In 1908 Isabella wrote a novel called Her Own Way.
Like her novels Interrupted, The Long Road Home, and Wanted, Her Own Way is very much a story for adults. It is also a cautionary tale about the trouble that can come when believers place their trust in another person rather than in God.
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Mrs. Eastman has always been proud of her beautiful, head-strong daughter Carol and the lovely Christian woman she’s become. Although Carol’s willful ways have caused difficulties in the past, Mrs. Eastman has always been able to gently lead her daughter back to the fold of the faithful.
But when Carol makes the acquaintance of the new church choir director, Mrs. Eastman soon finds her influence waning, as Carol begins to fall deeper under the spell of a man capable of betraying them all.
Her Own Way is not at all like the novels Isabella wrote early in her writing career. What did you think of the book? Do you think the story has relevance for today’s readers?
By the early 1900s Isabella’s career as an author began to fade. After forty years of writing Christ-centered novels and countless magazine and newspaper articles, the American reading public began to label her writing style as “old-fashioned” and “narrow.”
Magazine editors cut ties with Isabella; they cancelled her regular advice columns and declined to publish her serial stories.
After her book publisher, Daniel Lothrop, died in 1892, his publishing company changed ownership, and the new owners declined to publish any more of Isabella’s novels.
But Isabella was still writing at that time, and she did her best to find a publisher willing to accept her stories. In 1911 she submitted two novels to Gorham Press in Boston, Massachusetts. The titles were:
Her Own Way
Nell Jenkins
Today, we would call Gorham Press a “vanity publisher”; meaning, they printed and distributed an author’s book at the author’s expense.
Gorham’s owner, Mr. Richard G. Badger, immediately accepted Isabella’s submissions and sent her contracts to sign.
Ultimately, Gorham published Her Own Way in 1912, according to this entry found in the Cumulative Book Index of American Literature dated 1913:
However, there’s no record to indicate Her Own Way was ever distributed to stores; nor was it ever reviewed in newspapers or Christian periodicals from that period. It’s possible Isabella paid to have a limited number of copies printed, which she distributed herself.
Fortunately for us, Nell Jenkins (the second novel Isabella submitted to Gorham) was one of the last serial stories Isabella had published in a Christian magazine. Even more fortunate, all the magazine issues survived so we can piece together the chapters and enjoy the entire story!
Rebecca Kent finds herself in a difficult situation when her best friend’s husband asks her to keep a secret. It doesn’t take long for Rebecca to realize something strange is going on, and the secret she vowed to keep could very well ruin her best friend’s marriage.
If you like a bit of mystery in your Pansy stories (as in her novels Pauline and Wanted), you’ll enjoy Nell Jenkins!
Or you can select BookFunnel’s “My Computer” option to receive an email with a version you can read, print, and share with friends.
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Isabella Alden 