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We Girls
This is a reproduction of the original artefact. Generally these books are created from careful scans of the original. This allows us to preserve the book accurately and present it in the way the author intended. Since the original versions are generally quite old, there may occasionally be certain imperfections within these reproductions. We're happy to make these classics available again for future generations to enjoy!
236 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1870
About the author
A.D.T. Whitney
44 books6 followersAdeline Dutton Train Whitney was an American poet and prolific writer, publishing more than 20 books for girls. Her books expressed a traditional view of women's roles and were popular throughout her life.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 8, 2023
History and Reception: Published in 1873, We Girls was written by prominent author A. D. T. Whitney, who wrote what we would nowadays call YA fiction. Her stories, targeted toward girls, were set in New England and had themes of home life, society, and the 19th century’s obsession with appearances. We Girls, a lesser-known one of her books (in fact, I was unable to find any other reviews on Goodreads for it) is set in the same world as another of her stories, A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite’s Life, and contains many of the same characters.
Synopsis: Barbara, Rosamond, and Ruth Holabird are residents of “Westover”, a small suburb of a nameless town in New England. Their family is in neither the highest nor the lowest echelon of local society, though they mingle with an assortment of people. The book recounts their doings as they keep house, host parties, and socialize with their friends.
Characters: I enjoyed the characters in We Girls. The humorous, no-nonsense Barbara, the fashionable Rosamond, and the unassuming Ruth all had distinct personalities which made this book pleasant to read. However, having not read A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite’s Life, I was confused by the multitude of side characters, whom the author seemed to take for granted that the reader would know. While We Girls is technically a standalone book, I would recommend reading A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite’s Life first.
Setting/Style: The setting in A. D. T. Whitney’s books is always impeccable–a lovely picture of Victorian life in New England. I adore the everyday yet beautiful quality of her novels. We Girls was no exception. The writing style was delightful as well and was one of the main reasons I loved this book.
Plot: This book's subtitle is "A Home Story", and that certainly describes it well. As is relatively common in Victorian novels, this book didn’t have much of a plot. One chapter is devoted to their making do without a servant in the kitchen, for example, and another to their planning and having a Halloween party. I didn’t mind this at all, though, and perhaps enjoyed the story even more than if it had had a defined plot.
Links:
Project Gutenberg
Internet Archive
Synopsis: Barbara, Rosamond, and Ruth Holabird are residents of “Westover”, a small suburb of a nameless town in New England. Their family is in neither the highest nor the lowest echelon of local society, though they mingle with an assortment of people. The book recounts their doings as they keep house, host parties, and socialize with their friends.
Characters: I enjoyed the characters in We Girls. The humorous, no-nonsense Barbara, the fashionable Rosamond, and the unassuming Ruth all had distinct personalities which made this book pleasant to read. However, having not read A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite’s Life, I was confused by the multitude of side characters, whom the author seemed to take for granted that the reader would know. While We Girls is technically a standalone book, I would recommend reading A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite’s Life first.
Setting/Style: The setting in A. D. T. Whitney’s books is always impeccable–a lovely picture of Victorian life in New England. I adore the everyday yet beautiful quality of her novels. We Girls was no exception. The writing style was delightful as well and was one of the main reasons I loved this book.
Plot: This book's subtitle is "A Home Story", and that certainly describes it well. As is relatively common in Victorian novels, this book didn’t have much of a plot. One chapter is devoted to their making do without a servant in the kitchen, for example, and another to their planning and having a Halloween party. I didn’t mind this at all, though, and perhaps enjoyed the story even more than if it had had a defined plot.
Links:
Project Gutenberg
Internet Archive
July 13, 2016
Three somewhat downwardly mobile sisters, one an adopted orphan, navigate the contemporary young female class hierarchy. Contemporary, that is, for book published in 1870 and written by a woman who no longer was in the prime of her youth.
The plot wasn't all that much - criticism of the overly class-conscious is as much of an overarching theme as you get - but it's beautifully written. Gorgeous prose. Didn't cater as much as I hoped to my period-domestic-detail fetish, though.
Wikipedia has an amusing summary in her biography: "She promoted the message of the era that a woman's happiest place is in the home, the source of all goodness. As this was popular among parents, her books sold extremely well throughout her life." However - lest the more feminist among my book-loving friends be scared away - I can mention that one of the characters goes out and finds herself a job, and later in the book there's something of an action sequence where an older woman very capably takes charge.
"We Girls" has both sequels and prequels. I don't feel I missed out by using it as an introduction to Mrs. Whitney.
3.8/5 - lack of story overwhelmed by glittering descriptions.
Available on Gutenberg, in an illustrated version. These illustrations aren't very good, but it is marginally possible that this is the fault of the digitization process instead of the original illustrator.
The plot wasn't all that much - criticism of the overly class-conscious is as much of an overarching theme as you get - but it's beautifully written. Gorgeous prose. Didn't cater as much as I hoped to my period-domestic-detail fetish, though.
Wikipedia has an amusing summary in her biography: "She promoted the message of the era that a woman's happiest place is in the home, the source of all goodness. As this was popular among parents, her books sold extremely well throughout her life." However - lest the more feminist among my book-loving friends be scared away - I can mention that one of the characters goes out and finds herself a job, and later in the book there's something of an action sequence where an older woman very capably takes charge.
"We Girls" has both sequels and prequels. I don't feel I missed out by using it as an introduction to Mrs. Whitney.
3.8/5 - lack of story overwhelmed by glittering descriptions.
Available on Gutenberg, in an illustrated version. These illustrations aren't very good, but it is marginally possible that this is the fault of the digitization process instead of the original illustrator.
August 25, 2009
This was the first book I read on a kindle. It was really quite good if you like this sort of thing. It reminded me of Trollope but with very little plot and set in civil war era small Eastern town America. When I say very little plot, I mean, very little plot! Basically nothing happened but it was full of very pleasant girly ambiance and amusin, witty banter. If you want action, you will definitely not like this.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews