A Chance Acquaintance is a realist novel that tells a story of a small-town girl Kitty Ellison, who goes on vacation with her family on a tour around north states and Quebec. During the holiday Miss Kitty meets Mr. Arbuton from Boston, narrow-minded uptight gentleman, often mistaken for an Englishman because of his manners. Their introduction happens under a bit of a strange circumstances and as the time passes Kitty is being more and more pushed into his direction which is creating a lot of unpredictable situations. William Dean Howells (1837-1920) was an American realist author, literary critic, and playwright. Nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters", he was particularly known for his tenure as editor of the Atlantic Monthly as well as his own prolific writings, including the Christmas story "Christmas Every Day", and the novels The Rise of Silas Lapham and A Traveler from Altruria. Howells is known to be the father of American realism, and a denouncer of the sentimental novel. He was the first American author to bring a realist aesthetic to the literature of the United States. His stories of Boston upper crust life set in the 1850s are highly regarded among scholars of American fiction.