The Country of Pointed Firs

One of four classics coming this December from Smith & Taylor Classics.

A nameless writer has come to Dunnet Landing, a small town on the coast of Maine, for the summer in order to finish her manuscript. 

Compared to the hectic pace of the city she's left behind, she finds herself absorbed in the slow rhythms of her new daily life. Her observations of the residents of Dunnet Landing—their loves, their fights, their occupation with sky and sea and land, their tall tales, and quiet secrets—comprise The Country of the Pointed Firs. It is a novel seemingly made from the very fabric of community. Jewett’s beautiful, delicate descriptions and her wonderfully natural dialogue bring the whole town and its many inhabitants to life. 

Once described by Henry James as Jewett’s “beautiful little quantum of achievement,” The Country of the Pointed Firs is a stunning testament to the power of place and memory.

Sarah Orne Jewett (1849–1909) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet. As a young child she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and encouraged to take frequent nature walks. Today she is best known for her nature writing and regional works set along the coast of Maine. At nineteen, Jewett had a short story published in The Atlantic. She is the author of Deephaven (1877), Old Friends and New (1879), Country By-Ways (1881), A White Heron and Other Stories (1886), and A Native of Winby and Other Tales (1893). Her novels include A Country Doctor (1884) and The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896). For most of her adult life, Jewett lived with her close friend, Annie Adams Field, in what was then termed a “Boston marriage.”