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Primary sourceBook1861

The Pearl of Orr's Island

Harriet Beecher Stowe · 1861

An 1861 novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe set on the coast of Maine, a founding work of New England local-color fiction.

Stowe wrote this novel, which became a founding work of New England local-color fiction.

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What it is

The Pearl of Orr's Island is a novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, first copyrighted in 1862, telling a story set on the coast of Maine.

Why it matters

The novel is considered a founding work of New England local-color writing, a style that closely depicted the customs and manners of a particular region. It was admired by later regional writer Sarah Orne Jewett, showing Stowe's influence on later generations of American authors beyond her antislavery writing.

Look closer

  • Why might an author who is famous for an antislavery novel also write stories focused on regional life and customs?
  • What might closely depicting a specific place and its people, rather than broad historical events, reveal about everyday life at the time?
  • How can a book inspire other writers, as this one inspired Sarah Orne Jewett?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Harriet Beecher Stowe on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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