Fanny Herself

A warm, wry, and witty chronicle of a young girl growing up Jewish in a small midwestern town at the turn of the 20th century. Packed with the warmth and the wry, sidelong, wit that made Ferber one of the best-loved writers of her time, the novel charts Fanny's emotional growth through her relationship with her mother, the shrewd, sympathetic Molly Brandeis. Fanny's ambivalent feelings about being Jewish, her self-deprecating attitude toward her gift for sketching and drawing, and her inspired success as a businesswoman all contribute to the flesh-and-blood complexity of Ferber's youthful, eminently believable protagonist. Fanny Herself showcases the author's enduring interest in the capacity of strong women to transcend the limitations of their environment and control their own circumstances. Through Fanny's honest struggle with conflicting values--financial security and corporate success versus altruism and artistic integrity -- Ferber grapples with some of the most deeply embedded contradictions of the American spirit.