The Village Green and Other Pieces

Edith Miniter (1867-1934), the shy, bookish young woman who ventured into amateur journalism from Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1883 became the guiding spirit of Boston amateur journalists for the thirty years she spent in that city; her friend H. P. Lovecraft compared Mrs. Miniter's fiction with that of Jane Austen. Despite her obvious enjoyment of amateur friendships and politics, she never abandoned her primary mission as a writer. Edith Miniter wrote from the heart about her native New England, and sought to depict the reality of old ways in the face of the changes wrought by modern civilization. Her best novels and short stories are undiscovered classics of the soul of New England womanhood. Following the success of Dead Houses and Other Works by Edith Miniter (2008), with this volume editors Kenneth W. Faig, Jr. and Sean Donnelly renew their determination to establish Mrs. Miniter in her rightful place as a New England Regionalist. Three unfinished novels, including The Village Green, the substantial piece work from which this volume takes its name, form the core of this collection, together with numerous short stories. Two unusual items round out the collection: "A Rearward Glance," an autobiographical summary of a life in amateur journalism; and "How to Dress on $40 a Year," a humorous piece displaying Miniter's characteristic wit.