Fanny Fern

Reproduction of the original: Ruth Hall by Fanny Fern

Reproduction of the original: Ginger-Snaps by Fanny Fern

Reproduction of the original: Fresh Leaves by Fanny Fern

Reproduction of the original: Fern Leaves: Second Series by Fanny Fern

Reproduction of the original: Little Ferns For Fanny's Little Friends by Fanny Fern

Reproduction of the original: Little Ferns For Fanny's Little Friends by Fanny Fern

This book has been considered by academicians and scholars of great significance and value to literature. This forms a part of the knowledge base for future generations. So that the book is never forgotten we have represented this book in a print format as the same form as it was originally first published. Hence any marks or annotations seen are left intentionally to preserve its true nature.

Ruth Hall: A Domestic Tale of the Present Time by Fanny Fern. Ruth Hall: A Domestic Tale of the Present Time is a roman clef by Fanny Fern (pen name of Sara Payson Willis), a popular 19th-century newspaper writer. Following on her meteoric rise to fame as a columnist, she signed a contract in February 1854 to write a full-length novel. She finished Ruth Hall within a few months, and it was first published in November 1854. The autobiographical novel can be divided into three phases: Ruth's happy marriage, impoverished widowhood, and rise to fame and financial independence as a newspaper columnist. I present you with my first continuous story. I do not dignify it by the name of "A novel." I am aware that it is entirely at variance with all set rules for novel-writing. There is no intricate plot; there are no startling developments, no hair-breadth escapes. I have compressed into one volume what I might have expanded into two or three. I have avoided long introductions and descriptions, and have entered unceremoniously and unannounced, into people's houses, without stopping to ring the bell. Whether you will fancy this primitive mode of calling, whether you will like the company to which it introduces you, or-whether you will like the book at all, I cannot tell. Still, I cherish the hope that, somewhere in the length and breadth of the land, it may fan into a flame, in some tried heart, the fading embers of hope, well-nigh extinguished by wintry fortune and summer friends.

Ruth Hall: A Domestic Tale of the Present TIme (Penguin Classics) Reprint Edition by Fanny Fern n Ruth Hall, one of the bestselling novels of the 1850s, Fanny Fern drew heavily on her own experiences: the death of her first child and her beloved husband, a bitter estrangement from her family, and her struggle to make a living as a writer. Written as a series of short vignettes and snatches of overheard conversations, it is as unconventional in style as in substance and strikingly modern in its impact. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience

Six months since, I was in a deplorable state of ignorance as to the most felicitous style of Preface; at this lapse of time, I find myself not a whit the wiser. You will permit me, therefore, in pressing again your friendly hands, simply to say, that I hope my second offering of "Fern Leaves" will be more worthy of your acceptance, than the first.

Excerpt from the Preface: Every writer has his parish. To mine, I need offer no apology for presenting, First, a new story which has never before appeared in print; Secondly, the "hundred-dollar-a-column story," respecting the remuneration of which, skeptical paragraphists have afforded me so much amusement. (N. B.-My banker and I can afford to laugh ) This story having been published when "The New York Ledger" was in the dawn of its present unprecedented circulation, and never having appeared elsewhere, will, of course, be new to many of my readers; Thirdly, I offer them my late fugitive pieces, which have often been requested, and which, with the other contents of this volume, I hope will cement still stronger our friendly relations. --FANNY FERN