French, Alice

Alice (1850-), an American story writer, better known by her pen name of Octave Thanet. She was born in Andover, Massachusetts, but has spent the greater part of her life in Iowa and Arkansas. Her strong, dramatic short stories have found a large number of readers as they have appeared in the magazines. Many of them have been collected into book form, among which may be mentioned Knitters in the Sun, Otto, the Knight, and Other Trans-Mississippi Stories, Stories of a Western Town, We All, A Book of True Lovers, and Man and His Neighbors. Miss French's stories appeal to a wide class of readers. They are Western tales of simple lives, naturally told. They contain a little pathos, much humor, and are full of human interest. That she is capable of the sustained effort necessary for a successful novel Mrs. French has proved in The Man of the Hour, a laborproblem story, absorbing and inspiring.