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Mrs Daffodil
Mrs. Daffodil [Hardcover] [Jan 01, 1957] Taber, Gladys
- GenresFiction
296 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1940
About the author
Gladys Taber
90 books142 followersA prolific author whose output includes plays, essays, memoirs and fiction, Gladys Taber (1899 – 1980) is perhaps best recalled for a series of books and columns about her life at Stillmeadow, a 17th-century farmhouse in Southbury, Connecticut.
Born Gladys Bagg on April 12, 1899 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, she was the middle child and only one to survive to adulthood. Her parents were Rufus Mather Bagg, who could trace his ancestry back to Cotton Mather, and the former Grace Sibyl Raybold. An older sister, Majel, had died at the age of six months while a younger brother Walter died at 15 months. During her childhood, she moved frequently as her father accepted various teaching posts until they finally settled in Appleton, Wisconsin. Gladys graduated from Appleton High School and enrolled at Wellesley College, receiving her bachelor’s degree in 1920. She returned to her hometown and earned a master’s in 1921 from Lawrence College, where her father was on faculty. The following year, she married Frank Albion Taber, Jr., giving birth to their daughter on July 7, 1923.
Mrs. Taber taught English at Lawrence College, Randolph Macon Women’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia, and at Columbia University, where she did postgraduate studies. She began her literary career with a play, Lady of the Moon (Penn), in 1928, and followed with a book of verse, Lyonesse (Bozart) in 1929. Taber won attention for her first humorous novel, Late Climbs the Sun (Coward, 1934). She went on to write several other novels and short story collections, including Tomorrow May Be Fair ( Coward, 1935), A Star to Steer By (Macrae, 1938) and This Is for Always (Macrae, 1938). In the late 1930s, Taber joined the staff of the Ladies’ Home Journal and began to contribute the column “Diary of Domesticity.”
By this time, she had separated from her husband and was living at Stillmeadow, a farmhouse built in 1690 in Southbury, Connecticut, sharing the house with Eleanor Sanford Mayer, a childhood friend who was often mistakenly identified as her sister. Beginning with Harvest at Stillmeadow (Little, Brown, 1940), Taber wrote a series of books about her simple life in New England that possessed homespun wisdom dolled out with earthy humor and an appreciation for the small things. She published more than 20 books related to Stillmeadow, including several cookbooks.
In 1959, she moved from Ladies’ Home Journal to Family Circle, contributing the “Butternut Wisdom” column until her retirement in 1967. In 1960, her companion, Eleanor, died and Taber decided to abandon life at Stillmeadow. Having spent some summers on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, she decided to relocate to the town of Orleans where she would live out the remainder of her days. While a resident of Orleans, Taber contributed “Still Cove Sketches” to the Cape Cod Oracle . Her final book, published posthumously, was Still Cove Journal (Lippincott, 1981).
Gladys Taber had divorced her husband in 1946 and he later passed away in October 1964. She died on March 11, 1980 in Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Massachusetts at the age of 80.
Born Gladys Bagg on April 12, 1899 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, she was the middle child and only one to survive to adulthood. Her parents were Rufus Mather Bagg, who could trace his ancestry back to Cotton Mather, and the former Grace Sibyl Raybold. An older sister, Majel, had died at the age of six months while a younger brother Walter died at 15 months. During her childhood, she moved frequently as her father accepted various teaching posts until they finally settled in Appleton, Wisconsin. Gladys graduated from Appleton High School and enrolled at Wellesley College, receiving her bachelor’s degree in 1920. She returned to her hometown and earned a master’s in 1921 from Lawrence College, where her father was on faculty. The following year, she married Frank Albion Taber, Jr., giving birth to their daughter on July 7, 1923.
Mrs. Taber taught English at Lawrence College, Randolph Macon Women’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia, and at Columbia University, where she did postgraduate studies. She began her literary career with a play, Lady of the Moon (Penn), in 1928, and followed with a book of verse, Lyonesse (Bozart) in 1929. Taber won attention for her first humorous novel, Late Climbs the Sun (Coward, 1934). She went on to write several other novels and short story collections, including Tomorrow May Be Fair ( Coward, 1935), A Star to Steer By (Macrae, 1938) and This Is for Always (Macrae, 1938). In the late 1930s, Taber joined the staff of the Ladies’ Home Journal and began to contribute the column “Diary of Domesticity.”
By this time, she had separated from her husband and was living at Stillmeadow, a farmhouse built in 1690 in Southbury, Connecticut, sharing the house with Eleanor Sanford Mayer, a childhood friend who was often mistakenly identified as her sister. Beginning with Harvest at Stillmeadow (Little, Brown, 1940), Taber wrote a series of books about her simple life in New England that possessed homespun wisdom dolled out with earthy humor and an appreciation for the small things. She published more than 20 books related to Stillmeadow, including several cookbooks.
In 1959, she moved from Ladies’ Home Journal to Family Circle, contributing the “Butternut Wisdom” column until her retirement in 1967. In 1960, her companion, Eleanor, died and Taber decided to abandon life at Stillmeadow. Having spent some summers on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, she decided to relocate to the town of Orleans where she would live out the remainder of her days. While a resident of Orleans, Taber contributed “Still Cove Sketches” to the Cape Cod Oracle . Her final book, published posthumously, was Still Cove Journal (Lippincott, 1981).
Gladys Taber had divorced her husband in 1946 and he later passed away in October 1964. She died on March 11, 1980 in Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Massachusetts at the age of 80.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 14, 2025
This book is a gem of Gladys Taber’s life disguised as a fictional story. Unlike her Stillmeadow books they are not linear. Each chapter is one happening or another. It always amazes me how books this age have relevant topics in todays world. This was a great read and her quest to find good help… crazy!
May 3, 2023
What a charming book. Mrs. Daffodil is now on my list of favorite characters. 💕
December 10, 2010
Back before I invented My Big Fat Reading Project, I was on a quest to read all the fiction in my local library. Crazy, I know. I started out working through all the books authored by anyone whose last name started with A, like Francie in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, from whom I got the idea. But I am easily bored and I had gotten into some author I did not really like, so I moved on. I read the first book I found at the beginning of each letter. That is how I ended up reading Mrs Daffodil. Eventually, because it was recorded in my reading log from 2001, it ended up on the 1957 list of books read for the Big Fat Reading Project.
Because of the cover, I thought it was going to be a dumb little book, but it was actually charming and humorous. Gladys Taber was a real life author of magazine articles in the 1950s and she turned this experience into a novel. A reviewer I read on Amazon speculated that she got to say things she could not write about in her articles.
Mrs Daffodil is a magazine and short story writer who lives with a friend named Kay. I imagined these two women as a sort of harmless American version of Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas. They live in a house in the country (probably outside of NYC) with a Siamese, a red setter and several other dogs. Mrs Daffodil is always under deadline and stressed out by that, but the two bumble along continuously dieting, hosting weekend visitors, trying to find domestic help and overall being very caring, loving women to each other and their friends.
I ended up loving it and having lots of laughs. I am a happily married woman and definitely heterosexual but from time to time I think about how much fun it would be to live with a woman friend instead of a man. It would be a whole different set of circumstances. I wonder if there are any modern novels that would compare to Mrs Daffodil. Please let us know in the comments if you know of any.
June 11, 2010
Pure comfort reading. If ever there was a cozy book made for a fuzzy blanket and a cup of tea, this is that book. I found out about the book from More Book Lust by Nancy Pearl. Here's what Nancy has to say about the author and her work:
"For years and years, Gladys Taber wrote a column called 'Butternut Wisdom' in Family Circle magazine, in which she shared with readers recipes and stories of her life in an old farmhouse in Connecticut that was filled with dogs and cats. Portions of her columns were compiled into such nonfiction titles as The Stillmeadow Road; Especially Dogs...Especially at Stillmeadow; and (my favorite) the novel Mrs. Daffodil, an affectionate self-portrait."
The book is clearly autobiographical, funny and charming in a very old-fashioned style.
"For years and years, Gladys Taber wrote a column called 'Butternut Wisdom' in Family Circle magazine, in which she shared with readers recipes and stories of her life in an old farmhouse in Connecticut that was filled with dogs and cats. Portions of her columns were compiled into such nonfiction titles as The Stillmeadow Road; Especially Dogs...Especially at Stillmeadow; and (my favorite) the novel Mrs. Daffodil, an affectionate self-portrait."
The book is clearly autobiographical, funny and charming in a very old-fashioned style.
October 12, 2026
A beautiful story. Little bit of this and a little bit of that. Gladys Taber had such a beautiful way with words, and I enjoyed the flow of this book. Endless nuggets of writing here so I’ll share just one snippet that stood out to me.
“She thought back to the innocent days when there was nothing in the sky but stars. Now as the planes went over one always looked up to be sure they were merely carrying passengers to Boston.”
“She thought back to the innocent days when there was nothing in the sky but stars. Now as the planes went over one always looked up to be sure they were merely carrying passengers to Boston.”
August 31, 2017
I first heard of Gladys Taber from my serendipitous find of Susan Branch. Once hooked on her charming style I was quick to take up her suggestion to try Gladys. Old fashion? To be sure. Of another time and place is exactly why I like her stories and her style so. This time, without even checking into it, I am certain Mrs. Daffodil is autobiographical. Mrs. Daffodil is a writer of a country woman column and stories about her neighbors - just like Gladys. I enjoyed every chapter, every word. Could I live this life? Heavens no. I am much too lazy and totally unskilled at making am or planting gardens, or raising Cocker Spaniels and Reds. But for the time I took reading this little gem, I felt I could have done it all - if only I were not so lazy and unskilled. I wonder if Gladys had a Kay too.
September 11, 2016
I was able to read this book through interlibrary loan, and I just loved it. Just sunny and warm anecdotes about life on an idyllic farm. I loved the humor and loved all the characters. It's so obviously taken from Taber's own life at Stillmeadow Farm, and that just made it even more endearing. A true comfort read to relax the mind and quiet the soul - reading this book takes me to such a happy and peaceful place! I'm truly thankful to be able to read this, as I see that copies are awfully expensive to buy online!
March 1, 2012
The most transparent memoir passed off as fiction ever. My favorite was renaming Faith Baldwin as Hope Aldon! Even so, I enjoyed it. Maybe even more because I didn't consider it fictitious at all.
July 21, 2012
My introduction to Gladys Taber. Read in the early 70s or late 60s, then many times thereafter.
September 3, 2015
A somewhat scattered, cozy read. The author seems to have been a minor celebrity back in the 30's, and I gather this is a fictional account of the days in her life. So she writes as if one knows all about her, which can be confusing.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews