". . . the best novel Mr. Sinclair has yet written-so much the best that it stands in a class by itself." -The New York Times (May 25, 1913) Although published under Upton Sinclair's name, Sylvia (1913) was written as a collaboration between Upton and Mary Sinclair and is based on Mary's childhood experiences. It is written as the narration of a young working woman who befriends a southern belle and is exposed to the luxury of the aristocracy the latter belonged to before falling in love with, and marrying, a boy from a less privileged background.