From a New York Times obit by Penelope Green headlined “Larry Woiwode, Who Wrote of Family, Faith, and Rural Life, Dies at 80”:

Larry Woiwode, the author of lyrical, expansive novels, short stories, poems and essays, mostly planted in the American West, that explored the power of place, family ties and faith, spiritual and otherwise, died on April 28 in Bismarck, N.D.

Mr. Woiwode’s 1975 novel, “Beyond the Bedroom Wall,” a 600-page saga about four generations of a North Dakota farming clan, established his place in American letters. For its epic sweep, elegant language and essential themes, he was compared to Dickens, Melville and Tolstoy.