The Country of the Pointed Firs

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books
A young writer leaves the city to complete her manuscript in a small coastal town, but finds herself writing about the lives of its inhabitants instead - their occupation with memory and tradition, their vibrant female friendships, and the idyll of the landscape that informs their sense of togetherness. A classic of American fiction adored by Willa Cather and Henry James, The Country of the Pointed Firs seems woven from the fabric of community itself.

Sarah Orne Jewett was born in 1849 into a financially independent, middle-class family in South Berwick, Maine. She went intermittently to a local school, but was mostly self-educated and read voraciously. Inspired by Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel set in Maine, The Pearl of Orr's Island, she began to write about her native region of New England. Her first story appeared in 1868 in the Atlantic Monthly, which continued to publish her work. Friendships were of fundamental importance to her, particularly friendships between women. She became part of Boston's cultural elite, and was good friends with her publisher James T. Fields and his wife Annie. After his death in 1881 she moved in with Annie, spending half the year with her around Boston and the other half in the family house in Maine. Her novels include Deephaven (1877) and The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896), both of which reveal a sense of community and place, and A Country Doctor (1884), written in memory of her father. She also published nine volumes of short stories between 1879 and 1899. Sarah Orne Jewett incurred serious injuries in 1902 after being thrown from a carriage. This prevented any further writing. She died in 1909.