Mostly Mary

Feehan, Mary Edward, 1878-Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 154K words
Chapters: 16

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Mostly Mary by Mary Edward FeehanAuthor: Feehan, Mary Edward, 1878-,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Nov 19, 2012

Editor's review

This work belongs to the juvenile literature category of free eBooks in the Project Gutenberg collection, and its author, Mary Edward Feehan, was active from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. The narrative centers on a girl named Mary and carries the family and coming-of-age themes common to children's literature of that era. As a public-domain eBook, its greatest value lies in presenting the language style and narrative rhythm of early English juvenile fiction, making it useful for readers studying the history of children's literature or seeking to understand what young readers read a century ago. The language is not difficult and the length is moderate, making it suitable as lightweight reading material in the original English. While reading, pay attention to how daily life is depicted and to the shifts between adult and child perspectives, which can help in understanding how changing times affected views of childhood. Because the original book is quite old, some of its values may feel distant to contemporary readers; it is best read with a comparative eye rather than simply for plot excitement.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English learners who want to practice reading with easy original English texts
Readers interested in children's literature from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century
People who need public-domain material for textual analysis or translation practice
Casual readers who enjoy slow-paced family coming-of-age stories

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting strong plots and fast-paced adventure stories
Contemporary young readers sensitive to old-fashioned values
Beginner non-native English readers who need detailed annotations or introductions

Reading tips

Read through one or two chapters first to get used to the sentence patterns and vocabulary of early English fiction.
Keep a notebook to record recurring family scenes and character relationships in the book.
Read it alongside other children's literature from the same period to observe similarities and differences in themes.
If using it for language learning, retell the main points in your own words after each chapter.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for English beginners to read directly?

The original language belongs to the style of early English juvenile fiction, and the sentence structures are somewhat more complex than contemporary works, but the overall difficulty is not high. Learners with some vocabulary foundation can try it, using a dictionary for unfamiliar words or old-fashioned expressions. Complete beginners are advised to choose more modern simplified readers first.

Is this book related to the author's other works?

The materials only show that this book is a juvenile literature work by Mary Edward Feehan and provide no information about connections to her other works. Readers can treat it as a standalone story without worrying about continuity.

What should be noted about the public-domain eBook edition?

This book comes from Project Gutenberg and is a free public-domain eBook. Layout may vary across devices, so reading software that supports font adjustment is recommended. Because it was published long ago, the book may retain old-style spelling or punctuation, and readers need not worry about every detail.

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About the author

Feehan, Mary Edward, 1878- Author · 1878

Mary Edward Feehan (born 1878) was an English-language author active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; her life and nationality remain poorly documented in publicly available sources and require further verification. Existing records show that she wrote at least two works, Mostly Mary and Mary's Rainbow. Both titles center on the name "Mary," suggesting that her writing may revolve around a character of that name or draw on autobiographical material, with themes leaning toward personal experience and everyday observation. Her style appears plain and approachable, with attention to emotion and detail. Given the small number of works and the scattered information about her, her place in literary history is limited; her primary value lies in offering a concrete, modest example of women's writing and life records of her era. A fuller understanding of her work would require reading the original books.