The Flight of Betsey Lane by Sarah Orne Jewett

Jewett was born into an old New England family in the coastal town of South Berwick, Maine. She published at the age of 19 in the Atlantic Monthly. As a “local color” writer, she often emphasized people and place over plot. She was praised by other writers, including William Dean Howells, who described Jewett as having "an uncommon feeling for talk — I hear your people." Speaking in praise of her novel, The Country of the Pointed Firs, none other than the esteemed Henry James declared it a “beautiful little quantum of achievement.” Jewett established a close relationship with the writer, Annie Fields and her husband James Thomas Fields, the publisher and editor of the Atlantic Monthly. When James died suddenly, Anne and Sarah began to live together in what was called a “Boston Marriage” -- a term used at the time to describe two women living together, independent of the financial support of men. Enjoy!