Kate Chopin was born in St Louis, Missouri on 8 Feb 1850. Born
Katherine O'Flaherty, she grew up in a predominantly female
household after her father died when she was just four years old.
Her father was an Irish immigrant, and her mother was French
Creole. In 1870 she married Oscar Chopin, a local cotton trader,
and together they had six children. In 1882 Oscar died from swamp
fever, leaving Kate a widow with a large family to support, and the
heir to his sizeable debts. She turned to writing in order to
support her young family, publishing her first short story in 1889.
A number of her works were subsequently published in literary
magazines and popular American periodicals, including Vogue.
Chopin published only two novels in her lifetime: At Fault and The
Awakening. The Awakening, published in 1899, was largely condemned
as vulgar and immoral by critics of the time. Dismayed by such a
harsh reception, Chopin cut short her brief career as a novelist,
and for the remainder of her life focused solely on writing short
stories, poetry and reviews. Kate Chopin died on 22 August 1904
from a brain haemorrhage.
This gorgeous edition of Chopin's 1899 classic features period photos of the novel's New Orleans location and a durable plastic dust jacket.
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