So Big by Edna Ferber

So Big by Edna Ferber

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize

"A masterpiece." -- Literary Review * "A novel to read and to remember." --New York Times

Widely regarded as the masterwork of celebrated author and Algonquin Round Table mainstay Edna Ferber--who also penned other classics including Show Boat, Giant, Ice Palace, Saratoga Trunk, and Cimarron--So Big is a powerful and stirring portrait of one of the most memorable women in American literature, and still resonates today with its unflinching views of poverty, sexism, and the drive for success.

Set in Chicago at the turn of the twentieth century, So Big tells the story of Selina Peake, orphaned at nineteen after her father is shot and killed in a gambling house. Alone and resolved to make something of her life, Selina gets a job as a schoolteacher in a farming community outside Chicago and falls in love with a kind but struggling farmer. She soon leaves the schoolhouse for long grueling days in the fields and gives birth to a son, Dirk, nicknamed "So Big." When she finds herself unexpectedly widowed, she takes the reins of the farm, defying convention and all those around her, determined to give Dirk every opportunity to follow his dreams.

So Big is a must-read for fans of contemporary novelists such Willa Cather (O Pioneers!), Pearl S. Buck (The Good Earth), and Marjorie Rawlings (The Yearling).

Edna Ferber was an American novelist, short story writer, and dramatist who lived from 1885 to 1968. So Huge (1924), Show Boat (1926; made into the famed 1927 musical), Cimarron (1929; made into the Academy Award-winning 1931 film), Giant (1952; made into the 1956 Hollywood film), and Ice Palace (1958; made into the 1960 film) were among her novels. Ferber's works tended to have strong female protagonists, as well as a large and varied cast of supporting characters. Ferber illustrated her idea that humans are individuals and that the not-so-pretty people had the best character by highlighting at least one outstanding secondary character who faced persecution ethnically or for other reasons.