| The Rolling Years | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Agnes Sligh Turnbull |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | The Macmillan Company |
| Publication date | 1936 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 436 |
| OCLC Number | 17316163 |
| Followed by | Remember the End |
The Rolling Years is the first novel by the American writer Agnes Sligh Turnbull (1888-1982) and it is set in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, just east of Pittsburgh.
It is a family chronicle (1852-1910) of three generations of Scottish-American Presbyterians in rural Western Pennsylvania and their struggles to maintain their strict faith. The first generation is Daniel and Sarah McDowell, a farm couple. Sarah bears 12 children (of whom five survive) to her dour Calvinistic husband; her bitterness about her repeated, difficult confinements is effectively shown. The second generation is about their children, David and Jeannie. David moves to Pittsburgh where he becomes a judge. Jeannie marries a minister who has been serving as the local school teacher to earn money to complete his education. Jeannie's daughter, Constance, represents the third generation. She becomes a school teacher and struggles to find her place in a changing world. The novel dramatizes the gradual weakening of the strict Calvinism of the Scottish immigrants in an increasingly secular society.