Sarah Orne Jewett House

Happiness

Jewett and Fields moved through society as couple. Theirs was a mutually supportive and nurturing relationship. Annie Fields, a brilliant society hostess, was also deeply involved with social reform and women’s causes, including education and suffrage. In Jewett, she had a partner with whom she could focus on these passions; in Fields, Jewett had found a love in which she could keep her strong identity and focus on her writing career.

They had numerous close friends, travelled to Europe, and when apart, wrote letters to each other, Jewett writing to Fields virtually daily and presumably Fields returning the same (most of Fields’ letters to Jewett were destroyed).