The Old Peabody Pew: A Christmas Romance of a Country Church

Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith, 1856-1923Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.2

Word count: 76K words
Chapters: 8

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.The Old Peabody Pew: A Christmas Romance of a Country Church by WigginAuthor: Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith, 1856-1923,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Sep 1, 1999

Editor's review

Taking an old pew in a country church as its thread, Wiggin writes a short, gentle Christmas story: an old object carries the memory of generations, the holiday draws scattered people back together, and misunderstanding and waiting find their resting place on Christmas Eve. The book is brief, restrained in plot, and advances through dialogue and detail, with the spare quality of late nineteenth-century American regionalist fiction. It does not build climaxes from adventure but lets readers feel human warmth return amid the church, the snowy night, and everyday talk. Suitable as a short Christmas-season read, in one sitting or read aloud over two evenings; also for readers who want to know the American regionalist tradition and prefer quiet narrative, seeking plain consolation and aftertaste beyond the holiday bustle.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers wanting a short, warm story for the Christmas season
Literary fans who prefer regional themes and quiet narrative
Families or reading groups needing material for holiday read-alouds
English readers studying late nineteenth-century American fiction style

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking strong plot, fast pace, or suspenseful twists
Those entirely uninterested in religious settings and church backgrounds

Reading tips

Set aside time to read it in one sitting around Christmas Eve, using the holiday atmosphere to feel its sense of time.
If reading aloud, assign chapters to different people so dialogue passages naturally come alive.
Note how the old pew as an object links characters' memories with present choices.
Read alongside other regional short stories by the same author to compare characterization and holiday writing.

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

About how long is this book?

It is a short Christmas story, close to a novella in length, usually readable in one or two evenings. The plot is concentrated and the settings limited, making it suitable for fragmented holiday reading and for a single family read-aloud session.

Will not having read the author's other works affect my understanding?

No. The story is self-contained; relationships and background are established within it and do not depend on earlier works. If you like the style, look for the author's other regional works to extend your reading and enjoy the narrative pleasures of American fiction of the same era.

Why does the title emphasize "the old pew"?

The old pew is the carrier of the church's memory and the meeting point of characters' feelings and misunderstandings. The story uses it to connect past and present, grounding the holiday reunion in a concrete object; readers can see from this how the title echoes the theme.

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About the author

Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith, 1856-1923 Author

Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin (1856–1923) was an American writer of children's literature. Because public information is limited, the details of her life are not elaborated here. The library holds 37 of her works, covering children's novels, holiday stories, and coming-of-age themes. Her best-known book, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, features a lively and clever country girl, written in a bright, humorous style with close attention to character and everyday life. The Birds' Christmas Carol, Penelope's Progress, Timothy's Quest, New Chronicles of Rebecca, A Cathedral Courtship, and Mother Carey's Chickens likewise center on family, childhood, and warmth. Her writing is fresh and natural, often observing the world through a child's eyes, and her works had a certain influence on English-language children's literature of her time.