author
Helen Mackay
1876–1961
A keen observer of everyday life, this American writer turned ordinary moments into graceful stories, sketches, and poems. Much of her work is linked with Paris and France, including wartime reflections that notice the small human details others might miss.
1 Audiobook
Journal of Small Things
by Helen Mackay
About the author
Born in 1876, Helen Mackay was an American author who published fiction, children's books, poems, and short reflective prose in the early 20th century. Records of her books show a steady run of titles including Houses of Glass, Half Loaves, Stories for Pictures, The Cobweb Cloak, Accidentals, London, One November, Chill Hours, and Journal of Small Things.
Her writing is especially associated with France. Contemporary references and library records describe her as a long-time American resident of Paris, and Journal of Small Things is remembered for its intimate sketches of life in France during the First World War.
She died in 1961. A surviving portrait from her younger years appears on Wikimedia Commons under her earlier name, Helen Gansevoort Edwards, which helps connect the public record of her life before marriage with the books published as Helen Mackay.