Miss Lulu Bett and Selected Stories

Lulu Bett lives in a small town with her sister Ina and Ina's husband Dwighta dentist who rules his household with self-righteous smugness. The unmarried Lulu has learned that she cannot question her role as chief cook, housekeeper, and gracious presence. But when Dwight's sophisticated brother Ninian comes to visit, Lulu finds in herself a surprising witand the boldness to accept his playful proposal of marriage. Through her appealing, determined heroine, Zona Gale satirically dispatches a sheaf of the social assumptions of her day, from male supremacy to the security of marriage. First published in 1920,Miss Lulu Bettwas immediately acclaimed, and went on to become one of two bestselling novels of the year. Together with four of Gale's short storiesincluding the O. Henry award-winning "Bridal Pond"Miss Lulu Bettreflects Gale's broad progressive interests and the fast-paced, affecting prose which made her one of the most popular writers of her time and a classic American storteller. "A great book . . . the telling is almost incomparable" Robert Benchley,The World "Eloquent. . . .Miss Lulu Bettis without flaw" The Atlantic Monthly "It has a narrowly limned beauty. . . . The book stands as a signal accomplishment in American letters" The New Republic From the Trade Paperback edition.

Barbara H. Solomon is Professor of English and Women’s Studies at Iona college. Among the books she has edited are The Awakening and Selected Stories of Kate Chopin, Herland and Selected Stories of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Once Upon a Childhood: Stories and Memoirs of American Youth (with Eileen Panetta.) She lives in New Rochelle, New York.
Eileen Panetta is Associate Professor of English at Iona College. She is coeditor of Once Upon a Childhood (with Barbara H. Solomon). She lives in New York City.