Rachel Field, talented in poetry, drama, and graphic illustration, as well as in fiction, produced from one to four high quality books for children almost every year from 1926 to her death in 1942. One of these, Hitty, Her First Hundred Years (1929), won the Newbery Medal, one of the most highly coveted awards for children's literature in the United States. Field was the first woman to receive the Newbery Medal. Hitty, a novel for older children and adolescents, has remained in print in America and England and been widely read, even by adults, for over fifty years. Almost forty years after her death, seven of Field's books are in print, some in several editions. In 1942 the Horn Book Magazine honored her memory with a special issue recognizing her distinguished contribution to children's literature.

But Field gained at least as much prominence through her writing for adult readers. In Points East...