A Country Doctor - (Penguin Classics) by Sarah Orne Jewett (Paperback)

About the Book

Brimming with period realism and layers of thematic depth, this novel is both a luminous portrayal of rural Maine and a semi-autobiographical look at Jewett's world in the late 19th century. In it, Nan's struggle to choose between marriage and a career as a doctor, between the confining life of a small town and a self-directed one as a professional, mirrors Jewett's own conflicts. It also eloquently gives voice to the women's issues of Jewett's time, cementing her as an icon in American literature. Introduction by Paula Blanchard.

Book Synopsis

A hundred and thirty years after it was first published, Sarah Orne Jewett's story of a young medical woman remains an incisive rendering of the dilemmas of gender, society, and self. Nan Prince first becomes interested in medicine as a child, as the ward of the widowed physician Dr. Leslie. In time she becomes his protégée. But when she enters medical college, she realizes that she will have to choose between marriage and her career, between the demands of her society and her obligations to her true self. Inspired by Jewett's own interests and by her father, A Country Doctor portrays a world very much in flux and Nan, ultimately, as a woman with a new world opening to her.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

About the Author

Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909) was an American novelist, short story writer and poet, best known for her local color works set along or near the southern seacoast of Maine.

Frederick Wegener is an associate professor of English at California State University at Long Beach and the editor of Edith Wharton: The Uncollected Critical Writings.