<div>"Unquestionably a major work of American fiction . . . a&nbsp;book that will astonish and enrich anyone who reads it. And anyone should be everyone." --&nbsp;The New York Times Book Review Bright and independent-minded, Judith Pippinger Blackford aspires to a life of freedom and self-expression beyond the tobacco fields of Kentucky. But her dreams are crushed by the reality of farm life, an endless cycle of tending children, livestock, and menfolk, while trying to scratch a living out of the unyielding clay soil. Based on the author's own attempts to raise tobacco, this pioneering naturalistic novel recounts the dire effects of her poverty and thwarted ambition with compassion but without sentimentality. Sinclair Lewis midwifed the 1923 publication of Weeds, but despite critical acclaim the book failed to find an audience. Rediscovered in the 1970s, it has since been reappraised as an American classic. "It would be a pity for anyone to miss this statuesque book." --&nbsp;The New Yorker "Should win a place in courses on modern literature and women's studies." --&nbsp;Choice</div>

Weeds

Literature & Fiction

Kelley, Edith Summers

United States

Dover Publications

Weeds was published by Harcourt Brace in 1923and also brought out in England by Jonathan Cape. Despite favorable reviews by well-regarded critics the book made no impact, and Edith Summers Kelley never published another novel.
Its reprinting here in this innovative series which brought back Zelda Fitzgerald’s Save Me the Waltz is in the opinion of the publishers a literary event of great magnitude—perhaps equal to the rediscovery of Henry Roth’s Call It Sleep.
Weeds portrays the monotonous, drudging life of the small tenant farmer of the tobacco fields of Kentucky. The story centers around Judith Pippinger, who has spirit, beauty, and a restless seeking for a purpose in life, but who is brutalized by farm life.
It is not a dramatic novel, as Matthew Bruccoli notes in his Introduction to this neglected masterpiece. But itis convincing. The people live. On two counts this book is important. It is a perfectly controlled work of fiction, and therefore has the automatic worth that any superior piece of literature has. Also, it has historical value as a peak achievement in the revolt-from-the-farm school of naturalistic American fiction. Edith Summers Kelley was the last writer in the Hamlin Garland, E. W. Howe, Joseph Kirkland line of development.
Aside from its probable worth as social history, Weeds is highly readable. Readers will find here plausible people in a beautifully-handled realistic setting. Interesting to note, the novel’s strongest supporter heretofore was Sinclair Lewis, who was engaged to the author. In the opinion of Professor Bruccoli, Weeds is as good as Main Street.

Southern Illinois University Press

This realistic second novel by the author of Weeds depicts the struggle for survival of two unmarried women in California’s Imperial Valley in the 1920s.
In her lifetime, Edith Summers Kelley had one novel published, the recently rediscovered Weeds,firstpublished in 1923. Fifty years later this remarkable novel was republished and was, belatedly, recognized as a lost masterpiece,” a major work of American fiction.” Following the republication of Weeds,the manuscript for this previously unpublished novel, The Devil’s Hand, was found among his mother’s papers by Patrick Kelley, who has written an appended memoir.
In this second novel, according to Matthew J. Bruccoli, Edith Summers Kelley again proves herself to be a superior writer of realistic fiction.
The story is about fragile and dreamy, romantically unfulfilled Rhoda Malone and her stalwart and forthright friend Kate Baxter who, enjoying the emancipation of women after World War I, leave Philadelphia and the monotony of office jobs to become farmers. In California’s Imperial Valley, among Japanese, Hindus, Mexicans, and a scattering of Americans, the two women become trapped in the struggle for survival.
Like Weeds, The Devil’s Hand,has strength, fine emotional control, and is also an important sociological novel. Readers who hailed the rediscovery of Weeds will welcome this impressive recovered novel.

The Devil's Hand (Lost American Fiction)

The wife of a Kentucky tenant farmer struggles to improve the quality of her family's harsh life

Feminist Pr

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kelley, Edith Summers. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Kelley, Edith Summers

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kelley, Edith Summers. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Weeds

Weeds

The Devil's Hand (Lost American Fiction)

Weeds