Manuscripts for a previously unknown novel by Pearl Buck were discovered in a storage locker in Texas. The novel, entitled The Eternal Wonder, appears to have been completed just prior to Buck's death in 1973 and is described as "a coming-of-age tale of a young man who ends up on patrol in the Korean demilitarized zone and in his travels finds love and romance."

“It’s a novel that encompasses some of Buck’s common themes: intercultural relationships, travel, China; Asia in general,” said Michael Carlisle, a partner at Inkwell and literary agent who represents the Buck estate. “This is a very, very exciting moment for anybody who loves the oeuvre of Pearl Buck.”

The two manuscripts, one handwritten and one typed, were found in a Fort Worth, TX storage locker that was auctioned off. Luckily, the purchaser of the locker realized what she had and contacted the Buck estate. She gave the manuscripts to Buck's family in exchange for a small finder's fee.

Buck's son, Edgar Walsh, said in a recent interview that he "had not known that mother had written this in the last year or two of her life." The novel will be published this October in both print and electronic formats.

Buck is best known for her novel The Good Earth, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1931. She is one of only two American women to win both the Pulitzer and the Nobel prize, which she was awarded in 1938; Toni Morrison has also won both prizes.

 

​Searching for a long-lost Pearl Buck manuscript? Try a storage locker