Edna Ferber

Widely regarded as the master work of celebrated author and Algonquin Round Table mainstay Edna Ferber-who also penned other classics including Show Boat, Giant, Ice Palace, Saratoga Trunk, and Cimarron-So Big is a rollicking panorama of Chicago at the turn of the 20th Century. Following the travails of gambler's daughter Selina Peake DeJong as she struggles to maintain her dignity, her family, and her sanity in the face of monumental challenges,...

From the best-selling author of Giant and So Big, a sweeping look at the lives of three generations of women on Chicago's South Side. Part of Belt's Revivals series and with a new introduction by Kathleen Rooney (Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk).First published in 1921, Edna Ferber's The Girls revolves around the "three Charlottes" of the Thrift family-Great-Aunt Charlotte, her niece Lottie, and Lottie's niece Charley. All single "old maids," as the...

The basis for the classic film starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman, Saratoga Trunk is Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edna Ferber's enthralling saga of love, greed, and power set in New Orleans and Saratoga during the late nineteenth century. Saratoga Trunk unfolds the story of Clio Dulaine, an ambitious Creole beauty who more than meets her match in Clint Maroon, a handsome Texan with a head for business-and an eye for beautiful young women....

Dawn O'Hara: The Girl Who Laughed (1911) is a novel by Edna Ferber. Written while the author was recovering from a bout of anemia, Ferber's debut marked the beginning of an illustrious literary career. Inspired by her experience as a reporter in the city and countryside, Dawn O'Hara: The Girl Who Laughed is the story of a young woman who recognizes the unhappiness in her life and decides to risk it all for something better. Lighthearted in nature,...

Emma McChesney & Co. is the final instalment of Edna Ferber's trilogy, and the comedic novel is full of new beginnings, frightening leaps of faith, and life-altering revelations. First published in 1915, Emma McChesney & Co. brings the trilogy to a close as Emma McChesney's son, Jock, moves to Chicago with his new wife, leaving his mother to debate the nest stages of her life. Alone in the overwhelming emptiness of her New York flat, Edna Ferber's...

In Ferber's first novel, published in 1911, Dawn O'Hara is a New York newspaperwoman who returns home to Michigan when her mentally ill husband is institutionalized. With the help of a handsome doctor, Dawn rebuilds her career as a journalist, but her growing feelings for the doctor are complicated by her loyalty to her husband.

So Big is the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by masterful Algonquin Round Table writer Edna Ferber, inspired by the incredible life of Dutch pioneer Antje Paarlberg. A thoughtful, gripping novel, So Big follows the story of a young schoolteacher, Selina Peake De Jong, as she influences those around her to appreciate the beauty of art and understand its importance. Her influence begins with her pupil, Roelf Pool, who demonstrates great artistic talent....

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Edna Ferber, this collection of short stories features the tales of many brave, charming women who will stay with you long after you've set this volume down. Set in Chicago in the early 1910s, these 12 short stories mostly feature everyday American women. Edna Ferber was a humorous, witty writer with excellent skill for capturing the small details of normal life. Her writing is sometimes sad and at other...

Ferber's first big success as a writer came with the character Emma McChesney, a plucky, self-made businesswoman. This volume, published in 1914, is the second in a trilogy that begins with Roast Beef, Medium (1913) and finishes with Emma McChesney and Co. (1915). In this book, Emma's twenty-one-year-old son, Jock, comes to the fore.

The story follows the life of a young woman, Selina Peake De Jong, who decides to be a school teacher in farming country. During her stay on the Pool family farm, she encourages the young Roelf Pool to follow his interests, which include art. Upon his mother's death, Roelf runs away to France. Meanwhile, Selina marries a Dutch farmer named Pervus. They have a child together, Dirk, whom she nicknames "So Big," from the common question and answer "How...