Ruth Comfort Mitchell (1882–1954)

Jane is in her late twenties in a small town and has two options: get married to the guy who's always hanging around that she's really lukewarm about, or go for a slightly grim spinsterhood while pursuing a genteel craft.

Jane chooses the THIRD option: Go to New York City and see life!!

She sets herself up as a writer of plays and has a moderate amount of success. She also meets Michael Daragh, her big Irishman neighbor. There are some definite Jo March/Professor Bhaer vibes happening at the boarding house.

Part of the book is epistolary and part is in third person narration. Jane's journey feels rather episodic because she has phases in New York City, Maine, and Mexico. Towards the end a random subplot is introduced that just feels distracting, but overall I enjoyed the book pretty well. Jane's struggle to keep "journeying on" as a person feels real and sincere. She has a lot of backbone but also her insecurities, so she's very relatable.

I came to this book from the excellent review from this Redeeming Qualities blog post. I recommend that review if you want a better synopsis of plot points.… (más)