Kate Bates is another Gene Stratton-Porter unsung hero in the tradition of Elnora Comstock, of A Girl of the Limberlost, and Freckles and Laddie, of books of the same name. As the youngest child, and female, in a large prosperous farm family, she has been designated as her mother's helper in old age. Kate finds this unfair since all of the brothers have been given land and the older sisters sent to teacher training. With the help of a nephew and sister-in-law,...

Deeply wounded by her embittered mother's lack of sympathy for her aspirations, Elnora finds comfort in the nearby Limberlost Swamp, whose beauty and rich abundance provide her with the means to better her life.

"Zorrie Underwood's hardscarbble Indiana county was all she knew until the death of her parents, in the midst of the Depression, sent her westward. She survived on odd jobs, slept in barns and under the stars, and eventually found a position painting clock faces at a radium plant. At the end of each day, the girls at her factory glowed from the radioactive material. Then Indiana called Zorrie home. Spanning a lfie convulsed and transformed by the...

"A quintessential American heroine, Eliza Birdwell is a wonderful blend of would-be austerity, practicality, and gentle humor when it comes to keeping her faith and caring for her family and community. Her husband, Jess, shares Eliza's love of people and peaceful ways but, unlike Eliza, also displays a fondness for a fast horse and a lively tune. With their children, they must negotiate their way through a world that constantly confronts them-sometimes...

Set in the Midwest in the early twentieth century—the dawn of the automobile age—the novel begins by introducing the richest family in town, the Ambersons. Exemplifying aristocratic excess, the Ambersons have everything money can buy—and more. But George Amberson Minafer—the spoiled grandson of the family patriarch—is unable to see that great societal changes are taking place, and that business tycoons, industrialists, and real estate developers...

When she suspects that her father has a girlfriend, Melody and her best friend are determined to figure out who it is and why it is a secret.

Quaker pastor Sam Gardner has an unexpected crisis of faith, and the other members of his parish all try to help him overcome his doubts before he makes a rash decision that will change their town forever.

Alice had charm, looks and ambition, but lacked the money to keep up with the town's society. With her parents' help, she tries until a young man forces her to face facts.

Growing up in hardscrabble Kentucky in the 1920s, with their mother dead and their stepfather an ever-present threat, Bertie Fischer and her older sister Mabel have no one but each other--with perhaps a sweetheart for Bertie waiting in the wings. But on the day that Bertie receives her eighth-grade diploma, good intentions go terribly wrong. A choice made in desperate haste sets off a chain of misunderstandings that will divide the sisters and reverberate...

Paige Hancock starts junior year with a list of ways to take back her life, rather than spending another year as "The Girl Whose Boyfriend Drowned," and finding out that Ryan Chase, her long-term crush, is available again might be the key.