{"id":42727,"date":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lesbianfunworld.com\/books\/the-only-wonderful-things-by-melissa-j-homestead\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","slug":"the-only-wonderful-things-by-melissa-j-homestead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesbianfunworld.com\/books\/the-only-wonderful-things-by-melissa-j-homestead\/","title":{"rendered":"The Only Wonderful Things by Melissa J. Homestead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\r\n\r\nThe first account of the central relationship of Willa Cather’s life, her nearly forty-year partnership with Edith Lewis. Often dismissed as Cather’s secretary, Lewis was a successful magazine editor and advertising copywriter who edited Cather’s fiction behind the scenes. Melissa J. Homestead reconstructs their life together in Greenwich Village and on Park Avenue, their travels in the Southwest that shaped The Professor’s House and Death Comes for the Archbishop, and their summers in an all-woman community on Grand Manan Island, and shows how Cold War anxiety about homosexuality led biographers to erase Lewis, offering a fresh view of lesbian life in the early twentieth century.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n
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Details<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Title: <\/strong>\u00a0The Only Wonderful Things<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Author: <\/strong>\u00a0Melissa J. Homestead<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
ISBN: <\/strong>\u00a09780190652876<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Subtitle: <\/strong>\u00a0The Creative Partnership of Willa Cather and Edith Lewis<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Genre: <\/strong>\u00a0Autobiography\/Biography; Award Winner; Canadian Eh; Lesbian Studies; Literary History<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Subject(s): <\/strong>\u00a0Authors, American – Biography; Lesbian Authors – Biography. – United States; Women authors, American – Biography<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Publication Date: <\/strong>\u00a02021-04-01<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Original Publication Date: <\/strong>\u00a0<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Publisher: <\/strong>\u00a0Oxford University Press<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Language: <\/strong>\u00a0English<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Format: <\/strong>\u00a0Hardcover<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Pages: <\/strong>\u00a0394<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Rating: <\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Notes: <\/strong>\u00a0Winner, 2022 Nebraska Book Award, Nonfiction Biography. Setting: New York, the American Southwest and Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Book_ID: <\/strong>\u00a0119064<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first account of the central relationship of Willa Cather’s life, her nearly forty-year partnership with Edith Lewis. Often dismissed as Cather’s secretary, Lewis was a successful magazine editor and advertising copywriter who edited Cather’s fiction behind the scenes. Melissa J. Homestead reconstructs their life together in Greenwich Village and on Park Avenue, their travels in the Southwest that shaped The Professor’s House and Death Comes for the Archbishop, and their summers in an all-woman community on Grand Manan Island, and shows how Cold War anxiety about homosexuality led biographers to erase Lewis, offering a fresh view of lesbian life in the early twentieth century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4320,4330,4316,4354,4358],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autobiography-biography","category-award-winner","category-canadian-eh","category-lesbian-studies","category-literary-history"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Only Wonderful Things<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The first account of the central relationship of Willa Cather's life, her nearly forty-year partnership with Edith Lewis. 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