Uncle William

Uncle William is an island fisherman who cannot be hurried, cannot be improved, and cannot be persuaded that money matters — and a young painter and the girl he cannot marry are taken in hand by him without ever noticing it. Lee taught English at Smith College; Uncle William was loved by a generation of American readers, and the trick of the book is that the shiftless man is the only one who is not wasting his life. Fifty-five plates by painters from Munch to Bierstadt keep the sea and shore in view throughout, the right company for a fisherman who will not be hurried.