"Grace King's correspondence is a unique view of the warmth and intimacy she encountered as a southerner welcomed into the elite post-Civil War bastion of northern civility and culture. Her letters humanize our understanding of Mark Twain and bring us inside the world that the Warner and Clemens families, and their personal and professional acquaintances, shared, and into which Grace King was welcomed and cherished. Miki Pfeffer's carefully assembled and framed selections portray not only the Clemens family milieu but also illuminate the place of an independent woman in all its complexities."--David Sloane, former president of the Mark Twain Circle and author of Mark Twain as a Literary Comedian
"Miki Pfeffer's recovery of correspondence of Grace King is a remarkable achievement. King was an important, though by now a somewhat overlooked, southern writer. Her letters afford us insight into her complex life, a life that transcended the boundaries of region and the gender norms of her time. The correspondence and the informative context that Pfeffer provides give evidence of King's distinctive voice and her complicated personal and social history. Illuminating details about her close relationships with Mark Twain, his wife Olivia Langdon, and their circle are both historically edifying and very satisfying reading. Historians, literary scholars, and engaged readers will be amply rewarded by this fine collection."--Larry Howe, president, Mark Twain Circle of America