Sarah Orne Jewett

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Active during the latter part of the nineteenth century, United States author SOJ wrote fiction in the form of short stories, novels, and novellas. Her interest in experimentation, and a particular skill in delineating character (especially in her shorter works), means that her frequent designation as a writer of local-colour fiction neglects many of the nuances of her work.
Black and white, head-and-shoulders photograph of Sarah Orne Jewett from her Tales of New England, 1894 edition. She is in semi-profile, wearing a high-necked buttoned jacket and a short scarf. Her dark, wavy hair is up in a bun.

Milestones

3 September 1849

SOJ was born in South Berwick, Maine.
Silverthorne, Elizabeth. Sarah Orne Jewett: A Writer’s Life. Overlook Press.
24

Later 1896

The Country of the Pointed Firs, the novel considered by many to be SOJ 's best, and best known, work, was first published.
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford.
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.

November 1900-August 1901

SOJ 's historical novel The Tory Lover, her last, was serialised in the Atlantic Monthly; it was published in book form in 1901.
“Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC.
221

24 June 1909

SOJ died following a cerebral haemorrhage at the Jewett family home in South Berwick, Maine.
Silverthorne, Elizabeth. Sarah Orne Jewett: A Writer’s Life. Overlook Press.
210

Biography

Her family often referred to her as Pinny, a nickname she had apparently acquired because she was so tall and thin, like a pin.
Silverthorne, Elizabeth. Sarah Orne Jewett: A Writer’s Life. Overlook Press.
107

Birth, Family, and Influences

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