Released June 2023: A scholarly edition of Sarah Orne Jewett’s A Marsh Island from Penn Press, initially serialized in the Atlantic Monthly in 1885 and published as a book by Houghton Mifflin. This book is the fifth title in Penn Press’s Q19: Queer American Nineteenth Century Series, inaugurated by Christopher Looby in 2016. The new edition includes an introduction and in-depth end notes, designed to provide information regarding literary allusions, idioms, salt-marsh flora and fauna, local architectural and technological terminology, details regarding the novel’s serialization, and alterations made to the manuscript preserved at Harvard’s Houghton Library.

“By far,” one of “the best two novels of the summer,” A Marsh Island “has the grace of restraint, perfect simplicity and directness.” “The characterization is perfect,” “like a painter’s outdoor studies.” - Overland Monthly (June 1885)

“The whole book…is an exquisite water-color…. When deeper reflections are ventured upon, they are always true, as well as graceful” - Cottage Hearth (July 1885)

“Miss Jewett has never written anything more vigorous or charming than ‘A Marsh Island,’ as those will gladly testify who have followed it as it has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly” - The Publisher’s Weekly (May 1885)

A Marsh Island “abounds in genial sentiment and is lighted up by picturesque descriptions of the scenes and characters that come within the field of her penetrating observation and delicate humor” - The Critic (May 1890)

“Jewett's depictions of the dreamy coastal region of northeastern Massachusetts, true to her reputation as a 19th-century regionalist, are attuned to both the peaceful patterns of local life rhythms and the seemingly impenetrable mysteries of places on the margins of modern urban life. Although previous critics and publications focused on the novel's love triangle, McLaughlin's text (rightfully) reframes readerly attention on the novel as Dale's artistic and personal coming-of-age and, simultaneously, a meditation on the shifting boundaries of sexuality and queer kinship. McLaughlin's rich and accessible introduction poses Doris and Dale, both on the brink of what comes next, as existing within a liminal time and place.” Alice Martin, Shelf Awareness (June 16, 2023)

“The Five Best Books on the History of Sexuality in Modernity,” Dr. Donna J. Drucker, Shepherd.com (July 2023)