
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
'Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm' Summary
The novel opens with Rebecca's journey from her family's farm to live with her two aunts, her mother's older sisters Miranda and Jane Sawyer, in their brick house in Riverboro. Rebecca is the second-oldest of seven children. Most of the children have fanciful names, such as Marquis and Jenny Lind, influenced by their father's artistic background; Rebecca is named after both the heroines in Ivanhoe. The family is quite poor, due to the number of children, Mr. Lorenzo DeMedici Randall's inability to stick to a job, and the farm being mortgaged. As the novel begins, the family is barely scraping by three years after the father's death. Rebecca's stay with her aunts is a chance to improve her opportunities in life and to ease the strain on her family's budget. Despite her impoverished background, Rebecca is imaginative and charming. She often composes little poems and songs to express her feelings or to amuse her siblings. It is she who named their farm "Sunnybrook".
Miranda and Jane had wanted Hannah, the eldest sister, because of her household skills and pragmatic nature, but her mother needs her at home for the same reasons and sends Rebecca instead. Miranda is unimpressed by Rebecca's imagination, chatter, and dark complexion, calls her the image of her shiftless father, and determines to train Rebecca to be a proper young lady who won't shame the Sawyer name. Jane becomes Rebecca's protector and acts as a buffer between her and Miranda. Jane teaches Rebecca to sew, cook, and manage a household. Rebecca's liveliness and curiosity brighten Jane's life and refresh her spirit. Although Rebecca strives to win Miranda's approval, she struggles to live up to Miranda's rigid standards, as Miranda views her as "all Randall and no Sawyer."
The middle of the novel is mainly a description of life at Riverboro and its inhabitants. Important characters are Jeremiah and Sarah Cobb, who first encounter Rebecca's charm; Rebecca's schoolmate and best friend, Emma Jane Perkins; and young businessman Adam Ladd, who takes an interest in Rebecca's education. Adam meets Rebecca when she and Emma Jane are selling soap to help a poor family receive a lamp as a premium; Rebecca nicknames him "Mr. Aladdin."
Rebecca proves to be a good student, especially in English, and goes on to attend high school in Wareham. In the book's last section she has become a young lady with the same high spirit and a talent for writing. She applies for a teaching job in Augusta, but her mother has an accident and Rebecca must go home to look after her and the farm. While she's away, Miranda dies and leaves the Sawyer house and land to Rebecca. A railway company will buy Sunnybrook Farm for construction purposes, which will give the Randall family a sufficient living, and Miranda's will provides Rebecca enough money to become an independent woman who can help her siblings. The novel ends with her exclaiming, "God bless Aunt Miranda! God bless the brick house that was! God bless the brick house that is to be!"
Book Details
Language
EnglishOriginal Language
EnglishPublished In
1903Genre/Category
Tags/Keywords
Authors

Kate Douglas Wiggin
America
Kate Douglas Wiggin was an American educator, author and composer. She wrote children's stories, most notably the classic children's novel Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, and composed collections of child...
Books by Kate Douglas WigginDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
Related books

Macdermots of Ballycloran by Anthony Trollope
Set in 19th-century Ireland, *The Macdermots of Ballycloran* follows the decline of a once-proud landowning family, the Macdermots. Larry Macdermot st...

Pollyanna of the Orange Blossoms by Harriet Lummis Smith
Pollyanna of the Orange Blossoms continues the beloved Pollyanna story, following the spirited and optimistic heroine as she navigates the joys and ch...

Torch-Bearers by George Kelly
The Torch-Bearers is a play by George Kelly that follows the tumultuous lives of a group of aspiring playwrights in New York City during the 1920s. Th...

Bonnie May by Louis Dodge
Bonnie May is a young girl raised in the world of theater, where the stage becomes her reality and the conventions of society are observed as if they...

Mildred's Married Life by Martha Finley
The story is set in the United States of America between the 1830s and 1860s. Mildred is the eldest child of Stuart and Marcia Keith (née Stanhope), a...

Five Children and It by E. Nesbit
This delightful novel begins when a family of five children moves from London to the English countryside. While playing in a gravel pit soon after the...

Prodigal Daughters by Joseph Hocking
Set against the backdrop of World War I, "Prodigal Daughters" explores the tensions between generations and the changing social mores of the early 20t...

Good-Natured Man by Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith's *The Good-Natured Man* is a play that satirizes the follies of 18th-century English society. The story centers around Sir William H...

The Roll-Call by Arnold Bennett
"The Roll-Call" is the sequel to the Clayhanger trilogy. This book concerns the young life of Clayhanger's stepson, George. George Edwin Cannon (he qu...

Lives of Two Cats by Pierre Loti
It provides a charming and touching portrayal of the lives of two cats and their adventures. In "Lives of Two Cats," Pierre Loti brings to life the e...
Reviews for Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
No reviews posted or approved, yet...