Daphne du Maurier (May 13, 1907 – April 19, 1989) was a prolific British novelist, playwright, and short story writer, best known for Rebecca (1938) and other finely constructed works of suspense.
Her novels and stories were rich in detail, with elements of history, romance, and intrigue. Her works, which were quite popular in their time, were sometimes criticized as lacking in depth or intellect, a view that has since been revised.
Du Maurier is best remembered for a half a dozen or so books and stories that were adapted to film. But her publishing credits went well beyond her more famous works to include nearly forty novels and short story collections. She wrote plays and nonfiction and as well, including memoirs of her own talented family. Read More→
Onions in the Stew by Betty MacDonald (1954) is a humorous memoir about the author’s life in Washington State with her family. The events described in this narrative take place from 1942 to 1954.
Betty, a divorced working mother, lives with her two preteen daughters in her mother’s home. After she meets and marries Donald MacDonald, they find it difficult to find one in Seattle or its suburbs, and finally settle on a property on nearby Vashon Island. Read More→
Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti (1830 – 1894) is the best known poem by this Victorian-era British poet. It was published in her first volume of poetry, Goblin Market and Other Poems, in 1863.
This very long narrative poem is set in an imaginary world, describing the strange adventures of sisters Laura and Lizzie and their encounters with evil goblin merchants.
One of the main themes of this poem is temptation, illustrated by Laura’s tasting of enchanted forbidden fruit. It also explores sacrifice, sexuality, and salvation. According to Discovering Literature: Romantics and Victorians: Read More→
My first impression of Villette by Charlotte Brontë (1853) was the familiarity of the writing — if I had no inclination of the author or book title, but merely “read it blind,” I think I would still know it was Charlotte Brontë. Character reigns supreme over the novel — that of the narrator, Lucy Snowe, as well as those around her.
The focus of the book lies primarily with the development of Lucy’s character. Because I had read Lyndall Gordon’s amazing biography of Charlotte beforehand, I felt prepared for Villette.
I read it with an eye for what it said about Charlotte — her life, her experiences, her opinions — and I think this colored my experience of it. Ultimately, it is a book in which the plot is only secondary. Read More→
Pearl S. Buck (1892 – 1973) was an American author of fiction and nonfiction, humanitarian, and human rights advocate. She was also the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Following are quotes from The Good Earth, a classic novel that’s still widely read and studied.
Buck had a prolific career, authoring some seventy books, and was also a dedicated human rights advocate, founding the East and West Association in 1941.
The Good Earth,Pearl Buck’s second novel, is her best-known work and remains the one that defined her place in American literature. It received both the Pulitzer Prize and the Howells Medal in 1932.
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Charlotte Perkins Gilman (July 3, 1860 – August 17, 1935) was an American author of fiction and nonfiction, praised for her feminist works that pushed for equal treatment of women and for breaking out of stereotypical roles.
She’s best remembered for the semi-autobiographical work of short fiction, The Yellow Wallpaper.
She was one of the leading activists in the late 19th and early 20th century American women’s movement, and her nonfiction works detailing how women’s lives were impacted by social and economic bias are still relevant. Read More→
George Sand (born Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin; July 1, 1804 – June 8, 1876) was a French novelist, essayist, and playwright known for pushing the envelope on female agency, gender expression, and cultural expectations.
She’s also notorious for the drama in her everyday life, not the least of which was her lively love life, filled with countless romantic entanglements.
Her literary legacy includes more than seventy novels in addition to several plays, countless essays, journalistic pieces, and a multi-volume autobiography. Few authors since have matched her prolific output, and she remains a model for creating a full palette of love, productivity, and family life.
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Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888) is best known as the author of Little Women and its sequels, including Jo’s Boys and Little Men, though the scope of her work goes far beyond these beloved books.
She also wrote essays, poems, and pseudonymous thrillers. Alcott’s most beloved heroine, the complicated and talented Jo March, was an idealized version of herself.
She did grow up in a family much like the one she presented in Little Women — once again, idealized and a bit altered — with practical and wise Marmee, a dreamer of a father, and three sisters, May (“Amy”), Anna (“Meg”), and Elizabeth (“Beth”). Read More→
