Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary discussion

Please help if this plot sounds familiar...

[description is annoyingly vague & provided by a 15 year old who remembers hearing the audiobook years ago]

* fiction * set back in time- 1930s? 40s? in U.S. * farm setting *
* ex-military father (possibly addressed throughout book by his military title- General? Sargeant?) * mother is deceased * older daughter, younger son * possibly another adult man who works on the farm * stranger arrives & stays with them, helping on farm * daughter falls for stranger * someone hurts (kills?) someone with knife * stranger leaves with either son or daughter running away with him (or both leaving with him?) *

[either the book author or the voice actor for audiobook are definitely well-known]

Any help would be much appreciated!!

* sorry for the dictionary thing at top- wouldn't let me post without entering a book title... hopefully asking for title help isn't a no-no on here. If so, all apologies :)