# Mrs. Fosdick — The Country of the Pointed Firs character guide

> Mrs. Fosdick in The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Susan Fosdick, Susan

**First appearance:** 0011-xii-a-strange-sail

## Snapshot

A free-footed, gossip-loving old friend of Mrs. Todd whose unannounced visits unlock the village's buried stories, including Joanna Todd's.

## Who they are

Susan Fosdick arrives with bags, appetites, and a demand for the good Oolong tea, treating hospitality as a right and storytelling as a trade. Where Mrs. Todd hesitates to speak of painful things, Mrs. Fosdick presses forward, drawing out the tale of the hermit of Shell-heap Island. She is the novel's engine of oral history — inconsiderate, indispensable, and very good company.

## In the story

### [A Strange Sail](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_country_of_the_pointed_firs_se/chapters/xii-a-strange-sail)

Mrs. Fosdick arrives for a visit, bringing news and reminiscences of family and childhood, including a story about wearing trousers as a child at sea.

### [XIII: Poor Joanna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_country_of_the_pointed_firs_se/chapters/xiii-poor-joanna)

Participates in telling Joanna's story, offering her own opinions and memories.

### [XIV: The Hermitage](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_country_of_the_pointed_firs_se/chapters/xiv-the-hermitage)

Listens intently to Mrs. Todd's account and asks questions about Joanna and the man who wronged her.

### [XIX: The Feast’s End](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_country_of_the_pointed_firs_se/chapters/xix-the-feast-s-end)

Not directly mentioned in this chapter.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_country_of_the_pointed_firs_se/characters/mrs_fosdick
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_country_of_the_pointed_firs_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_country_of_the_pointed_firs_se/characters