Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch is a 1901 novel by American author Alice Hegan Rice, telling of a southern family's humorously coping with poverty. The book was highly popular on its release, and has been adapted to film several times. Rice was inspired to write the book during her "philanthropic work in a Louisville, Kentucky slum area, where she met an optimistic and cheerful woman" who served as the model for the book's main character. In 1904 the book was premiered as a Broadway play starring Madge Carr Cook. As of 1997, the book had sold more than 650,000 copies in a hundred printings.