The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

This tells the poignant tale of a Chinese farmer and his family in old agrarian China. The humble Wang Lung glories in the soil he works, nurturing the land as it nurtures him and his family. Nearby, the nobles of the House of Hwang consider themselves above the land and its workers; but they will soon meet their own downfall.

Hard times come upon Wang Lung and his family when flood and drought force them to seek work in the city. The working people riot, breaking into the homes of the rich and forcing them to flee. When Wang Lung shows mercy to one noble and is rewarded, he begins to rise in the world, even as the House of Hwang falls.

I understand why this won awards and all. I genuinely hated almost every character at some point and Buck delivered me there with such grace and subtlety, I was caught off-guard.

Ungrateful children
soon become selfish old men
but the land endures.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would, as it sat on my self a long time.
It is a simple story, told well. A story of China, told by an American - admittedly by one who has had long ties with China, and spent a long time there.
Set in pre-revolution Anhui Province, 1930s, this won a Pulitzer Prize for Novel 1932.
Wang Lung is a poor man, and a farmer on the small plot of land his father and grandfather owned. He marries a slave from the big house in the town - House of Hwang, and sets about bringing up a family. He works hard, as does his wife, and he invests his silver in land, which he buys from the House of Hwang.
The story progresses, with the success of Wang and his commitment to land. It is all about land, with Wang Lung - Land is forever. Land cannot be taken away.
As his children grow older, the become disconnected from the land, they become town people, not farming people.