The Optimist's Daughter
American novelist, 1909–2001. Won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1973.
The Optimist's Daughter is a 1969 novel by Eudora Welty. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1973.
In family saga
On 2 of the 17 lists it was eligible for.
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At a glance
- Author
- Eudora Welty
- First published
- New Yorker 1969; expanded as a book 1972
- Length
- 192 pages (UK paperback)
- Awards
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner, 1973
- National Book Award for Fiction shortlist, 1973
- Genre
- Literary fiction, Family saga, Rural life, Southern gothic
Is The Optimist's Daughter worth reading?
2 of the 17 best-of lists it could have made include it: the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction.
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| National Book Award for Fiction (winners and finalists) (National Book Foundation, 1973) | Shortlist | See the list |
| Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (winners and finalists) (Columbia University, 1973) | Winner | See the list |
Best edition of The Optimist's Daughter
The edition we link to is the Virago paperback (1984), 192 pages.
- Publisher
- Virago (paperback, 1984)
- Pages
- 192
- ISBN
- 9780860683759
How critics, prizes and readers rate The Optimist's Daughter
Prize juries rate it most highly: it earned 83% of the points available on prize lists, against 0% on critics' lists and 0% on readers' and booksellers' lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work