Summary
Summary of A Little Country Girl
A Little Country Girl at a glance
Summary: 8 min to read
- Reading time
- About 3 h 10 min2 h 30 min fast, 3 h 45 min slow
- Length
- 44,800 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1885by Susan Coolidge
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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Key ideas
Key idea 1
Candace arrives with quiet honor
Alone aboard the steamer to Newport, Candace feels the distance between her country upbringing and the stylish girls who barely acknowledge her. The sea offers wonder, but meeting new people brings fear. When Berry gossips about Mrs. Gray, Candace is too frightened to reveal that she is Mrs. Gray's cousin.
Later, warmly welcomed by Mrs. Gray, Candace refuses to repeat the gossip. Before she knows how to fit into this unfamiliar world, she already shows something valuable: she can protect another person's feelings.
Key idea 2
Kindness matters more than dinner rules
Candace's first Newport dinner ends in tears.
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Key idea 3
New clothes cannot supply a welcome
The next morning, Candace decides not to hide.
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Key idea 4
Good manners begin with good feeling
Marian discovers that Candace has never had a birthday party, and her birthday becomes an occasion for gifts and attention.
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Key idea 5
Attention to others loosens shyness
At a sailing party, the other guests pair off and leave Candace to herself.
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Key idea 6
Treasures mean more than their price
A picnic shows Mrs. Gray turning outdoor cooking into shared enjoyment.
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Key idea 7
A home should serve its people
The Joy and Gray households reveal two ways of living.
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Key idea 8
A promise puts loyalty to the test
Near the end of summer, Candace sees Georgie behind a rock by the bay with a young man and another girl.
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Key idea 9
Quiet worth stands apart from fashion
Candace's summer brings together lessons about manners, confidence, and value.
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Who it’s for
This book will please readers who love warm, old-fashioned coming-of-age stories, seaside settings and wise mother figures. It suits anyone who enjoys gentle humor and a heroine who wins people over by honesty.
What this book is
What happens when a shy girl from a Connecticut hill farm steps off a steamer into the busiest summer resort in America? Candace Arden sits in a wheelhouse in her country boots, while two stylish girls size her up and then ignore her. She has never seen the sea. She is about to see Newport.
Susan Coolidge wrote A Little Country Girl for young readers, with a teacher's warmth and a storyteller's eye. Candace is sixteen and an orphan, sent to stay with her mother's cousin, the gracious Mrs. Gray. Over one season, you see what a girl learns when she is laughed at, helped, and finally trusted.
In this summary
- 1Candace arrives with quiet honorFree
- 2Kindness matters more than dinner rules
- 3New clothes cannot supply a welcome
- 4Good manners begin with good feeling
- 5Attention to others loosens shyness
- 6Treasures mean more than their price
- 7A home should serve its people
- 8A promise puts loyalty to the test
- 9Quiet worth stands apart from fashion
A lonely girl crosses the water to Newport
The story opens on a bright June afternoon aboard the steamer Eolus, bound for Newport. Candace sits alone in a blue alpaca dress, boots too big for her, and a new brown straw hat she is proud of. The kind captain sees her loneliness and invites her into the wheelhouse out of the wind.
Two pretty girls already sit in the corner, and one of them is Berenice Joy, called Berry. They give Candace one quick, measuring glance and then ignore her. When Berry gossips about Mrs. Gray in a loud voice, Candace says nothing, because she is too frightened to say she is the cousin.
The sea is the great gift of the crossing. Candace has never seen the ocean. She watches the fort, the lighthouses and the white sails like moths, and the whole scene seems enchanted. Then a carriage waits on the wharf, and the girls learn, to their surprise, whose guest she is.
At the Gray house she is left alone in a morning room for nearly an hour. Just as the homesick tears come, Mrs. Gray hurries in, kisses her, and apologizes with real feeling. Later Candace tells the Gray girls she would rather not repeat what she overheard on the boat. Mrs. Gray is pleased by that small act of honor.
A lonely newcomer may be judged by her hat, but she shows her worth in what she chooses not to say.
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Check yourself
What does Mrs. Gray teach Candace about mistakes in etiquette?
Right. “She also says these are small matters of etiquette, not failures of kindness, and only kindness truly matters.”Not quite. “She also says these are small matters of etiquette, not failures of kindness, and only kindness truly matters.”
According to Mrs. Gray, why can shyness be a form of selfishness?
Right. “Mrs. Gray takes her for a drive along the ocean and tells her plainly that shyness is a form of selfishness, because it fills the mind with oneself.”Not quite. “Mrs. Gray takes her for a drive along the ocean and tells her plainly that shyness is a form of selfishness, because it fills the mind with oneself.”
What does Georgie ask Candace to do after the meeting by the bay?
Right. “Later Georgie asks Candace to keep the sight to herself, with only a weak reason.”Not quite. “Later Georgie asks Candace to keep the sight to herself, with only a weak reason.”
Go deeper: the whole of A Little Country Girl
About 3 h 10 min to read.Start freePaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 44,800 words
- Reading timeAbout 3 h 10 min
Questions about A Little Country Girl
What is A Little Country Girl about?
It tells of Candace Arden, a shy seventeen-year-old from rural Connecticut, who spends a summer in Newport with her cousin Mrs. Gray and learns about manners, friendship, honesty and courage as she finds her place among her cousins.
Who are the Gray sisters in A Little Country Girl?
Georgie is the eldest, easygoing and easily led. Gertrude, the middle sister, is pretty and proud. Marian is the youngest, quick and loyal, and she becomes Candace's first friend in the house.
When was A Little Country Girl written and is it a true story?
Susan Coolidge wrote it as a novel in the nineteenth century, so the characters are invented. The setting is real, with Newport places such as the Cliff Walk, Trinity Church, the Casino and Bishop Berkeley's Rock.
What is the main message of A Little Country Girl?
Good manners come from caring about others, not from rules. Candace learns that shyness fades when you think of other people, and that honesty and kindness win more lasting respect than fashion or money.
Is A Little Country Girl easy to read?
Yes in the sense of being approachable. The story moves in short, lively chapters with a friendly narrator, plenty of conversation, humor and vivid scenes, so it suits readers who like a gentle, clear story.
Cite this edition
Coolidge, Susan. A Little Country Girl. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-little-country-girl.
Coolidge, S. (2026). A little country girl. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-little-country-girl (Original work published 1885)
Coolidge, Susan. A Little Country Girl. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-little-country-girl.
@book{coolidge2026little,
author = {Coolidge, Susan},
title = {A Little Country Girl},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-little-country-girl},
note = {First published 1885}
}
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