The Girls by Edna Ferber ~ 1921. This edition: Collier, circa 1930s. Hardcover. 374 pages.
It is a question of method. Whether to rush you up to the girls pellmell, leaving you to become acquainted as best you can; or, with elaborate slyness, to slip you so casually into their family life that they will not even glance up when you enter the room or leave it; or to present the three of them in solemn order according to age, epoch, and story. This last would mean beginning with great-aunt Charlotte Thrift, spinster, aged seventy-four; thence to her niece and namesake Lottie Payson, spinster, aged thirty-two; finishing with Lottie’s niece and namesake Charley Kemp, spinster, aged eighteen and a half— you may be certain nobody ever dreamed of calling her Charlotte. If you are led by all this to exclaim, aghast, “A story about old maids!”— you are right. It is.
A story about old maids, indeed, and how rich a field for harvesting by the right author. Edna Ferber is definitely that, garnering a full measure, a basketful – a book full! – of personal stories, mixed joys and tragedies, promises fulfilled and wasted.
We meet our three Charlottes in the early days of the 20th Century, in Chicago. Their family, the Thrifts, is in the upper echelon of that city’s society, even though their finances have of late begun to show signs of stress, what with the war in Europe and all.
In a series of extended vignettes – flashbacks interspersed with the present – we learn the stories of these three women, destined to walk their paths without male partners, though all three are not unloved by men.
The theme which unites these three femmes sole – aside from their warm and sustaining love for each other – is that of war. For Charlotte, the war between the states, taking place as she leaves her girlhood behind, erasing the life of the man whom she loved. For Lottie and Charley, the Great War strikes similarly brutal blows.
Edna Ferber was a gifted storyteller, and The Girls is a perfect example of her ability to stir the full spectrum of her readers’ emotions, from amusement to heartbreak, and everything in between. Some clever technique here, too, in the flashback sequences.
My rating: 9.5/10
Now out of copyright, many of the secondhand copies on ABE are print-on-demand, though a few originals are there as well. If you don’t mind reading from a screen, The University of Michigan has a scanned copy to peruse.
Leaves & Pages 
What a gem!
This is just my kind of story. I love reading about the 20,s.
Several of Agatha Christie s and all of Courgette Heyer s mysteries are set in this age.
The Bright Young Things and the flapper mentioned in books by Edith Wharton and F.Scott Fitzgerald are such fun to read about.
I hope I can find these books by Edna Gerber some day.
Yes, it is a gem! There are a number of Edna Ferber’s earlier works available for download on Project Gutenberg. If you can’t find them in a bookstore or library (and they are not likely to show up in either place without some serious searching) you can read them that way. I’ve put a link to an online scan of this one up above in my post.
I will definitely make use of the link .
Thank you
Ooo, this sounds intriguing. I’m aware of Ferber from some of her more famous works being turned into films/musicals – Giant, Show Boat, Stage Door, etc – but wasn’t aware of this one. Something to add to my library list!
Definitely! The early Ferbers are very, very good, though often neglected in favour of the “blockbusters” which came later.
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