Oldtown Folks

1 About this book

Oldtown Folks is an 1869 novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It is written from the first-person perspective of a young man named Horace Holyoke, who describes his youth in fictional Oldtown, Massachusetts – including humorous depictions of daily life, behavior of local towns folk, and the adoption of Harry and Eglantine Percival.

The novel incorporates some spiritual elements, such as deep discussions of God, religious revelations, and visions of ghosts. The story's themes include adoption, schooling, love, death, marriage, and familial secrets. The prose specifically addresses the reader and subverts tropes with plot twists.

Oldtown is a fictional name for the real town of Natick, Massachusetts, the native home of Harriett Beecher Stowe's husband, and many of the ideas in the book come primarily from his memories. Oldtown Folks has claim to be read as a religious novel and often discusses Puritan lifestyles as well as Calvinism and Arminian theology.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

• Small town life
• Social life and customs
• New england
• Women
• United states, social life and customs
• Manners and customs