The Whole Family: a Novel by Twelve Authors

Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews

1860–1936

Best known for the hugely popular Lincoln story The Perfect Tribute, this American writer built a wide readership with historical fiction, short stories, and novels. Her work mixes patriotic feeling, drama, and a lively storytelling style that helped keep her books in print for decades.

John Kendrick Bangs

1862–1922

A witty American humorist and editor, he became best known for playful fantasy and satire that turned the afterlife into a stage for clever conversation. His stories mix lightness, literary jokes, and a surprisingly modern sense of comic imagination.

Alice Brown

1857–1948

A sharp-eyed chronicler of New England life, this American writer built a career out of vivid local-color fiction, poetry, and plays. Her work was widely read in her day and still offers a rich picture of regional life and character.

Mary Stewart Cutting

1851–1924

Known for warm, observant stories about home life and relationships, this American writer built a steady readership with fiction rooted in everyday experience. Her work belongs to the tradition of domestic realism that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman

1852–1930

Known for vivid New England settings and sharp insight into the lives of women, this American writer helped define regional fiction in the late nineteenth century. Her work ranges from quiet village realism to memorable ghost stories that still find readers today.

Henry James

1843–1916

Best known for novels and ghost stories that turn social scenes into psychological drama, this master stylist explored the tensions between Americans and Europeans, innocence and experience. His work helped bridge 19th-century realism and literary modernism.

Elizabeth Garver Jordan

1867–1947

A trailblazing magazine editor and journalist, she helped shape American literary culture while also pushing for women’s political voice. Her career moved from newspaper reporting to the editorship of Harper's Bazar, where she became known for sharp editorial judgment and wide literary connections.

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps

1844–1911

A bestselling 19th-century American writer, she brought big spiritual questions and women’s everyday struggles into popular fiction. Her work mixed emotion, social criticism, and a quietly radical view of what women’s lives could be.

Henry Van Dyke

1852–1933

A minister, teacher, and diplomat as well as a bestselling man of letters, he wrote with warmth and clarity about faith, nature, and everyday grace. His stories and essays helped make him one of the most widely read American authors of the early 20th century.

Mary Heaton Vorse

1874–1966

A vivid witness to strikes, social change, and the making of modern labor journalism, this writer brought sharp reporting and a human touch to the struggles of workers and reformers. Her life moved between art, fiction, activism, and frontline journalism.

A Chicago writer with close ties to Hull House, she brought sharp observation and warmth to stories, essays, and poems about everyday American life. Her work moved in the orbit of the city’s reform and literary circles while keeping a clear, human scale.