“Wonderful in concentrated intensity, tremendous in power,” this record
of the heart tragedies of a dozen men and women is not surpassed in
our literature for its beauty of style, the delicacy of its character
delineations, and the enthralling interest of its narrative. It is the
praise merited by “Pembroke,” the greatest work that has come from
the pen of the author, Mary Eleanor Wilkins. She was born of Puritan
ancestors January 7, 1862, in Randolph, Norfolk county, Massachusetts,
and received her early education in Randolph, later removing to
Brattleboro, Vermont. She afterward attended Mount Holyoke seminary,
South Hadley, Massachusetts, but previous to this she had already begun
her literary work, writing poems and then prose for Youth’s Companion,
St. Nicholas, Harper’s Bazar and finally for Harper’s Magazine. “A
Humble Romance and Other Stories,” 1887, placed Miss Wilkins in the
class with Mrs. Stowe, Miss Jewett and other conspicuous authors as a
delineator of New England character. The simplicity and the astonishing
reality of her story brought a new revelation to New England itself.
Her literary style displays a fearlessness of the critic and the
dominating thought to be true to her ideal. “The Pot of Gold and Other
Stories,” 1891, and “Young Lucretia,” 1892, are among her popular
juveniles. “The New England Nun and Other Stories,” called forth the
most lavish praise. Her next work of importance, as well as her first
novel, was “Jane Field,” 1892. When “Pembroke” appeared, in 1894, it
was praised almost indiscriminately in England, some critics even
venturing to say that George Eliot had never produced anything finer.