S. J. T. (cactuspatch) reviewed on 11/9/2010 + 40 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

I love Isabella Alden's books for the way she captures personalities, and for the vivid descriptions of life in the late 1800's and early 1900's when her books were written....For those who may not know, she was the Christian author Grace Livingston Hill's beloved "Aunt Pansy" ...who encouraged Grace to write even as a young girl. Grace and Isabella's books have been loved for a century now, and luckily are now in reprint.

Isabella Alden's books are such an interesting picture of life at the turn of the 20th century. Although written from a Christian viewpoint, these are not "goody goody" Christian stories... Mrs. Alden has a keen wit and insight into the various personalities that are true to this day, the spoiled teenager, the poor and proud working girl, parents worrying over a child being influenced by bad companions, the busybodies and gossips of the church, people fighting alcohol and drug addictions....The stories are amazingly relevent to life today.
And much more, she shows how real genuine faith shines forth in a way that helps others in ways we may never even know.

This particular book, FOUR GIRLS AT CHAUTAUQUA, describes the early Chautauqua movement, as a group of young women from different backgrounds go to the camp and hear lectures from the notable guest speakers. Typical of teenagers even a hundred years after the book was written, the girls are disgruntled by the rustic camping conditions, and amused and "above-it-all" about the lectures, and take the adventure as a lark, then slowly become touched by the inspirational teachers.
It's then followed by a book THE CHAUTAUQUA GIRLS AT HOME, which shows what the girls face when they try to take their inspiration home and do some real good for the community, where they face their reputation at home as silly frivolous girls.
How hard to grow up, and how hard to be seen as grown up!
I loved both these books, and recommend them to anyone who is interested this time period, or in the Chautauqua movement!

For those who are interested in authors' lives, both Grace Hill and her Aunt Isabella wrote Bible stories and Christian stories for Sunday School tracts, because they were both daughters of ministers and had married ministers. When Grace's husband died at a young age, leaving the young mother to care for her mother and young daughter, Grace began writing novels to support herself. Then Isabella Alden's minister husband died, and now they had a whole household of women, supporting themselves by writing, sharing their Christian faith and helping each other develop their writing craft. It's wonderful that we are still benefitting from their writing today!

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