Product details
- ISBN 9780226853949
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 140 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 20 Nov 2026
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Sally Benson’s charming slice-of-life story is back in print for a new generation of readers.
Originally published as World War II raged overseas, Meet Me in St. Louis is Sally Benson’s semi-autobiographical account of the intergenerational Smith family during the twelve months leading up to the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. With warmth and tenderness, Benson chronicles the Smiths’ lives as they navigate sibling rivalries, first loves, financial hardship, jealousy, and heartaches in a poignant ode to the bonds of family.
Benson's novel is infused with wit as she details the lighthearted, pleasant existence of the Smith family’s five children—one rife with chaste crushes, victimless pranks, and other childhood escapades. Yet, the novel’s episodic, squeaky-clean veneer belies a dark comedic brilliance that transcends the ages and speaks, even today, to the universal experience of growing up.
Long out of print, this new edition of Benson’s timeless work includes a foreword by bestselling author Benjamin Dreyer, who comments both on the book's origins and its afterlife in popular culture as the source material for Judy Garland’s beloved musical of the same name. An effervescent midcentury novel waiting to be rediscovered, Meet Me in St. Louis is ready to meet its new generation of readers.
Sally Benson (1897–1972) was an American writer of fiction, screenplays, and theater. Between 1930 and 1941 she published nearly one hundred stories in the New Yorker, many of which were later released in collections such as Junior Miss and Meet Me in St. Louis, the latter of which was adapted into the 1944 musical film starring Judy Garland.
