If Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings's name is remembered today it is because of her beloved 1938 children's novel, The Yearling. This classic tale about a boy and his pet deer won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and made her a national celebrity. The Yearling is still read and enjoyed, more than a half century later. Although her most productive ears were already over when she died in 1954, Rawlings's was still one of America's most beloved authors. An obituary in the New York Times lauded her as a literary figure on the rank of playwright Eugene O'Neill and poet Dylan Thomas, both of whom had also died recently. Rawlings's writings, the Times obituary concluded, were "notable contributions to Americana." That assessment has proved valid, for literary historians now regard Rawlings as one of America's most interesting and important regional writers.

Marjorie Kinnan was born and raised in Washington, D.C., but...