Ein Tal in Ohio

A Timeless Place (German title Ein Tal in Ohio, 1971/1973) is a novel by Ellen Bromfield-Geld, the youngest daughter of the famous American writer Louis Bromfield. The book is partly autobiographical and inspired by life on the famous Malabar Farm in Ohio, which Louis Bromfield transformed into a model of ecological and organic farming. The work won the Ohio Book Award and is considered one of the author's most significant works.

The novel depicts a "timeless place" - a valley in Ohio - as a microcosm of rural America. Through the story of family, neighbors and everyday life on the farm, the author depicts the cycle of the seasons, working on the land, raising children and the conflict between tradition and modernization. Ellen Bromfield Geld inherits her father's deep respect for nature and criticism of the industrial approach to agriculture. The book is not only a nostalgic memoir, but also a novel that explores themes of heritage, roots, identity and sustainability.

The main characters are family members and local people whose lives are intertwined with the rhythm of the farm. The author describes the joys (harvest, community, the beauty of the landscape) and the hardships (economic crises, weather disasters, the departure of young people to the cities). There is a particularly strong emphasis on the female perspective – the role of women on the farm, motherhood and the preservation of family values. The book reflects the author’s own life: born in France, raised on Malabar Farm, later living in Brazil, where she continued to write about nature and rural life.