Which novel by Ernest Poole won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1918?

The novel by Ernest Poole that won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1918 was His Family.

Published in 1917, His Family follows Roger Gale, a widowed New York patriarch trying to understand his three daughters and the rapidly changing society affecting their family. Its focus on generational conflict and urban middle-class life helped distinguish it from a purely romantic or adventure novel.

Poole was a Chicago-born journalist and novelist who had also written The Harbor, a 1915 novel about industrial labor and shipping. The Harbor was well received and influenced Poole’s reputation, which sometimes causes confusion about which book earned the prize. The Pulitzer went to His Family, not The Harbor.

The award was officially called the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel at the time; the category was renamed the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1948. The 1918 award therefore recognized a 1917 book, an important detail when comparing early Pulitzer records with modern listings.