"Dawn O'Hara: The Girl Who Laughed" (1911), Edna Ferber's debut novel, follows witty newspaper columnist Dawn O'Hara in Chicago. Beneath her laughter lies heartbreak—she once loved Peter Orme, a charming man bound by a tragic marriage. Suffering from overwork and disappointment, Dawn collapses and retreats to her sister's home in Wisconsin to recover, tenderly cared for by the kind German physician Dr. Ernst von Gerhard. Restored to health, she returns to journalism, using humor to conceal her sorrows. Blending romance, pathos, and satire, the novel portrays a modern woman's struggle for love, career, and independence in early twentieth-century America.
