A family sketch and other private writings - 5

'A Family Sketch and Other Private Writings' includes two of the most revealing of Mark Twain's private writings.

Here he turns his mind to the daily life he shared with his wife Livy, their three daughters, a great many servants, and an imposing array of pets.

These first-hand accounts display this gifted and loving family in the period of its flourishing.

Mark Twain began to write 'A Family Sketch' in response to the early death of his eldest daughter, Susy, but the manuscript grew under his hands to become an exuberant account of the entire household.

Also included are selections from Livy's 1885 diary and an authoritative edition of Susy's biography of her father, written when she was a teenager.