"The Girls is the story of three spinsters living in Chicago—an aunt, her niece, and her niece’s niece. The aunt has memories of the Civil War, and all three women have adjusted to the outbreak of the First World War. Generational changes, particularly in regard to romantic attachments, are a central feature of the book, which is also a fascinating portrait of the Chicago lifestyle of the time. The emerging political and social power of women is also a significant feature of the story."
"Who ever heard of a plain and downright homely heroine? Isn't a heroine by definition beautiful? Well, Edna Ferber, in her well known style that later produced Show Boat and Giant, tells us about just such a heroine in the first of these four special short stories. They are special to me because of their insight into the deep courage and faith of 'ordinary' people, people like most of us. And of course our failings and frailties and sometimes, the prince does not marry the right person. The other stories are A Bush League Hero, What she Wore and The Man Who Came Back."
"Personality Plus is an early novel by American author Edna Ferber. Originally published in 1914, Personality Plus is the second of three volumes chronicling the travels and events in the life of Emma McChesney. Ferber achieved her first successes with a series of stories centering around this character, a stylish and intelligent divorced mother who rises rapidly in business"
"This book follows the adventures of Emma McChesney, a smart and savvy divorced mother who travels the Midwest as a sales representative for a large skirt and petticoat manufacturer. Her many adventures with people, (including predatory salesmen and hotel clerks), are funny and poignant. She is hardworking and able to outsell the slickest of the men salesmen. She has learned to focus on her work and her seventeen-year-old son, Jock. Experience has taught her that it is usually best to stick to roast beef, medium and not get stomach ache with fancy sauces and exotic dishes. This is the first of three volumes following the career and adventures of Emma McChesney."
"Presented here is Volume III of our Feminist Literary Classics series, featuring three of the most important feminist novels ever written: Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf, O Pioneers! by Willa Cather and So Big by Edna Ferber.
The first book in this collection is Orlando: A Biography, a groundbreaking English novel by Virginia Woolf that explores English history, gender roles and sexual politics in a way few books have before or since. The story follows the life of an aristocratic nobleman who changes sex from man to woman and goes on to live for centuries, meeting all of the most influential and powerful figures in English history.
Next, we have O Pioneers! by Willa Cather, the first book of the 'Prairie Trilogy' and one of the most powerful, moving books about life as a farmer in early 20th century America ever written. O Pioneers! solidified Willa Cather as a major literary force and she swiftly became the voice of the Midwest.
And finally, we present So Big, Edna Ferber's breakout, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of life on an American farm and features one of the most iconic characters in 20th century fiction, the hardscrabble schoolteacher-turned-truck-farmer Selina Peake DeJong.
Each of these books is presented in its original and unabridged format."
"Edna Ferber was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels were popular in her lifetime and included the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big (1924), Show Boat (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), Cimarron (1929; made into the 1931 film which won the Academy Award for Best Picture), and Giant (1952; made into the 1956 Hollywood movie). Dancing Girls contains her unique mix of real people, sadness, joy and always humor and is my favorite for the way she paints a picture of mid America small town society and how good people somehow (and sometimes) can find their way to each other."
"Telephone lineman in the early 1900s were known for their very vocal appreciation of any and all female beauty as it walked below on the street. From their lofty perch they felt safe to whistle and shout their thanks to the lovely ladies who passed anywhere within their visual range. The women thus admired often expressed distain and dislike of this outward expression by the men but they usually walked away with their complexions a bit rosier than before. This, as we now know of course, was very inappropriate and something to be sternly discouraged but at the time all parties involved somehow to managed survive and even thrive. This story is about such an encounter. But the lady involved did not just blush and walk away, she stopped and invited the man on the pole to come down and get his face slapped for his impudence. She was of Irish descent and did not put up with uppity and distasteful men.
Well, the man did come down and did indeed get a resounding slap from her. What happened after this I will let the listener discover in this delightful tale of men and women and their mysterious doings."
"Edna Ferber, known for her prize winning novels such as Show Boat, Cimarron and Giant, writes a delightful story here of Emma McChesney, no longer a successful traveling salesperson for a New York dress manufacturer, as she now enjoys her marriage to a wonderful man. Both successful in their areas they live in New York and have two children. But this is during the Great War and Emma goes from designing better uniforms for the doughboys to actually joining the military. Her keen intelligence and organizational ability find an outlet here worthy of her mettle."
"Edna Ferber, the prize winning author who penned such blockbusters as Show Boat, Cimarron, and Giant, also wrote many delightful short stories about people and their foibles. Young people, old people, working people and retired people. This story is about an old lady who lives the good life with her circle of other ladies. A sweet tale of growing old but still being a strong person and enjoying many things."
"'Before she tried to be a good woman she had been a very bad woman—so bad that she could trail her wonderful apparel up and down Main Street, from the Elm Tree Bakery to the railroad tracks, without once having a man doff his hat to her or a woman bow. You passed her on the street with a surreptitious glance, though she was well worth looking at—in her furs and laces and plumes. She had the only full-length mink coat in our town, and Ganz's shoe store sent to Chicago for her shoes. Hers were the miraculously small feet you frequently see in stout women.
For she owned the House with the Closed Shutters, near the freight depot—did Blanche Devine'."
"Edna Ferber observed people with the eye of a painter. She saw us clearly, much too clearly for what we are: humans with strange behaviors. Being a novelist with a way with words, she then proceeded to describe these strange behaviors in a way that was and still is, funny and painful because we recognize our silliness and oddness all too well. In this story she describes how a tiny mannerism in a husband can drive a loving wife to up one wall and down the other. And how, when she finally breaks after 4 years with this man whom she loves and hates at the same time, the man is left with a bewildered look on his face because, well, he didn't do anything and yet his sweet wife is screaming and dissolving into tears. Of course it works the other way too and husbands are driven to distraction by some small mannerism their wives do without thinking. Enjoy this delightful story and take a moment to reflect on the wonderful ability of humans to live with each other at all."
"World War I caused many young men from America to leave their homes and travel into the great big world out there. By the many thousands they traveled by bus and train from tiny villages in every state to the big cities and then they rubbed shoulders with other men from a variety of cultures and beliefs. Then they travelled more than in their wildest dreams, across oceans to Europe. When returning they were different boys and men, much more worldly and knowing. But what about their girl friends that were left behind? They stayed in the tiny towns and stayed provincial so that when their boyfriends returned they felt very inadequate. This story is about an ordinary girl and boy caught up in this situation and how learning to say 'a piece of bread' in French can make all the difference in a girls confidence about life and love."
