Three Lives

Gertrude Stein's first published work Three Lives is divided into three different stories, each one a psychological portrait of a different women. The Good Anna describes an exacting German house servant; Melanctha explores the love affair of an African-American woman; and The Gentle Lena narrates the fate of a patient German maid. The three narratives are independent of each other, but all are set in the fictional town of Bridgepoint.