Margaret Ayer Barnes (1886–1967)
Author of Years of Grace
About the Author
Image credit: Bryn Mawr College Library Special Collections
Works by Margaret Ayer Barnes
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1886-04-08
- Date of death
- 1967-10-26
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Bryn Mawr College
- Occupations
- playwright
novelist
short story writer - Relationships
- Fairbank, Janet Ayer (sister)
- Short biography
- Margaret Ayer Barnes was born in Chicago, Illinois, to a family that took a keen interest in civic affairs. Her older sister Janet Ayer Fairbank became a well-known suffragist and writer. Margaret graduated from Bryn Mawr with a bachelor's degree in English and philosophy in 1907. In 1910, she married Cecil Barnes, a prominent Chicago lawyer, with whom she had three sons. During these years, she served as alumnae director of Bryn Mawr and helped organize the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers in Industry. In 1926, at age 40, her life changed dramatically when she was in an auto accident while vacationing in France and suffered a broken back, skull, and ribs. During her slow recovery, she took up writing with the encouragement of Edward Sheldon, a playwright whom she had met as a child. Between 1926 and 1930, she wrote several short stories and three plays, including a highly successful 1928 play adapted from Edith Wharton's novel The Age of Innocence. In 1931, she won the Pulitzer Prize for her first novel, Years of Grace. Over the next eight years, she published four more novels, including Westward Passage (1931) and Edna His Wife (1935).
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Places of residence
- Pennsylvania, USA
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA - Place of death
- Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
Poor Edna is such a sad sack. She drifts through her days as life happens to her, never able to actively participate. She’s a bystander in her own life, in a world that belongs to her husband Paul. Edna is naive, dull, self-conscious, and suffers low self-esteem. The setting is a good realistic look at America before, during, and after WWI. Well written, but leaves the reader feeling a bit depressed. Edna is an Eeyore, or maybe a Charlie Brown.
As I've noted in Pulitzers of this age, the writing was incredibly simple. A very simple story - but one I liked. It was about Chicago from the 1890's to around the late 1920's. As an added bonus, it took place in my actual neighborhood! So I dug that, obviously. The writing though, was almost just a list of things that happened. Like, "Agnes went to the store. She bought cake there. She put the cake in the bag. She brought the cake home. She ate the cake” If this had been one of the first show more Pulitzers I'd read from that time I would probably have hated it. But I'm used the simple writing style and realize they used to award the Pulitzer more on story than writing style, as they do now. show less
This novel by Margaret Ayer Barnes is the final book I've read for the Book Awards Reading Challenge. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1931. I had never actually heard of Years of Grace, or its author. This was a totally delightful and readable book.
It tells the story of Jane Ward Carver. Jane is born to a wealthy Chicago family in the late 1800's. Years of Grace follows the first fifty years of Jane's life. She matures from schoolgirl, to debutante, to wife, mother and grandmother. As Jane show more grows, the world changes around her. Her husband fights in the Spanish American War; her son-in-law in World War I.
The story is told through Jane's relationships with others. The sections of the book are titled with other people's names. Jane is a proper young woman, whose life is determined by her parents' wishes. When her parents disapprove of her first boyfriend, she is allowed to attend Bryn Mawr College for two years; then she must return home and become a proper debutante. When Jane does marry, she spends all her summers vacationing at the summer home of her in-laws. She maintains strong friendships with her childhood friends, and rarely ventures outside her social circle.
Jane is, however, a principled, passionate, intelligent woman. She struggles to reconcile her feelings with her familial and social obligations. Jane is, of course, perplexed by the behavior of her children as they grow older.
This novel is especially interesting in its depiction of a vanished time. It is beautifully written, and I highly recommend it. show less
It tells the story of Jane Ward Carver. Jane is born to a wealthy Chicago family in the late 1800's. Years of Grace follows the first fifty years of Jane's life. She matures from schoolgirl, to debutante, to wife, mother and grandmother. As Jane show more grows, the world changes around her. Her husband fights in the Spanish American War; her son-in-law in World War I.
The story is told through Jane's relationships with others. The sections of the book are titled with other people's names. Jane is a proper young woman, whose life is determined by her parents' wishes. When her parents disapprove of her first boyfriend, she is allowed to attend Bryn Mawr College for two years; then she must return home and become a proper debutante. When Jane does marry, she spends all her summers vacationing at the summer home of her in-laws. She maintains strong friendships with her childhood friends, and rarely ventures outside her social circle.
Jane is, however, a principled, passionate, intelligent woman. She struggles to reconcile her feelings with her familial and social obligations. Jane is, of course, perplexed by the behavior of her children as they grow older.
This novel is especially interesting in its depiction of a vanished time. It is beautifully written, and I highly recommend it. show less
This is a beautiful, charming novel well-deserving of its Pulitzer award for 1931.
Jane Ward is a young girl at the turn of the 20th century in upper class Chicago. She falls in love at the tender age of 19 with Andre, the artist, marries Stephen, the sensible provider, and later contemplates a life with Jimmy, the musician, but stays with her husband, Stephen. Jane's journey through life is a story about the path not taken. Her children, in contrast, take those paths not taken much to her show more surprise and disappointment. At times, the story plods a bit, but it's in step with Jane's life which she sees as dull a times, but this only further illustrating the novel's themes which were heavily influenced by the demise of the Victorian era.
If you can find this book, read it! show less
Jane Ward is a young girl at the turn of the 20th century in upper class Chicago. She falls in love at the tender age of 19 with Andre, the artist, marries Stephen, the sensible provider, and later contemplates a life with Jimmy, the musician, but stays with her husband, Stephen. Jane's journey through life is a story about the path not taken. Her children, in contrast, take those paths not taken much to her show more surprise and disappointment. At times, the story plods a bit, but it's in step with Jane's life which she sees as dull a times, but this only further illustrating the novel's themes which were heavily influenced by the demise of the Victorian era.
If you can find this book, read it! show less
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