First of all, don't let the marketing of this book prejudice you one way or another: it may have some queer undertones, but it is by no means a "gay novel."
Jewett is an author best known for her collection "The Country of the Pointed Firs." Having read it and liked it many years ago, I was eager to read this short novel, which Jewett considered her best work. I was not disappointed.
It is about the clash, or at least contrast, of values between life on a farm, with its all-encompassing focus on physical activity, and life in the city, which allows free rein for the mind, especially that which expresses itself creatively. Dick Dale is a wealthy, idle artist who sprains his ankle while sketching in the country and is taken in by a farm family. He becomes enchanted by the simplicity and straightforwardness of rural life and toys with the idea of settling down there, all the while knowing that he does not belong.
He admires the beautiful daughter of the house, but his attraction is esthetic rather than sexual. The editor of this edition assumes that he is gay, which I think is possible but unimportant. He justifies this by pointing out that Jewett was a lesbian and that one of the farming community describes Dale as "nancy," despite the fact that many gay artists create work that has nothing to do with their sexuality and male manual laborers often brand those who work with their wits as effeminate. A critic mentioned in one of the footnotes claims, more persuasively, that this conflict dramatizes Jewett's own dilemma of loving her country home in Maine but needing the intellectual and artistic stimulation of Boston: she had houses in both places.
Ultimately, this lovely book is worth reading for the beauty of Jewett's prose and the subtleties and wit of her mind. It's also a window into rural American life in the late 19th century (it was published in 1885), written with affection but without blinkers. And this edition is heavily footnoted with explanations of words or phrases that are unfamiliar to modern readers.* It's too bad that it's been seized by those hoping to use it to advance their personal agendas. Forget the politics and enjoy the novel.
*I read an early digital copy, courtesy of the Univ. of Pennsylvania Press and NetGalley. I hope this has been corrected in the final version of the ebook, but the many footnote references do not link to the footnotes themselves, making it difficult to consult the footnotes while reading the book.
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