Jewett, Sarah Orne (1849 - 1909)

Genre: Children's Literature, General Fiction, Poetry

Jewett was born and lived all her life in South Berwick, ME. Most famous in Maine for The Country of the Pointed Firs(1896), she also wrote A Country Doctor (1884) which she based on the life of her late father, numerous other short stories, as well as poetry.

She wrote her earliest pieces under the names Alice Eliott or A.C. Eliott. Many of her stories were first published in the Century, Harper's, or Atlantic Monthly.

One of her influences was Harriet Beecher Stowe. As a writer who could portray a local society sympathetically but without sentiment, Jewett (in turn) influenced Willa Cather. In fact, Cather wrote the introduction to the 1954 edition of Country of the Pointed Firs.

Selected Bibliography

  • Deephaven (1877) first published in Atlantic Monthly
  • Play Days (1878; for children)
  • Old Friends and New (1879)
  • Country By-Ways (1881)
  • The Mate of the Daylight and Friends Ashore (1883)
  • A Marsh Island (1885; a novel)
  • The Dulham Ladies (1886)
  • "A White Heron" (1886)
  • The King of Folly Island and Other People (1888)
  • Betty Leicester (1889; for children)
  • Tales of New England (1890)
  • Strangers and Wayfarers (1890)
  • A Native of Winby (1893)
  • The Life of Nancy (1895)
  • Betty Leicester's English Christmas (1897; for children)
  • The Queen's Twin (1899)
  • The Tory Lover (1901; a novel)

Selected Resources

Selected Links