''The Looking-Glass'' is a 1943 novel by

William March William March (September 18, 1893 – May 15, 1954) was an American writer of psychological fiction and a highly decorated U.S. Marine. The author of six novels and four short-story collections, March was praised by critics but never attained g ...

. A continuation of his "Pearl County" series of novels and short stories, it is considered by many to be his greatest work. Originally titled ''Kneel to the Prettiest''. The first two novels in the series are '' Come in at the Door'' and ''

The Tallons ''The Tallons'' is the second novel in Alabama author William March’s “Pearl County” collection of novels and short fiction. It is an example of the Southern Gothic Southern Gothic is an artistic subgenre of fiction, country music, film ...

''.

Plot summary

Set in the mythical town of Reedyville, Alabama, ''The Looking-Glass'' is a mosaic of multiple character stories and histories, interwoven in a non-linear fashion. It has been described as akin to the ''

Spoon River The Spoon River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 tributary of the Illinois River in west-central Illinois in the United States. The river drains largely ...

'' style of storytelling with its multiple character studies.

Editions

*1943, USA,

Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

, Pub date 6 January 1943, hardback *1944, UK,

Victor Gollancz Limited Victor Gollancz Ltd () was a major British book publishing house of the twentieth century and continues to publish science fiction and fantasy titles as an imprint of Orion Publishing Group. Gollancz was founded in 1927 by Victor Gollancz, an ...

, Pub date 26 June 1944, hardback *1953, USA,

Bantam Books Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. ...

, Pub date February 1953, hardback *1955, USA,

Popular Library Popular Library was a New York paperback book company established in 1942 by Leo Margulies and Ned Pines, who at the time were major pulp magazine and newspaper publishers. The company's logo of a pine tree was a tribute to Pines, and another ...

, Pub date 1955, paperback *2015, USA,

University of Alabama Press The University of Alabama Press is a university press founded in 1945 and is the scholarly publishing arm of the University of Alabama. An editorial board composed of representatives from all doctoral degree granting public universities within Al ...

, Pub date 2015, paperback 1943 American novels Novels by William March Novels set in Alabama Nonlinear narrative novels Little, Brown and Company books {{1940s-novel-stub