In A Daughter of the Land, Porter achieved her greatest sophistication and mastery of novelistic technique; the faults of the other novels are muted here. The choice of an unconventional heroine lessens Porter's customary sentimentality, allowing her to portray family life realistically, with parental favoritism and squabbles and jealousies, as well as affection, among the siblings. Agrarian life is clearly valued, but descriptions of nature are less intrusive, and there is less anthropomorphism. Because the purpose is less didactic, the effects of Kate's actions are presented almost objectively. The plot is less melodramatic, and while it still turns upon coincidences, there is more sense of inevitability, less plot manipulation. In fact, in her increased detachment and her use of an episodic, rather than continuous, narrative, Porter achieved the greater maturity and realism that she erroneously claimed for later novels such as The White Flag (1923).