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Sarah Orne Jewett
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The Country of the Pointed Firs and Other Stories (Signet Classics) Mass Market Paperback – November 3, 2009

by Sarah Orne Jewett (Author), Anita Shreve (Introduction), Peter Balaam (Afterword)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 176 ratings
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A rich collection of classic American literature potraying the beauty of a 19th-century New England town.

A female writer comes one summer to Dunnet Landing, a Maine seacoast town, where she follows the lonely inhabitants of once-prosperous coastal communities. Here, lives are molded by the long Maine winters, rock-filled fields and strong resourceful women.

Throughout Sarah Orne Jewett’s novel and stories, these quiet tales of a simpler American life capture the inspirational in the everyday: the importance of honest friendships, the value of family, and the gift of community.

“Their counterparts are in every village in the world, thank heaven, and the gift to one’s life is only in its discernment.” 
Previous page
  1. Print length
    272 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Signet
  4. Publication date
    November 3, 2009
  5. Dimensions
    4.19 x 0.72 x 6.72 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0451531442
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0451531445
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“The young student of American Literature in far distant years to come will take up this book and say ‘a masterpiece.’”—Will Cather

From the Back Cover

Willa Cather's assessment of The Country of the Pointed Firs has done much to ensure a growing recognition of its qualities. In this novella, a writer moves to the quiet Maine village of Dunnel Landing, seeking a hermitage away from the busy city. Instead of isolation she discovers a rich community that exercises and extends her powers as an observer and conversationalist. She returns to the city refreshed, her vision broader and her relationships strengthened. This volume combines Jewett's classic novella and its four short sequels with nine more of her best stories, illustrating the range of her literary style and exemplifying her interest in the position of women in nineteenth-century America. Terry Heller's introduction examines Jewett's work within the mainstream of American literature. Useful annotation, plus a helpful list of the plant and herb lore to which Jewett makes frequent reference, further illuminate her stories for the reader.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Signet (November 3, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0451531442
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0451531445
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.19 x 0.72 x 6.72 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 176 ratings

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Sarah Orne Jewett

Sarah Orne Jewett

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
176 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Allan H. Clark
5.0 out of 5 stars Truly a refreshing short read.
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2017
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This book offers a unique portrait of life in a New England village during one summer in the late nineteenth century. Jewett's canvas is small and within its frame you will find no great events nor even the vestige of a plot, but the resulting story is satisfying and the characters endearing. The writing flows smoothly and evenly over the events of little lives in which Jewett finds dignity, courage, and persistence.
6 people found this helpful
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Donna S
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Service
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2024
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The book arrived in excellent condition. I’m looking forward to reading it.
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Pamela Grachis
5.0 out of 5 stars A step back in time to the pioneering spirit of Maine
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2023
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The language can be a bit hard to follow, but I enjoyed to subject mattter.
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SESTORYWOMAN
4.0 out of 5 stars A Book to Savor
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2018
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Our Harmony book group is reading the novella “The Country of the Pointed Firs” by Sarah Orne Jewett. This exquisite work was first published in 1896 and is an outstanding example of regional fiction although it is so much more than that. “The Country of the Pointed Firs” is made up of a series of short chapters that focuses on characters who live stark, simple lives on the islands off the coast of Maine. The story is told by a female narrator, a writer who has fallen in love with the small seacoast town of Dunnet Landing. She lives there one summer, working in seclusion. Dunnet Landing is populated by the elderly; many of the women are widows whose husbands have died at sea. The narrator is a lodger with Mrs. Almira Todd, a woman who gathers local herbs for medicine. Mrs. Todd is sociable and well-liked. Her 86 year old mother, Mrs. Blackett, lives a more isolated existence with her 60 year old son William on an island several miles off the Maine coast; she is esteemed for her generous hospitality. Even family reunions become much relished social occasions. I wish I could do better justice to the beauty of the writing. This novel details the passing of a way of life—life at a slower place. Fisherfolk and their families have become increasingly scarce. People spend the evenings doing small household tasks and enjoying conversation. Jewett is such a keen observer that her characters shine vividly as does the lovely yet harsh Maine landscape. This is a quiet novel and it is one to savor. Never has subsistence seemed so interesting.
13 people found this helpful
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daisyjane
5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding read
Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2013
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Now, you see them little peaked-topped spruces an' fir balsams comin' up over the hill all green an' hearty; they've got it all their own way . . .I tell you those little trees means business. (p. 203)

Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs and Four Related Tales is a beautifully written story of individuals living in turn-of-the-century rural Maine, their coastal isolation, and how the land and sea shaped their lives.

The author's masterful use of description and unfolding story lines belie the simplicity of her messages. Several reviewers castigated the book for its lack of theme. For me, the interwoven stories of the Dunnet Landing residents is the theme. Days were slow and hard. People were poor in possessions but rich in their relationships. Little "happened" in the book because little beyond the basic tenets of work, family, and survival "happened" in their lives.

I dearly loved discovering Dunnet Landing through the eyes of the narrator and would recommend that The Country of Pointed Firs be read along with the four additional tales, most especially The Queen's Twin, the third of the four.
3 people found this helpful
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Zoe Miner
5.0 out of 5 stars Good chill read
Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2019
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I had to have this book for a class I am taking. It's a good read. Slow because this is a very cozy, just hearing people's stories type of storyline but for an 1890's book it's really interesting and I had fun reading it. Also for anyone who wants to know, if you need to highlight any part of the book, don't worry it won't bleed through.
3 people found this helpful
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DMB
5.0 out of 5 stars The unsung Willa Cather...
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2013
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My great grandmother emigrated from Scotland to Nova Scotia, and finally as a young woman to the coast of Maine, where she raised her 9 children. My grandmother, the 3rd of those 9 children, was born in Maine in 1898. She told me many stories about her growing up time. She was a little girl who rode in horse-drawn wagons to Bangor, before automobiles were available to most regular people; and her family of 11 lived in a 3-bedroom house where only the fireplaces and wood stoves supplied heat through the cold Maine winters. Sarah Orne Jewett's stories about (mostly) women are beautiful little time-capsule jewels that capture the habits, ethics, speech, traditions, and atmosphere of that time and place in our country's history. Here's a writer I hope my great-granddaughter will read someday (I'll save my book for her), that will tell her something about the women in our family who came before us.
10 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Patsy Rideout
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!
Reviewed in Canada on August 1, 2021
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I thoroughly enjoyed this reading!
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Amazon Kunde
4.0 out of 5 stars like time travel
Reviewed in Germany on July 4, 2021
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Calm and poetic, slow-paced, with nuanced characters, especially middle-aged and older women. Some chauvinism though with regard to French („Norman“) ancestry.
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Pinguinlas
1.0 out of 5 stars Grauenhaft!
Reviewed in Germany on November 30, 2012
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Ein Buch ohne Plot, wer allerdings umfangreiche Naturbeschreibungen sucht, ist hier genau richtig. Meiner Meinung nach eine Qual, dieses Buch zu lesen.
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