Alice Adams - Paperback

by Booth Tarkington (Author), Allison Lynn (Introduction by)

Booth Tarkington's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1921 novel about a young woman's close encounter with her social striving dreams, now republished in a gorgeous new edition.

Alice Adams is young and pretty, but is struggling to improve her station. Her world revolves around dances put on by richer girls, for which she ingeniously strives to turn her less fashionable dress into something more fashionable and explain away the embarrassing behavior of her younger brother. Money structures this unnamed small town in the Midwest, but Alice's father has never made much of himself, thus foiling her mother's constant desire to see Alice and the rest of the family better situated. Will Alice's future prospects improve when finally Mr. Adams decides to go into business for himself making glue? Will her latest handsome, kind suitor stay around long enough for an engagement? Or will the pernicious forces of greed, gossip, and in 1920s America bring them all down?

Booth Tarkington's novel was published when his fame was at its height: Tarkington was considered the preeminent American novelist of the day, a celebrity who would also serve a term representing his native Indiana in Congress. Alice Adams was similarly famous for decades after its publication; the 1935 movie starring Katherine Hepburn based on the novel was nominated for Best Picture by the Academy Awards. Today, this lauded chronicler of the Midwest is lesser read but no less fascinating, and his novels as worthy, suspenseful, and poignant as they were a century ago.

Author Biography

Booth Tarkington (1869-1946) was the preeminent American novelist of his day, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction twice, for The Magnificent Ambersons in 1919 and Alice Adams in 1922. He was a national celebrity, esteemed for his Midwestern regionalist fiction, who would also serve a term in the Indiana House of Representatives. He was born and died Indianapolis, Indiana.

Allison Lynn is the author of Now You See It and The Exiles. She teaches at Butler University and lives in Indianapolis.