The Country of the Pointed Firs

The Country of the Pointed Firs is about a woman writer who retreats one summer to Dunnet Landing, a Maine seacoast town, to find seclusion to do her work. In the novel and stories collected here, Jewett explores the world of the lonely inhabitants of once-prosperous coastal towns, offering a detailed view of lives molded by the long Maine winters, by the surrounding rock-filled fields, and by strong, resourceful women. "It is," admired Rudyard Kipling, "the very life."