September was a big month here on the blog, with plenty of new Free Reads by Isabella Alden!
If you missed any of the Free Read announcements, here’s a recap of all the new short stories and novels that are now available:
Click on any of the links below to go to BookFunnel.com where you can read the stories on your computer, download them to your favorite device, or print and share them with others.
Want to read even more classic Christian fiction? You can click on the “Free Reads” tab in the menu above to find more free stories by other authors. Enjoy!
In 1893, when Isabella’s books were at the height of their popularity, a newspaper article about her mentioned that if forced to choose one word to describe Isabella’s work, that word would be “Help.”
The writer of the article made a very insightful observation. Typically, the main characters in Isabella’s books were, indeed, helpers. No doubt Isabella made them so as a reflection of her own belief that every effort counts. In her stories, no contribution was too small, and no effort was too little, as long as her characters did their best and made the most of what God had given them.
Today’s free read reflects that theme, when Mrs. Burns (one of the story’s main characters) asks the question, “How can I turn a small donation to help missions into a large and meaningful contribution?”
When Mrs. Burns is given a five-cent budget with which to help the cause of church missions, she can’t believe her ears. Five cents! What could she possibly accomplish with a small, insignificant nickel?
But with God’s help and a little imagination, Mrs. Burns soon discovers that her five-cent investment can accomplish great things.
Or you can select BookFunnel’s “My Computer” option to receive an email with a version you can read, print, and share with friends.
Reader Tip: As you read the story, be on the look-out for one of Isabella’s most beloved characters from The Chautauqua Girls series to make a brief “cameo” appearance!
This post is part of our 10-Year Blogiversary Celebration! Join us every weekday in September for another fun drawing, giveaway or free read!
Isabella was a strong believer in the power of prayer. She once wrote:
Prayer is the pulse of the renewed soul; and the constancy of its beat is the test and measure of the spiritual life.
One of Isabella Alden’s talents was creating characters who discovered for themselves the power of prayer in their lives. Some of her characters turned to prayer in times of trouble or to heal a loved one of illness; other characters spoke to God as naturally and as often as they would speak to a close friend or family member.
As wealthy Miss Mary Brown discovered in The Browns at Mount Hermon:
“I would give—oh, what would I not give!—to be able to talk to God as those girls did this afternoon, with the assurance which they evidently had that he heard and cared!”
In her own life Isabella knew the power of prayer. It was through the prayers of her sister Marcia that Isabella chose Christ as her Saviour (read more about that here).
As a busy author and public speaker, Isabella began each day with prayer “to ask God’s help and blessing on the work to be done.” (You can read about that here.)
And in her journal she regularly wrote down prayer requests, notes about sermons, favorite Bible verses, and lessons learned.
The Giveaway:
We’re giving away three “Power of Prayer” journal packages to readers of Isabella’s blog!
Each package includes a lovely prayer journal with . . .
. . . a daily two-page spread that includes a verse of Scripture, space to record your meditations and prayers, and a generous area to reflect on God’s goodness.
The set also includes a coordinating sticker pack to help inspire your quiet moments of reflection.
To enter the drawing, just leave a comment below or on Isabella’s Facebook page no later than midnight (EDT) on Thursday, September 28.
The three winners will be announced on Friday, September 29. Good luck!
This post is part of our 10-Year Blogiversary Celebration! Join us every weekday in September for a fun drawing, giveaway, or Free Read!
If you’ve read Isabella’s novel The Little Card, you’ll remember that Teenie Burnside used her artistic talents to draw and embellish a little card on which she had written one of the Bible’s Golden Texts. Teenie hoped that by sharing the cards she could encourage someone to read God’s Word.
But when Teenie’s health prevented her from fulfilling that dream, the girls in her Sunday-school stepped in and began to make more cards. Some were exact copies of the one Teenie made; others were embellished and colored with paint. But no matter their design, the cards all included a Bible verse of God’s promises to us.
Today’s giveaway is a collection of ten Golden Text Bible verses you can color and embellish, just as Teenie and her friends did.
“I declare!” said teenager Mate Kent to her best friend Jessie Wells. “Won’t you be kind enough to tell me what is the matter with you? Do you know you are growing very queer and strange? Now, make a clean breast of it, and tell me what on earth is the trouble.”
“I’m ashamed,” burst forth Jessie, vehemently, “that is the trouble. Mate, you and I have been professors of religion for four years, and who would know it, unless they happened to come to church on Communion Sabbaths? What have we ever either of us done for Christ? How have we been different from everybody else? No wonder the other girls think I’m a hypocrite. I almost begin to think so myself. It’s all wrong, Mate. The Bible says, ‘Let your light shine before men;’ but I’m sure you and I don’t seem to have any to shine.”
Mate was silent from utter amazement. Scarcely anything could have astonished her more than this sudden outburst from Jessie. She did not speak another word, nor did Jessie, until they reached the latter’s gate. Then Jessie suddenly turned toward her and said, in a voice choked with feeling:
“Mate, let us begin at the beginning, and try again.”
And that’s exactly what Jessie did in Isabella’s novel Jessie Wells.
Book cover for Jessie Wells by Isabella Alden.
As soon as Jessie got to her bedroom she opened her Bible, and her eye immediately met these words:
“I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore, with loving kindness, have I drawn thee.”
Those blessed words of assurance renewed Jessie’s conviction to let her light shine for Christ from that moment on.
The Giveaway:
We’re giving away “Let Your Light Shine” card sets to three readers of Isabella’s blog!
Each set includes 50 beautifully illustrated cards, each with a Bible verse to inspire you or someone you love to let your light shine.
Use the cards in your daily devotions, share them with others as a message of encouragement, or carry them with you as a helpful way to memorize Scripture.
To enter the drawing, just leave a comment below or on Isabella’s Facebook page no later than midnight (EDT) tonight, September 21.
The three winners will be announced on Friday, September 22. Good luck!
If you haven’t yet read Isabella’s novel Jessie Wells, click here to go to Amazon.com where you can purchase an e-book version for only 99 cents!
This post is part of our 10-Year Blogiversary Celebration! Join us every weekday in September for a fun drawing, giveaway, or free read!
What would you do if a man—a stranger—walked into your town and claimed to be the Son of God? Would you believe him?
And what if he could heal the sick and perform astonishing miracles? Would you give up your life to follow him?
That’s the premise of Isabella’s 1898 novel Yesterday Framed in Today: How would you react if God’s Son came to your home town today?
The new stranger in town is David Holman’s last hope. An old injury has confined David to bed for years; but David has heard rumors about a stranger in town—a stranger who can perform miracles and heal the sick. If David can only get close to him, he’s certain the stranger will heal him, too. But David’s family doesn’t trust the stranger, and they search for logical explanations for the miracles they see. Is it possible the stranger truly is the Son of God? Or is he the evil enemy of man, who must be stopped at all costs?
The Giveaway:
We’re giving away three paperback copies of Isabella’s thought-provoking novel Yesterday Framedin Today.
To enter the drawing, just leave a comment below or on Isabella’s Facebook page no later than midnight (EDT) on Thursday, September 21. (Unfortunately, we can only mail books to readers who live in the United States.)
The three winners will be announced on Friday, September 22. Good luck!
This post is part of our 10-Year Blogiversary Celebration! Join us every weekday in September for a fun drawing, giveaway, or Free Read!
Isabella Alden and Theodosia Foster were not just best friends—they were writing partners, too.
Like Isabella, Theodosia was a prolific writer, and published her work under the pen name “Faye Huntington.”
When they got together to write a story, their styles were so similar, and they were so in tune with each other’s talents, it’s impossible for us to tell which of them wrote what chapter or scene.
Today’s free read is a novel they wrote together about the love of money and how it can change (or reveal) someone’s true colors.
Lawrence Brenholz always knew he would inherit his grandfather’s millions once he satisfied the provisions of the will. But on the eve of that momentous day, when all the Brenholz millions would be his, Lawrence’s ornery old Uncle Amos—long thought to have died in the wilds of Colorado—makes a shocking appearance that threatens Lawrence’s inheritance.
With Uncle Amos’ unreasonable demands disrupting every area of his life, how can Lawrence ever again find peace for himself and those he loves?
Before Isabella published a new novel, she often shared the story in chapter-by-chapter installments in magazines. One example is her novel Christie’s Christmas. Before it was published in 1885, part of it appeared in The Pansy magazine under the title “Christie at Home.” Then the magazine’s publisher advertised the story in newspapers across the country:
From The Perry County Democrat (Pennsylvania) newspaper, November 5, 1884.
When Isabella’s niece, Grace Livingston Hill began her writing career, she followed suit. Several of her short stories and novels first appeared as serials in magazines before the complete story was published in book form.
In 1905 Grace’s novella The Governor’s Son was published as a serial in a Christian magazine. Then, in 1909, the same story appeared as a serial in a British magazine. Both publications included lovely pen and pencil illustrations of some of the story’s key scenes.
The Governor’s Son is about a young woman named Leslie who spends the summer with her sister and cousin at a seaside resort. Here’s one of the magazine illustrations showing Leslie befriending an elderly woman while on the train to the resort, as her sister and cousin look on.
That small act of kindness earns Leslie a new friend, and she and the elderly woman spend quite a bit of time together on the seashore.
The Governor’s Son was never published in book form, but all the complete magazine issues survived, so the story could be pieced together; and it’s now available for purchase on Amazon.com.
The Giveaway:
We’re giving away five e-book copies of The Governor’s Son by Grace Livingston Hill!
Shy, lovely Leslie Graham would rather spend her summer at home reading a book, but her parents insist she accompany her sister Anna to a seaside resort, where the sisters’ differences quickly come to light. While Anna tries to mingle with the resort’s most fashionable and wealthy inhabitants, Leslie makes friends with sweet, elderly Mrs. Hamilton, who likes to watch the ocean, quote Bible verses, and talk about her son. And when Mrs. Hamilton’s son arrives, Leslie realizes Chauncey Hamilton is just as thoughtful and handsome as his mother described. In the face of such kindness, Leslie can’t help but prefer to spend her days and nights with Chauncey and his mother, even as Anna plots to pull her in a more worldly and dangerous direction.
To enter the drawing, just leave a comment below or on Isabella’s Facebook page no later than midnight (EDT) on Thursday, September 14.
The five winners will be announced on Friday, September 15. Good luck!
If you love Grace Livingston Hill stories and can’t wait until Friday to read The Governor’s Son, you can purchase your copy of the novella by clicking here.
Remember: You don’t have to own an Amazon Kindle to read The Governor’s Son. Just download Amazon’s e-reader app to read the story on any electronic device.
This post is part of our 10-Year Blogiversary Celebration! Join us every weekday in September for a fun drawing, giveaway, or Free Read!
In Isabella’s novel Making Fate Miss Marjorie Edmonds accompanies Leonard Maxwell as he makes New Year’s Day calls on some of the poorest people in town. One of their calls takes them to a small tenement apartment belonging to an elderly woman who is severely disabled.
Poor old Mrs. Baxter can do little but sit beside her window and watch the world go by until her son Jim comes home from work at night. She tells Marjorie:
“Yes, he’s my only one. I buried the others when they were babies; but Jim lived; and what I should have done without him, I can’t even guess; it makes me tremble sometimes, merely to think of it. You see, ma’am, I’m a cripple. I have to be lifted from the bed to the chair, and from the chair back to the bed again. It is going on four years since I’ve taken a step. He fixes me up like this every morning before he goes away; and here I sit until he gets back at night. Jane, next door, comes in at noon and gives me my bit of dinner, and she fixes it almost as nice as Jim could. She works nearby, so she can run home at noon, but Jim doesn’t. I don’t deny that I get pretty lonesome before six o’clock sometimes. Still, my eyes are a good deal of use, for I can see the folks passing, and I can watch the sun setting. We have beautiful sunsets out of this window. Oh, I’ve lots of blessings.”
Hearing Mrs. Baxter joyfully count her mercies was something Marjorie had never experienced before. It gave her an entirely new understanding of how even a small act of kindness could be a blessing to others. That’s the theme of today’s give-away.
The Giveaway:
We’re giving away three “Be a Blessing to Others” prize packages to readers of Isabella’s blog!
Each prize package includes:
A lovely “Be a Blessing to Others” journal, where you can write about the blessings you’ve received, the different ways you’re a blessing to the people in your life, Bible verses that uplift you, or anything else you feel inspired to write …
… a set of coordinating fine-tip pens …
… and a booklet of notepads and stickers you can use to decorate your journal, write reminders, and highlight important entries.
To enter the drawing, just leave a comment below or on Isabella’s Facebook page no later than 11:59 p.m. (EDT) on Thursday, September 14.
The three winners will be announced on Friday, September 15, 2023. Good luck!
You can read Isabella’s novel Making Fate by clicking here.
This post is part of our 10-Year Blogiversary Celebration! Join us every weekday in September for a fun drawing, giveaway, or Free Read!
Isabella Alden’s classic Christian novel Links in Rebecca’s Life is now available in print, and we’re giving away 3 free copies!
Rebecca Harlow is an eager and tireless worker for the church. She never misses a prayer meeting, and even schedules social calls to encourage friends to attend church. But when her careless words spread like wildfire through town, Rebecca must learn that it’s her everyday actions that have the power to influence others for Christ.
One of Isabella Alden’s most popular novels, Links in Rebecca’s Life is a wonderful book to have on your bookshelf or to give as a gift to someone you love.
The drawing is open to all U.S. residents. To enter, just leave a comment below or on Isabella’s Facebook page no later than 11:59 p.m. (EDT) on Thursday, September 7.
The three winners will be announced on Friday, September 8. Good luck!
This post is part of our 10-Year Blogiversary Celebration!
Reviews and giveaways for Christian fiction and sweet, clean fiction. Bringing readers information on great stories and connecting authors with their readers.
Isabella Alden 