5 h 50 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A farmhouse kitchen holds clues that confident men dismiss—and women know how to read.
Susan Glaspell’s short plays bring women, small-town families and idealists into sharp focus. In Trifles, John Wright is found strangled, and his wife Minnie stands accused. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters enter a cold, untidy kitchen where the County Attorney sees only women’s business. What deserves attention, and who gets to decide?
The collection also includes The People, Close the Book, Suppressed Desires, Woman’s Honor and Tickless Time. The People turns to the staff of a small idealistic magazine. In Suppressed Desires, Henrietta Brewster’s passion for psychoanalysis draws her husband Stephen and visiting sister Mabel into talk of dreams and hidden wishes. Comedy sits beside questions about American identity and everyday power.
What you’ll discover
- A kitchen worth noticing Enter Trifles, where ordinary household details matter more than the officials expect.
- Women who pay attention Meet Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters as they consider the home of an accused wife.
- Fashionable ideas under pressure Enjoy a household comedy where Henrietta’s enthusiasm for analysis reaches everyone around her.
- American ideals on stage Explore who gets heard through plays about idealists, families and American identity.
- Wit with real stakes Discover Woman’s Honor, where a man needs a woman’s testimony to clear himself.
Who will love it
For readers who love short plays, American writing from the 1910s, and stories about women's lives and everyday power. Students and theatre groups will also find comedies, small town families and questions of American identity to explore.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A farmhouse kitchen holds a crime
- Women notice what men overlook
- A comedy about Freud and a couple
- Idealists and families test American identity
- Lighter pieces show wit and variety
- How Glaspell builds a play for the stage
Who’s who
- Mrs. HaleA farm wife and neighbour in Trifles who remembers Minnie Wright as a girl and feels guilty for not visiting her.
- Mrs. PetersThe sheriff's wife in Trifles, careful and loyal to the law at first, who begins to see the case through Minnie's eyes.
- Minnie WrightThe accused wife in Trifles, who is never seen on stage and is known only through her home and what others recall.
- The County AttorneyA confident official in Trifles who searches for large proofs and dismisses the kitchen as women's business.
- Henrietta BrewsterThe wife in Suppressed Desires who becomes devoted to psychoanalysis and wants her husband and sister to be analysed.
- Stephen BrewsterHenrietta's husband in Suppressed Desires, who is told he is hiding secret wishes and is sent to be analysed.
- MabelHenrietta's sister in Suppressed Desires, who arrives for a visit and is drawn into the household's talk of dreams and repression.
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Plays: Trifles, The People, Close the Book and Five Other Plays
by Susan Glaspell · 1920
In a farmhouse kitchen, two women notice the domestic details that men dismiss as they search for evidence of a crime.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEnglish
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In short
Susan Glaspell was an American writer from Davenport, Iowa. She helped start the Provincetown Players, a small theatre company that put on new American plays in the summers of 1915 and 1916 and then in New York.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A farmhouse kitchen holds a crime
Trifles opens in a cold, untidy farmhouse kitchen in the Midwest. A man named John Wright has been found dead in his bed, strangled with a rope. His wife, Minnie Wright, is in custody in the town jail. The county attorney, the sheriff and a neighbour named Lewis Hale have come to look for clues. With them are two women, Mrs. Peters, the sheriff's wife, and Mrs. Hale, the neighbour's wife.
The men go straight to work. They do not expect the kitchen to help them. The county attorney glances at the dirty towels and the unwashed pans and makes a joke about housekeeping. The women are there only to collect a few things for Minnie, and the men treat them as helpers, not as witnesses.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 7 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1920
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 3 h 45 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Glaspell, Susan. Plays: Trifles, The People, Close the Book and Five Other Plays. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/plays-trifles-the-people-close-the-book-and-five-other-plays.
Glaspell, S. (2026). Plays: Trifles, The People, Close the Book and five other plays. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/plays-trifles-the-people-close-the-book-and-five-other-plays (Original work published 1920)
Glaspell, Susan. Plays: Trifles, The People, Close the Book and Five Other Plays. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/plays-trifles-the-people-close-the-book-and-five-other-plays.
@book{glaspell2026plays,
author = {Glaspell, Susan},
title = {Plays: Trifles, The People, Close the Book and Five Other Plays},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/plays-trifles-the-people-close-the-book-and-five-other-plays},
note = {First published 1920}
}
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What is Trifles by Susan Glaspell about?
Trifles is a one-act play set in a farmhouse kitchen after a farmer is found dead. Officials search for evidence while two women notice small domestic details that the men dismiss, and the play asks who sees the truth.
What does the title Trifles mean?
It comes from a remark that women worry over trifles, meaning petty things. The play uses the word with irony, because those small details matter far more than the men's search for large clues.
Which plays are in this Susan Glaspell collection?
The volume gathers short plays including Trifles, The People and Close the Book. It also holds comedies and other pieces from the same years, among them Suppressed Desires, Woman's Honor and Tickless Time.
The author
Susan Glaspell
1876–1948 · American playwright and novelist
Susan Glaspell was an American playwright, novelist, and Pulitzer Prize winner who co-founded the Provincetown Players, the company that launched Eugene O'Neill. Her one-act Trifles remains a staple of the American stage and a pioneering work of feminist drama.
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