A Woman Called Fancy

New York: The Dial Press. Near Fine in Very Good dj. 1951. First Edition. Hardcover. [nice clean book with no significant wear, just a previous owner's name and date in green ink on the front endpaper; the jacket is moderately edgeworn, with small tears at the upper spine corners]. The sixth novel by this author, who pretty much kept his African-American identity under the radar for much of his career as he churned out historical fiction in many settings. This one is set in 1880s Georgia, and concerns a 19-year-old Carolina hill girl who has come to Augusta to avoid an arranged marriage and to leave behind "a life of popverty and grinding toil." She proceeds to make the most of "her striking beauty" and "a courage as great as her stature was small, a keen intelligence as yet undeveloped, a deep instinctive sense of honor, [and] a high pesonal integrity." She also meets the "son of a great family fallen upon evil days," and determines to help him rebuild his family fortunes. NOTE that this is NOT the more common book club edition; the front jacket flap bears the original $3.00 printed retail price. .