So Big: A Novel

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize

"A masterpiece." — Literary Review • "A novel to read and to remember." —New York Times

Widely regarded as the masterwork of celebrated author and Algonquin Round Table mainstay Edna Ferber—who also penned other classics including Show Boat, Giant, Ice Palace, Saratoga Trunk, and Cimarron—So Big is a powerful and stirring portrait of one of the most memorable women in American literature, and still resonates today with its unflinching views of poverty, sexism, and the drive for success.

Set in Chicago at the turn of the twentieth century, So Big tells the story of Selina Peake, orphaned at nineteen after her father is shot and killed in a gambling house. Alone and resolved to make something of her life, Selina gets a job as a schoolteacher in a farming community outside Chicago and falls in love with a kind but struggling farmer. She soon leaves the schoolhouse for long grueling days in the fields and gives birth to a son, Dirk, nicknamed “So Big.” When she finds herself unexpectedly widowed, she takes the reins of the farm, defying convention and all those around her, determined to give Dirk every opportunity to follow his dreams.

So Big is a must-read for fans of contemporary novelists such Willa Cather (O Pioneers!), Pearl S. Buck (The Good Earth), and Marjorie Rawlings (The Yearling).

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The Pulitzer Prize–winning masterwork from one of the twentieth century’s most accomplished and admired writers, Edna Ferber’s So Big is the unforgettable story of one woman’s struggle to stay afloat and maintain her dignity in the face of monumental challenges.

Set in Chicago at the turn of the twentieth century, So Big tells the story of Selina Peake, orphaned at nineteen after her father is shot and killed in a gambling house. Alone and resolved to make something of her life, Selina gets a job as a schoolteacher in a farming community outside Chicago and falls in love with a kind but struggling farmer. She soon leaves the schoolhouse for long grueling days in the fields and gives birth to a son, Dirk, nicknamed “So Big.” When she finds herself unexpectedly widowed, she takes the reins of the farm, defying convention and all those around her, determined to give Dirk every opportunity to follow his dreams.

A powerful story and stirring portrait of one of the most memorable women in American literature, So Big still resonates today with its unflinching views of poverty, sexism, and the drive for success. |

“It has the completeness, and finality, that grips and exalts and convinces. . . . So Big is a masterpiece.” - Literary Review

“A thoughtful book, clean and strong, dramatic at times, interesting always, clear-sighted, sympathetic, a novel to read and to remember.” - New York Times

“Her books were . . . vivid and had a sound sociological basis. She was among the best-read novelists in the nation, and critics of the 1920s and 1930s did not hesitate to call her the greatest American woman novelist of her day.” - New York Times

“Recommended reading for our times.” - Washington Post

“Edna Ferber could spin a tale.” - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“[A] standout.” - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Few writers can equal Edna Ferber. She writes so smoothly and brightly, with so much gusto, with so wideawake a style and so clever a selection of detail that she routs all that is common-place and casts out all that is dull.” - New York Times

“There can be no question that So Big gets close to the life of its chosen bit of American soil, or that it is persuasively human in its touch.” - Springfield Republican