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Miss Grief: And Other Stories
To celebrate her forthcoming biography of Constance Fenimore Woolson, Anne Boyd Rioux has selected the best of this classic writer’s stories.
Constance Fenimore Woolson (1840–1894) was one of the few nineteenth-century women writers considered the equal of her male peers. Harper & Brothers was so enamored of her work that the firm agreed to publish whatever she could write. In this gathering, Rioux has chosen fiction over the course of Woolson’s life, including “In Sloane Street,” never published since it first appeared in Harper’s Bazaar. Woolson’s stories travel from the rural Midwest to the deep South and then across the Atlantic to Italy and England. Her strong characters and indelible settings provide continuity throughout this collection as do her concerns with passion, creativity, imagination, and the demands of society. Whether portraying the keeper of a Union soldiers’ cemetery in the defeated South, a woman writer whose genius goes unrecognized, or the ex-pat denizens of Florence, Woolson’s deft characterization and subtlety create a broad landscape of Americans and their ways no matter where they lived.
Constance Fenimore Woolson (1840–1894) was one of the few nineteenth-century women writers considered the equal of her male peers. Harper & Brothers was so enamored of her work that the firm agreed to publish whatever she could write. In this gathering, Rioux has chosen fiction over the course of Woolson’s life, including “In Sloane Street,” never published since it first appeared in Harper’s Bazaar. Woolson’s stories travel from the rural Midwest to the deep South and then across the Atlantic to Italy and England. Her strong characters and indelible settings provide continuity throughout this collection as do her concerns with passion, creativity, imagination, and the demands of society. Whether portraying the keeper of a Union soldiers’ cemetery in the defeated South, a woman writer whose genius goes unrecognized, or the ex-pat denizens of Florence, Woolson’s deft characterization and subtlety create a broad landscape of Americans and their ways no matter where they lived.
348 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 29, 2016
9 people are currently reading
847 people want to read
About the author
Constance Fenimore Woolson
195 books38 followersConstance Fenimore Woolson (March 5, 1840 – January 24, 1894) was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. She was a grandniece of James Fenimore Cooper, and is best known for fictions about the Great Lakes region, the American South, and American expatriates in Europe.
Woolson was born in Claremont, New Hampshire, but her family soon moved to Cleveland, Ohio, after the deaths of three of her sisters from scarlet fever. Woolson was educated at the Cleveland Female Seminary and a boarding school in New York. She traveled extensively through the midwest and northeastern regions of the U.S. during her childhood and young adulthood.
Woolson’s father died in 1869. The following year she began to publish fiction and essays in magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly and Harper's Magazine. Her first full-length publication was a children’s book, The Old Stone House (1873). In 1875 she published her first volume of short stories, Castle Nowhere: Lake-Country Sketches, based on her experiences in the Great Lakes region, especially Mackinac Island.
From 1873 to 1879 Woolson spent winters with her mother in St. Augustine, Florida. During these visits she traveled widely in the South which gave her material for her next collection of short stories, Rodman the Keeper: Southern Sketches (1880). After her mother’s death in 1879, Woolson went to Europe, staying at a succession of hotels in England, France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany.
Woolson published her first novel Anne in 1880, followed by three others: East Angels (1886), Jupiter Lights (1889) and Horace Chase (1894). In 1883 she published the novella For the Major, a story of the postwar South that has become one of her most respected fictions. In the winter of 1889–1890 she traveled to Egypt and Greece, which resulted in a collection of travel sketches, Mentone, Cairo and Corfu (published posthumously in 1896).
In 1893 Woolson rented an elegant apartment on the Grand Canal of Venice. Suffering from influenza and depression, she either jumped or fell to her death from a window in the apartment in January 1894. Two volumes of her short stories appeared after her death: The Front Yard and Other Italian Stories (1895) and Dorothy and Other Italian Stories (1896). She is buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome, and is memorialized by Anne's Tablet on Mackinac Island, Michigan.
Woolson’s short stories have long been regarded as pioneering examples of local color or regionalism. Today, Woolson's novels, short stories, poetry, and travelogues are studied and taught from a range of scholarly and critical perspectives, including feminist, psychoanalytic, gender studies, postcolonial, and new historicism.
(from Wikipedia)
Woolson was born in Claremont, New Hampshire, but her family soon moved to Cleveland, Ohio, after the deaths of three of her sisters from scarlet fever. Woolson was educated at the Cleveland Female Seminary and a boarding school in New York. She traveled extensively through the midwest and northeastern regions of the U.S. during her childhood and young adulthood.
Woolson’s father died in 1869. The following year she began to publish fiction and essays in magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly and Harper's Magazine. Her first full-length publication was a children’s book, The Old Stone House (1873). In 1875 she published her first volume of short stories, Castle Nowhere: Lake-Country Sketches, based on her experiences in the Great Lakes region, especially Mackinac Island.
From 1873 to 1879 Woolson spent winters with her mother in St. Augustine, Florida. During these visits she traveled widely in the South which gave her material for her next collection of short stories, Rodman the Keeper: Southern Sketches (1880). After her mother’s death in 1879, Woolson went to Europe, staying at a succession of hotels in England, France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany.
Woolson published her first novel Anne in 1880, followed by three others: East Angels (1886), Jupiter Lights (1889) and Horace Chase (1894). In 1883 she published the novella For the Major, a story of the postwar South that has become one of her most respected fictions. In the winter of 1889–1890 she traveled to Egypt and Greece, which resulted in a collection of travel sketches, Mentone, Cairo and Corfu (published posthumously in 1896).
In 1893 Woolson rented an elegant apartment on the Grand Canal of Venice. Suffering from influenza and depression, she either jumped or fell to her death from a window in the apartment in January 1894. Two volumes of her short stories appeared after her death: The Front Yard and Other Italian Stories (1895) and Dorothy and Other Italian Stories (1896). She is buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome, and is memorialized by Anne's Tablet on Mackinac Island, Michigan.
Woolson’s short stories have long been regarded as pioneering examples of local color or regionalism. Today, Woolson's novels, short stories, poetry, and travelogues are studied and taught from a range of scholarly and critical perspectives, including feminist, psychoanalytic, gender studies, postcolonial, and new historicism.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
March 4, 2020
If you're interested in the development of 19th-century American realism, read this. If you're interested in 19th-century prose that reads as if it's from a later century, read this. If you're interested in short stories, each one different from the other, with a strong (even haunting) sense of place; complex characters; and a certain sense of irony, yes, read this.
If you're wondering how this extraordinary, popular-in-her-time writer fell out of literary consciousness, read Constance Fenimore Woolson: Portrait of a Lady Novelist by Anne Boyd Rioux (also the editor of this collection) to help put this deserving writer back into the literary conversation.
These stories are only a sampling of Woolson's output and I will be on the lookout for more.
If you're wondering how this extraordinary, popular-in-her-time writer fell out of literary consciousness, read Constance Fenimore Woolson: Portrait of a Lady Novelist by Anne Boyd Rioux (also the editor of this collection) to help put this deserving writer back into the literary conversation.
These stories are only a sampling of Woolson's output and I will be on the lookout for more.
March 14, 2016
(3.5) Readers new to Woolson’s work will be well served by picking this up. With a foreword by Colm Tóibín and an introduction by Anne Boyd Rioux, this volume carefully sequences seven of Woolson’s notable stories to show a chronological shift in her focus. The first two are exemplars of her Great Lakes fiction, the middle two are set in the South, and the final three represent her European period. It is striking just how accessible Woolson’s style is throughout; with just a few exceptions, the language and syntax do not feel dated. “St. Clair Flats,” one of two first-person stories set in the Midwest, is among the strongest. A journey into a serpentine marsh is explicitly aligned with Theseus’ journey.
For full reviews of this plus Rioux’s new biography of Woolson, see my inaugural Los Angeles Review of Books article.
For full reviews of this plus Rioux’s new biography of Woolson, see my inaugural Los Angeles Review of Books article.
January 14, 2025
It may only be January, but I already know this will go on my list of best books read in 2025. I can't wait to discover more from this unjustly forgotten 19th century writer.
May 8, 2016
Miss Grief and other stories a new collection of stories, by Constance Fenimore Woolson has been edited by Anne Boyd Rioux who is the author of Constance Fenimore Woolson: Portrait of a Lady Novelist (which I am two thirds of the way through). Woolson’s stories and serialisations of her novels appeared in various literary papers and journals during the 1870’s, 1880’s and 1890’s. Her first novel Anne outsold Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady almost ten times. By 1894 when Woolson died she had been compared to the likes of the Brontes and Jane Austen by a notable critic, and was considered one of the best writers of her generation. However I don’t want to talk too much about Constance Fenimore Woolson the woman – although I am completely fascinated by her already – as I hope to review the biography next week. Colm Tóíbín who wrote about Henry James and his friendship with Constance Fenimore Woolson in his novel The Master – which I have yet to read – has written the foreword of this edition. It adds a wonderful extra dimension.
Woolson’s stories reflect the places she lived and travelled to during her lifetime Ohio of the mid-west, the Deep South and Europe. They also reflect in small ways her friendship with Henry James – whom she met while in Italy. I loved these stories; I loved the landscapes and the people.
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2016/...
Woolson’s stories reflect the places she lived and travelled to during her lifetime Ohio of the mid-west, the Deep South and Europe. They also reflect in small ways her friendship with Henry James – whom she met while in Italy. I loved these stories; I loved the landscapes and the people.
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2016/...
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February 17, 2016This is a long book of collected stories, 320 pages, by Constance Fenmore Woolson. This book was brought to us by Anne Boyd Rioux and forwared by Colm Toibin. Ms. Woolson was a good friend of Henry James. She is one of America's first great (woman) writers.
I love that her stories are somewhat complex and different from today's books. She uses settings more like characters in her books than as back drops for the characters. I can tell that she was passionate about her writing. You have to love what you do to make it this good. Her writing is imaginative, and is very interesting (some in a very smooth type of flow such as poetry). She loves to describe the surroudings so you almost feel like you are standing right there. That made me love the stories even more. Each story is different from the one before it. She truly is one of America's greatest writers. I am so thankful that Anne Boy Rioux made this book happen for us to appreciate in the twenty-first century!
Thank you to Ms. Rioux, W.W. Norton and Company and Goodreads First-Reads for giving me an ARC copy of this book to read and give my honest review.
I love that her stories are somewhat complex and different from today's books. She uses settings more like characters in her books than as back drops for the characters. I can tell that she was passionate about her writing. You have to love what you do to make it this good. Her writing is imaginative, and is very interesting (some in a very smooth type of flow such as poetry). She loves to describe the surroudings so you almost feel like you are standing right there. That made me love the stories even more. Each story is different from the one before it. She truly is one of America's greatest writers. I am so thankful that Anne Boy Rioux made this book happen for us to appreciate in the twenty-first century!
Thank you to Ms. Rioux, W.W. Norton and Company and Goodreads First-Reads for giving me an ARC copy of this book to read and give my honest review.
Want to read
November 14, 2018dnf, not very interesting
December 12, 2019
I only read Miss Grief for a school project, soooo good. I'll definitly check the other stories by Woolson
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July 18, 2016Miss Grief - Constance Fenimore Woolson
Wow! Amazing to read. Why isn't Woolson more known today? This book is a collection of her short stories.
Woolson is one generation older than Wharton. I can't say that Wharton had read Woolson, but it seems likely. Woolson died before Wharton had published in significance.
A great amount that compares between these two, certainly in the writing; but also in life. Both were friends with Henry James, both lived and wrote many of their works around Europe, Woolson also has many regional works around the U.S., and both were New Englanders. Interesting to read speculation on Woolson's influence on Henry James work.
(I am also a fan of Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, comparable with these two as well.)
Short quote (spoiler safe) to give you a flavor:
On each side and in front, as far as the eye could reach, stretched the low green land which was yet no land, intersected by hundreds of channels, narrow and broad, whose waters were green as their shores. In and out, now running into each other for a moment, now setting off each for himself again, these many channels flowed along with a rippling current; zigzag as they were, they never seemed to loiter, but, as if knowing just where they were going and what they had to do, they found time to take their own pleasant roundabout way, visiting the secluded house-holds of their friends the flags, who, poor souls, must always stay at home. These currents were as clear as crystal, and green as the water-grasses that fringed their miniature shores. The bristling reeds, like companies of free-lances, rode boldly out here and there into the deeps, trying to conquer more territory for the grasses, but the currents were hard to conquer; they dismounted the free-lances, and flowed over their submerged heads; they beat them down with assaulting ripples; they broke their backs so effectually that the bravest had no spirit left, but trailed along, limp and bedraggled.
A description of St. Clair Flats, a place sadly lost in time. Woolson's describes beautifully natural places in America now forgotten. Her descriptions of people are equally clear and heart felt, if not also somewhat snarky at times. It reads more modern to me than expected for something from near 140 years ago.
I am looking forward to reading Woolson's novels, of which there are five published:
Anne (1882)
For the Major (1883)
East Angels (1886)
Jupiter Lights (1889)
Horace Chase (1894)
Wow! Amazing to read. Why isn't Woolson more known today? This book is a collection of her short stories.
Woolson is one generation older than Wharton. I can't say that Wharton had read Woolson, but it seems likely. Woolson died before Wharton had published in significance.
A great amount that compares between these two, certainly in the writing; but also in life. Both were friends with Henry James, both lived and wrote many of their works around Europe, Woolson also has many regional works around the U.S., and both were New Englanders. Interesting to read speculation on Woolson's influence on Henry James work.
(I am also a fan of Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, comparable with these two as well.)
Short quote (spoiler safe) to give you a flavor:
On each side and in front, as far as the eye could reach, stretched the low green land which was yet no land, intersected by hundreds of channels, narrow and broad, whose waters were green as their shores. In and out, now running into each other for a moment, now setting off each for himself again, these many channels flowed along with a rippling current; zigzag as they were, they never seemed to loiter, but, as if knowing just where they were going and what they had to do, they found time to take their own pleasant roundabout way, visiting the secluded house-holds of their friends the flags, who, poor souls, must always stay at home. These currents were as clear as crystal, and green as the water-grasses that fringed their miniature shores. The bristling reeds, like companies of free-lances, rode boldly out here and there into the deeps, trying to conquer more territory for the grasses, but the currents were hard to conquer; they dismounted the free-lances, and flowed over their submerged heads; they beat them down with assaulting ripples; they broke their backs so effectually that the bravest had no spirit left, but trailed along, limp and bedraggled.
A description of St. Clair Flats, a place sadly lost in time. Woolson's describes beautifully natural places in America now forgotten. Her descriptions of people are equally clear and heart felt, if not also somewhat snarky at times. It reads more modern to me than expected for something from near 140 years ago.
I am looking forward to reading Woolson's novels, of which there are five published:
Anne (1882)
For the Major (1883)
East Angels (1886)
Jupiter Lights (1889)
Horace Chase (1894)
February 10, 2016
I received this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. I'm a fan of late 19th century fiction, particularly from the few intrepid women writers who braved the scorn of critics in a male dominated literary field.
I had not read anything from Constance Woolson prior to this collection of stories. What a wonderful treat to discover an author of such insight into the human spirit. Ms. Woolson's portrayal of women in the Golden Age belies the stereotypical image of frivolous feather-brains whose only purpose was to decorate a man's home and arm. The characters in these stories are fully developed people who have opinions and aspirations of their own.
I was also impressed with Woolson's beautiful descriptions of the locations in her stories. She painted pictures of scenery from a bygone era that made me wish I could have been in those places in her lifetime to see the unsullied lakes of the Midwest and the magnificence of Italy before it was polluted by cars and airplanes.
These stories are a treasure and I took my time reading them, savoring Woolson's poetic prose and meticulously drawn characters. Do yourself a favor: brew a cup to tea, get comfortable in your favorite chair, and read this lovely collection.
I had not read anything from Constance Woolson prior to this collection of stories. What a wonderful treat to discover an author of such insight into the human spirit. Ms. Woolson's portrayal of women in the Golden Age belies the stereotypical image of frivolous feather-brains whose only purpose was to decorate a man's home and arm. The characters in these stories are fully developed people who have opinions and aspirations of their own.
I was also impressed with Woolson's beautiful descriptions of the locations in her stories. She painted pictures of scenery from a bygone era that made me wish I could have been in those places in her lifetime to see the unsullied lakes of the Midwest and the magnificence of Italy before it was polluted by cars and airplanes.
These stories are a treasure and I took my time reading them, savoring Woolson's poetic prose and meticulously drawn characters. Do yourself a favor: brew a cup to tea, get comfortable in your favorite chair, and read this lovely collection.
February 1, 2016
I received a free copy of this book through the "Good Reads First Reads Giveaway."
It is a pleasure to become acquainted with this brilliant original author. Each short story is a unique and rare glimpse into an unusual life.
I was especially touched by the "Rodman The Keeper" story and learned a little of what the South was like after the Civil War.
This is a book I will cherish and reread in the future!
It is a pleasure to become acquainted with this brilliant original author. Each short story is a unique and rare glimpse into an unusual life.
I was especially touched by the "Rodman The Keeper" story and learned a little of what the South was like after the Civil War.
This is a book I will cherish and reread in the future!
March 3, 2022
Great writing, beautiful observations.
May 11, 2016
What a wonderful journey back to the late 1800s as illustrated by a collection of short stories by Constance Fenimore Woolson, edited by Anne Boyd Rioux. I was struck by the realistic characters, their emotions and pathos, even though they harken from over a hundred years ago. Woolson's depictions of the natural world were vivid and wonderful, describing not only colors, but sounds and smells. The stories take place in several places in the U.S. including Florida, Michigan and Ohio as well as in England and Italy. Her female characters were often independent and adventuresome; some had jobs, such as a writer or nurse, breaking the stereotype of the time. She also depicted their frustration with the expectations and societal limits that women faced. Woolson is a wonderful author whose work and talent has been resurrected in this compilation. I look forward to reading her biography, Portrait of a Lady Novelist, also by Anne Boyd Rioux.
January 19, 2016
I received this book from Goodreads in exchange for a review.
As a female writer in a male-dominated field, Constance Fenimore Woolson, had to prove herself. She wrote stories with strong female characters, and vividly described locations, yet hidden within the story is Woolson’s own concerns of society. This collection crosses the landscape, from Lake St. Clair, to St. Augustine, and from post-Civil War North Carolina to the drawing rooms of England, the reader will be transported back in time to a simpler life and a gentler time.
I was thoroughly captivated by these stories. They are a reminder of a bygone era.
As a female writer in a male-dominated field, Constance Fenimore Woolson, had to prove herself. She wrote stories with strong female characters, and vividly described locations, yet hidden within the story is Woolson’s own concerns of society. This collection crosses the landscape, from Lake St. Clair, to St. Augustine, and from post-Civil War North Carolina to the drawing rooms of England, the reader will be transported back in time to a simpler life and a gentler time.
I was thoroughly captivated by these stories. They are a reminder of a bygone era.
April 24, 2016
I'm on a 19th-century literary kick and Woolson does not disappoint. Her prose is quiet but quietly haunting, her endings untidy and thorougly real, her characters unfettered by the time in which they were written because Woolson focuses on the complexity of interior life--bridging hundreds of years with a subtle but thrilling revelation, again and again: human feelings haven't changed.
January 19, 2016
I received this book from Goodreads giveaway. It was the first one I won and I was so excited. The book is actually a collection of short stories. My favorite was Miss Grief. At times others were hard to follow but all in all she is a great writer that pays attention to detail.
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To SEE a WORLD in a Grain of Sand,
And a HEAVEN in a Wild Flower,
Hold INFINITY in the palm of your hand
And ETERNITY in an Hour"
~ William Blake ~
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Form is Emptiness; Emptiness is form.
Form is not different than Emptiness;
Emptiness is not different than form
~ Heart Sutra ~
Like the ocean and its waves,
inseparable yet distinct
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" I and The Father are one,
I am The Truth,
The Life and The Path.”
Like a river flowing from its source,
connected and continuous
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Thy kingdom come.
Let the reign of divine
Truth, Life, and Love
be established in me,
and rule out of me all sin;
and may Thy Word
enrich the affections of all mankind
A mighty oak tree standing firm against the storm,
As sunlight scatters the shadows of night
A river nourishing the land it flows through
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To SEE a WORLD in a Grain of Sand,
And a HEAVEN in a Wild Flower,
Hold INFINITY in the palm of your hand
And ETERNITY in an Hour"
~ William Blake ~
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Form is Emptiness; Emptiness is form.
Form is not different than Emptiness;
Emptiness is not different than form
~ Heart Sutra ~
Like the ocean and its waves,
inseparable yet distinct
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" I and The Father are one,
I am The Truth,
The Life and The Path.”
Like a river flowing from its source,
connected and continuous
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Thy kingdom come.
Let the reign of divine
Truth, Life, and Love
be established in me,
and rule out of me all sin;
and may Thy Word
enrich the affections of all mankind
A mighty oak tree standing firm against the storm,
As sunlight scatters the shadows of night
A river nourishing the land it flows through
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August 13, 2018
I had never heard of Constance Fenimore Woolson until I read Anne Boyd Rioux's great biography Portrait of a Lady Novelist, and I couldn't wait to read something by a woman who seemed like such a fascinating character. I was ready for pretty-good fiction but this volume blew me away--Woolson is an AMAZING writer who absolutely deserves to be mentioned with her contemporary and friend Henry James as well as with George Eliot or Edith Wharton. I've found a new writer to love, and I can't wait to track down more of her (sadly mostly out of print) work! What a tragedy that the canon has forgotten such a talented and brilliant writer. I hope this book and the bio can start to change that--I'll be including Woolson in any class I teach out the lit of the period from now on.
February 20, 2021
These stories are well written, with a strong sense of place and articulate, thoughtful characters. The pace is generally leisurely, with primary focus on psychological insights. A typical story traces a limited series of encounters between people with widely different backgrounds as they seek to understand and, sometimes, to connect with one another. The tales don't offer much adventure, but they create memorable settings and moods. My favorite was "The Keeper" for its depiction of the strong, honest and generous title character. Woolson knew Henry James, and although their styles differ, a reader who likes James could find these stories interesting as well. (Especially because a couple of the stories are written in reaction to James and his success.)
August 5, 2021
Oh my!! I am so enthralled in how Woolson wrote. I first read about the author in a book called "Back Talk" almost 30 years ago. So unfortunately, I can't remember the biographers name. All I do know is she wrote about Woolson's spinal issues as well as the biographers recent broken back. I was so interested in James Fenimore Cooper's sister after that, I spent years hunting her works down. All I could manage were little tales strewn from American literature textbooks. If that. So when I happened to glance this book for sale in a mail order catalog, I dumped the rest of my order for just this book alone. I love her writing and how setting and place matter so much to her in near equal plateaus with character. What an end of July beautiful fun read.
June 17, 2017
"The moonlight polishes everything into romance, the firelight into comfort" (32).
These are what would today be judged "quiet" stories. People do die and fall in love and see their lives changed in significant ways, but . . . these are not stories about outward so much as inward journeys, I would say. They often involve a woman or man traveling with a companion of the same sex. They often involve wives who have sacrificed a "normal" life for the sake of their [slightly deranged] husband or other relative. This is what Woolson experienced in her life through caring for her mother until late in her own life.
There are seven long stories, and a modern reader will be forgiven for feeling impatient with them at first. No car chases, no blood, no violent confrontations, but realization, dawning understanding, acceptance, desire. Water plays a role. The polishing moonlight.
These are what would today be judged "quiet" stories. People do die and fall in love and see their lives changed in significant ways, but . . . these are not stories about outward so much as inward journeys, I would say. They often involve a woman or man traveling with a companion of the same sex. They often involve wives who have sacrificed a "normal" life for the sake of their [slightly deranged] husband or other relative. This is what Woolson experienced in her life through caring for her mother until late in her own life.
There are seven long stories, and a modern reader will be forgiven for feeling impatient with them at first. No car chases, no blood, no violent confrontations, but realization, dawning understanding, acceptance, desire. Water plays a role. The polishing moonlight.
May 28, 2021
Some instances of penetrating observation -- and one amusing paean to the shirt collar -- pepper these tales, which are really more essayistic bundles of description than stories. The comparison to James is apt, though there is something more sensual about Woolson. Still, I had a similar reaction to reading Woolson as I do to reading James: at some point one feels suffocated by the mannered hesitations, the waiting, the gasping at things that once qualified as dramatic (A letter from Mr. Morrison! A glove removed, revealing a bare hand! A canoe!).
January 18, 2021
This is a short story collection recommended to me. Good writing, challenging subject matter. Pretty good! There were some stories in particular - Solomon, Sister St Luke and Rodman the Keeper. I didn’t like The Florentine Experiment, but I think I didn’t get it. I think if I’d read more of this genre I could get the satire, but. Oh well. Maybe a re-read next year if I read some more American stuff. Though looking at my list it’s been pretty American this year.
September 20, 2019
Short story collections are tough to rate because there are inevitably a few stories that I like and a few that I really dislike. Woolson's writing itself is strong though, and certain stories will stick with me. I particularly liked Rodman the Keeper and its depiction of the post–Civil War South.
October 1, 2020
I was blown away by these stories, especially the early, "regional" ones. Maybe it's because I'm also nostalgic for the landscapes of the Midwest. The later, "expat" stories were less interesting to me, though often had a similar haunting atmosphere to the early stories.
September 11, 2017
Henry James(ish) but set in "the colonies), not a James(ian) feature.
December 15, 2021
I wasn't familiar with Constance Fenimore Woolson or her writing before picking up this book. Enjoyable short stories, American realism, at times reminiscent of Henry James and Edith Wharton.
September 13, 2022
Review in progress.
June 20, 2025
4.5
CFW is so underrated <3
CFW is so underrated <3
August 30, 2022
i read miss grief for my women in american literature class and i really enjoyed it! i enjoyed our discussion on it and the depth it brought to the story even more! it’s a heartbreaking story when you read it, but when you really start dissecting it, all i felt was anger.
the superiority the male narrator feels over “miss grief” is infuriating. and the ended is very sad.
the superiority the male narrator feels over “miss grief” is infuriating. and the ended is very sad.
March 31, 2016
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway and quite enjoyed the elegant, principled writing. Even prior to reading the foreward, it was evident that Ms. Woolson was from another time, as the structure and detail of settings and characters were richly developed, rather than succint and rushed as readers today seem to prefer. The stories were engaging and memorable. Anyone who appreciates great literature will certainly appreciate this collection.
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