by Caroline Miller (1933)
The backwoods of Georgia during the antebellum era provides the setting for a family saga.
T. S. Stribling
"Set in the author's native Tennessee Valley region of northern Alabama. The novel's action begins in 1884, when Grover Cleveland became the first Democratic president since the end of the Civil War; and it centers about the emergence of Colonel Miltiades Vaiden as a figure of wealth and power in the city of Florence."--Page 4 of cover.
Virginia Woolf
Three guineas is a celebrated work by Virginia Woolf (Modernist Pioneer), recognized for masterclass storytelling and lasting literary resonance.
Betty Smith
The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness -- in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience.
Willard Motley
Willard Motley’s 1947 masterpiece, *Knock on Any Door*, is **a gritty, naturalistic novel that traces the tragic downfall of Nick Romano**; a former Catholic altar boy who spirals into a life of crime and ultimately dies in the electric chair at age 21. **Plot Overview** The story follows Nick, a young immigrant whose life begins to unravel after his father’s business fails, forcing the family to relocate to a poverty-stricken neighborhood in Chicago. Caught up in petty crimes, he is sent to a brutal reform school that serves only to harden his resistance to authority. His life spirals through family conflicts, sordid sex, a tragic marriage, and ultimately culminates in his arrest for the murder of a police officer, setting the stage for a dramatic courtroom trial.