it was struggled through!
November 5, 2007
this book is about a woman who trudges through a life she does not feel happy with. she spends her days caring for 7 children, running a ranch and waiting hand and foot on a husband she resents while he spends his time at the saloon. she feels completely unfulfilled until her life takes her to places she never thought she would go. she never imagined her life outside of her little ranch called "filaree" but, she worked in many different places and met lots of new people.
this book took a few chapters before i was really interested in any of the characters but soon found myself looking forward to getting back to it!
this book took a few chapters before i was really interested in any of the characters but soon found myself looking forward to getting back to it!
February 14, 2016
This totally surprised me. I found it on the library discard book shelves and the fact that both Lily Tomlin and Barry Goldwater blurbed it made it too intriguing to pass up. It's the story of a woman's life in early 20th c. Arizona, unceasingly harsh, but beautifully written and with some wonderful twists. The hardships she endures may make you feel the tiniest bit lazy if your job is cushier than cooking for miners or laboring as an itinerant farm worker. I'll certainly be complaining less!
For fans of The Moonflower Vine and The Good House.
For fans of The Moonflower Vine and The Good House.
October 7, 2015
Marguerite Noble's realistic portrayal of pioneer life in Arizona is based on fact, her mother's story, and is excellent reminder of the grit required just to survive in those harsh times. Mrs. Noble has been much honored by Arizona for her writings about pioneer days and this novel is considered a classic.
May 2, 2009
Makes you glad not to have lived at that time. Lonely, sad, and hard times descibe this book to me. But I enjoyed ready this very real and true to life book.
February 17, 2011
This was an interesting story of an Arizona pioneer, my sister-in-law and I had the pleasure of going to the Prescott home of Marguerite Noble and interviewing her. What a life she led!!!
October 23, 2024
This was an unusual novel - although in some ways it fits neatly into the genre of historical saga fiction, there's a fierceness to the way it's written which is quite startling. The book begins in 1910 in Arizona Territory, the year and place of the author Marguerite Noble's birth, and her portrayal of this world is utterly convincing. For everything from preparing food to bath-time, to having to scrub chicken droppings off the porch where they'd gone hunting shade, the depth of historical detail is impressive and gives a remarkable portrait of a past way of life.
The central character Melissa (who, according to the University of New Mexico's website, is based on the author's mother) spends much of the book angry, bitter and frustrated - about her loveless marriage, lack of education, feeling trapped in a cycle of child-bearing and relentless hard work. "Men gives us bruises and hurts that don't never heal" she says in an outburst to a friend. "They give us tears that scald us bad as the bilin' wash pot." It's not necessarily an easy read, but an interesting one for a different perspective on the life of settlers in the American West.
The central character Melissa (who, according to the University of New Mexico's website, is based on the author's mother) spends much of the book angry, bitter and frustrated - about her loveless marriage, lack of education, feeling trapped in a cycle of child-bearing and relentless hard work. "Men gives us bruises and hurts that don't never heal" she says in an outburst to a friend. "They give us tears that scald us bad as the bilin' wash pot." It's not necessarily an easy read, but an interesting one for a different perspective on the life of settlers in the American West.
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June 8, 2023This is…not good. The dialogue is stilted and repetitive. The descriptions don’t work themselves into the emotional content. The gender conflict is fierce and bears some evidence of hindsight, projecting 1960s fury onto the past. Not that women weren’t fiercely bitter and angry in their family situations at the turn of the century, or that this wasn’t the organic fruit of patriarchy. But I just read a bunch of interviews with the rural daughters and granddaughters of the pioneer generation (Cowgirls, Teresa Jordan), and they have very different ideas about gender roles, conflict, and liberation than what’s portrayed here. This, this is just miserable to read.
But I did. And Melissa's story does bear thinking about, especially in light of the trope of the gun-toting, childbearing, longsuffering pioneer woman that Jordan pointed out. Maybe she wasn’t heroic. Maybe she was just kinda miserable.
But I did. And Melissa's story does bear thinking about, especially in light of the trope of the gun-toting, childbearing, longsuffering pioneer woman that Jordan pointed out. Maybe she wasn’t heroic. Maybe she was just kinda miserable.
December 11, 2021
I can't do an unbiased review of this book overall because, to be honest, it has to be one of the most dismal and depressing books I've ever read. Sickness, hunger, bad weather, deaths, a totally reprehensible husband...one wretched life event follows another in the main character's life. I expect a certain amount of all of this in most books of this genre, but this was just too much for me.
January 4, 2026
I knew it was hard living in Arizona in the early 1900’s, but this book really puts it into perspective of just how hard it was. The daily struggles of just trying to keep house seems awful. I live in Payson, 45 minutes from where this book takes place in Tonto Basin. I sympathized with the women as I read because they had tough times!
February 16, 2021
A very good book about a woman's life in early Arizona. I don't read too many feminist pioneer novels, but this has to be a classic of its genre. Vivid. Brutal. Tender. Angry. A lot to like here.
March 12, 2025
Quite the opposite of Laura Ingalls Wilder's experience. It was very depressing to read what women went through during this time. Based on a true account and written in the 1970's. I am so thankful for how far we have come!
December 15, 2025
This book was sort of sad because the main character had a hard life. However, I liked how it was realistic, and I've always been a fan of historical stories. I found it quite interesting, and I'm glad I read it.
April 17, 2021
Well written.
Hooked from beginning.
Pioneer days for a mom to her independent days as she ages.
Hooked from beginning.
Pioneer days for a mom to her independent days as she ages.
April 20, 2022
This is one of the you want to curl up in and not put down
May 5, 2014
This was a delightful read. The story of a woman who lived through many hardships of life in Arizona during the early 1900's. She married young, gave birth to 8 children, lived under the oppression of a demanding and unloving husband, and finally came into her own as she found a life in which she could become the strong, expressive woman she was meant to be.
I wasn't able to find this in the local libraries or on e-books, so bought a used copy from Amazon. Let me know if you would like to borrow it.
I wasn't able to find this in the local libraries or on e-books, so bought a used copy from Amazon. Let me know if you would like to borrow it.
March 20, 2013
I love Melissa Baker. Snarky survivor who gives all of us a lesson in womanhood. Much of what she feels is part of everyone of us. The characters in this historical novel remind me of ones I met in The Glass Castle and These is My Words. Proves that the Southwest does not lack for of 'good stock'.
The only remaining question I have is what became of Ike Talbot. Don't we all have an Ike Talbot in our lives?
This was a perfect respite from Cain at Gettysburg.
The only remaining question I have is what became of Ike Talbot. Don't we all have an Ike Talbot in our lives?
This was a perfect respite from Cain at Gettysburg.
January 21, 2008
This book stars out with the main character being bitter and angry at her husband and with having another baby. She literally struggles through out the book just trying to manage and get by. It does have a "happy" ending, at least as happy as any of us can expect. It did upset me that only one of her kids seemed to care enough to take care of her.
April 9, 2013
I was glad to finish this short book. A woman's life was hard in the early 1900s, especially on a ranch. The book focused on one hardship after another, rarely embracing any joy in life. The last few chapters were better, but not enough to redeem the book for me.
May 6, 2021
It's an interesting view of a very hard life in early 20th-century Arizona. Based on the life of the author's mother. It certainly speaks of tenacity in the face of hardship and of the evolution of relationships. An easy read.
Want to read
November 10, 2008nancy turner recommended.....
June 29, 2012
Nice story, and probably spot-on for what it was like for pioneer women in the early 1900s.
February 9, 2015
The struggles of a woman's life on a homestead...great story!
March 2, 2015
So glad I didn't live in Arizona during that time. A hard life!
February 11, 2016
C-. historical fiction, mom's stash, discard
March 3, 2016
I have owned this book forever, now I have reread it and will let it go.
It must have spoken to me in the past, and I still enjoy pioneer stories.
A hard life for sure.
It must have spoken to me in the past, and I still enjoy pioneer stories.
A hard life for sure.
April 12, 2017
I thought this book gave a pretty clear picture of how life for a rancher wife really was in the 1800's...I enjoyed this writer's style...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews