The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder
Summary (from the publisher): Available for the first time and collected in one volume, the letters of one of America’s most beloved authors, Laura Ingalls Wilder—a treasure trove that offers new and unexpected understanding of her life and work.
The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder is a vibrant, deeply personal portrait of this revered American author, illuminating her thoughts, travels, philosophies, writing career, and dealings with family, friends, and fans as never before.
This is a fresh look at the adult life of the author in her own words. Gathered from museums and archives and personal collections, the letters span over sixty years of Wilder’s life, from 1894–1956 and shed new light on Wilder’s day-to-day life. Here we see her as a businesswoman and author—including her beloved Little House books, her legendary editor, Ursula Nordstrom, and her readers—as a wife, and as a friend. In her letters, Wilder shares her philosophies, political opinions, and reminiscences of life as a frontier child. Also included are letters to her daughter, writer Rose Wilder Lane, who filled a silent role as editor and collaborator while the famous Little House books were being written.
Wilder biographer William Anderson collected and researched references throughout these letters and the result is an invaluable historical collection, tracing Wilder’s life through the final days of covered wagon travel, her life as a farm woman, a country journalist, Depression-era author, and years of fame as the writer of the Little House books. This collection is a sequel to her beloved books, and a snapshot into twentieth-century living.
The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder is a vibrant, deeply personal portrait of this revered American author, illuminating her thoughts, travels, philosophies, writing career, and dealings with family, friends, and fans as never before.
This is a fresh look at the adult life of the author in her own words. Gathered from museums and archives and personal collections, the letters span over sixty years of Wilder’s life, from 1894–1956 and shed new light on Wilder’s day-to-day life. Here we see her as a businesswoman and author—including her beloved Little House books, her legendary editor, Ursula Nordstrom, and her readers—as a wife, and as a friend. In her letters, Wilder shares her philosophies, political opinions, and reminiscences of life as a frontier child. Also included are letters to her daughter, writer Rose Wilder Lane, who filled a silent role as editor and collaborator while the famous Little House books were being written.
Wilder biographer William Anderson collected and researched references throughout these letters and the result is an invaluable historical collection, tracing Wilder’s life through the final days of covered wagon travel, her life as a farm woman, a country journalist, Depression-era author, and years of fame as the writer of the Little House books. This collection is a sequel to her beloved books, and a snapshot into twentieth-century living.
Review: I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book from HarperCollins.
This book contains several hundred of the letters written by Laura Ingalls Wilder that have been maintained in public and private collections. They span her life from 1894 through 1956. Although Laura was one of four Ingalls daughters, she was the only one that had a child and her daughter Rose left no living children. "With no interested descendants around, great segments of the family's written records vanished" (xvi). Although many of Laura's letters have been lost, this selection of those that do remain provide a snapshot of the woman behind the beloved Little House series of children's novels. Indeed, the majority of the letters included in this collection are those that she wrote in response to her many fan letters.
After their deaths, the extent to which Wilder's daughter Rose Wilder Lane assisted with her mother's writing process has become evident. This collaboration is evident in the letters, as many of Laura's letters are to her daughter and discuss the books in detail, including anecdotes to include or remove and how to shape the flow of the plot. Her letters also reveal how Wilder researched her novels, writing others to confirm her childhood memory of locations and settings. This behind the scenes look at the writing process was interesting to me as a fan of the original novels.
I was moved by how dedicated Laura was up until her final years in attempting to respond to the majority of her fan mail. She spent hours personally writing children responses to their questions and thanking them for reading her books. Laura even welcomed visiting fans to her home and would happily give them a tour of her house. Aside from declining invitations to speak as her age advanced, Laura comes across as a gracious recipient of her many fans' adoration. It was also sweet to see how close Laura and her husband Manly seem to have been. Just as in her novels, their marriage can be summarized by her words "It was a carefree, happy time, for two people thoroughly in sympathy can do pretty much as they like" (257).
This book is an excellent companion piece to follow Pioneer Girl, the autobiography written by Wilder before she went on to become a bestselling fiction writer. Having just recently read this earlier work, which ended with her marriage, it was perfect to continue on and see her adult life and her life as an author from the perspective of her letters. Together, the two works give almost a full autobiography of Wilder's life, in her own words.
The editor did an excellent job of compiling the letters and providing background information as needed for the reader. At times it may have been helpful for the reader to have seen the letter that Laura is responding to, although that would have greatly lengthened the book. This is a valuable inside look into the life of a beloved author. In her contact with her fans, the real Laura maintained the central themes that young Laura from her novels always impressed upon her readers: "It is always best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures, to be cheerful in adversity and have courage in danger" (301).
Stars: 4
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