The country of the pointed firs, and other stories

First serialized in "The Atlantic Monthly" and then published as a novel in 1896, Sarah Orne Jewett's "The Country of the Pointed Firs" is the story of a female writer seeking isolation and inspiration for her writing in the small coastal New England town of Dunnet Landing in the late 1800's. Originally from Boston and drawn back to the quiet town after a visit years earlier, the narrator is at first frustrated by the constant interruptions of the small village's inhabitants and seeks out the solitude she needs to concentrate on her work. However, she becomes increasingly drawn into the lives of her neighbors and finds herself becoming more and more a part of their community and emotionally invested in these new relationships. Considered by many to be Jewett's finest work, the novel is rich with the dialect of the region and the culture of the time. "The Country of the Pointed Firs" is an intimate and very human examination of the relationships amongst the inhabitants of a decaying and isolated rural village and their vanishing way of life.