Ann Chidester

Ann Chidester (1919-?) was a novelist from Stillwater, Minnesota. In 1942, she graduated from what was then called St. Catherine’s College. She had been writing since she was a teenager and publisher her first book at age 23. Chidester’s works can be called feminist; they often deal with issues relating to women and, additionally, the lower classes and minorities. Chidester’s works are often bogged down with, what critics call, unnecessary drama, such as in The Long Year when a liberated woman returns home after failed third marriage to manipulate the townspeople and treat her relatives poorly.

Chidester’s first novel, Young Pandora, is an autobiographical depiction of her journey toward becoming a young writer. Young Pandora, like many of Chidester’s other novels, is set in Minnesota. Mama Maria’s is, perhaps, the Chidester novel that best melds method with message, and it is considered one of her best-written works. In this novel, a widow, whose son died in World War II, forms a mother-son connection with one of her employees. Chidester develops not only her characters but also her concern for the lower classes. Other novels by Chidester include The Long Year and The Lost and the Found.