Ruth Erskine's Crosses

Chautauqua Girls #3

by Pansy, Isabella MacDonald Alden, Jenny Berlin (Introduction)

This enhanced edition includes group discussion questions, a biography of the author, and an afterward by Christian author Jenny Berlin.

The Chautauqua Series continues as Ruth Erskine finally meets the step-mother and half-sister her father kept hidden from her for so many years. Though she does her best to welcome them into her home, she’s mortified by her step-mother’s behavior and embarrassed to introduce a half-sister to society. Even worse, she’s no longer certain she should be mistress of the family mansion, now that there’s a new Mrs. Judge Erskine to take over running the household. Feeling unhappy and resentful, Ruth relies on the support of her friends, Flossy, Marion and Eurie, and attracts the attention of her father’s handsome young colleague, Judge Burnham. But when tragedy strikes not once but twice, and Ruth faces the possibility of losing the very lives she holds most dear, she’ll find strength from God’s promise of peace and rest to those who believe in Him.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Fiction

274 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1879

About the author

Note: In her lifetime, Isabella Macdonald Alden was usually published under the pseudonym Pansy, and occasionally under the name Mrs. G.R. Alden.

Aunt to Grace Livingston Hill

The sixth of seven children born to Isaac and Myra Spafford Macdonald, of Rochester, New York, Isabella Macdonald received her early education from her father, who home-schooled her, and gave her a nickname - "Pansy" - that she would use for many of her publications. As a girl, she kept a daily journal, critiqued by her father, and she published her first story - The Old Clock - in a village paper when she was ten years old.

Macdonald's education continued at the Oneida Seminary, the Seneca Collegiate Institute, and the Young Ladies Institute, all in New York. It was at the Oneida Seminary that she met her long-time friend (and eventual co-author), Theodosia Toll, who secretly submitted one of Macdonald's manuscripts in a competition, setting in motion a chain of events that would lead to the publication of her first book, Helen Lester, in 1865.

Macdonald also met her future husband, the Rev. Gustavus Rossenberg Alden, at the Oneida Seminary, and the two were married in 1866. Now Isabella Macdonald Alden, the newly-married minister's wife followed her husband as his postings took them around the country, dividing her time between writing, church duties, and raising her son Raymond (born 1873).

A prolific author, who wrote approximately one hundred novels from 1865 to 1929, and co-authored ten more, Alden was also actively involved in the world of children's and religious periodicals, publishing numerous short stories, editing the Sunday Juvenile Pansy from 1874-1894, producing Sunday School lessons for The Westminster Teacher for twenty years, and working on the editorial staff of various other magazines (Trained Motherhood, The Christian Endeavor).

Highly influenced by her Christian beliefs, much of Alden's work was explicitly moral and didactic, and often found its way into Sunday School libraries. It was also immensely popular, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with an estimated 100,000 copies of Alden's books sold, in 1900.

Information taken from:

readseries.com

isabellamacdonaldalden.com

Reviews

[Majenta · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like this, try THE QUESTION by Jane Asher.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actually not one of my favorites among her books. However, the message is painful, but loud and clear and very well written. This is a quote can the book that pretty much sums it up, at least for me. "I think we do, sometimes, put added touches of our own to the cross that the Father lays upon us, making its shade in gloom when He would have tinted it with the sunlight." I totally agree with her, that we sometimes make things harder than they really are. Like I said, it was harder for me to read than others she has written, but what an important truth for all of us!

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Ruth's first few months as a Christian, she grew steadily in her faith and character. Then, as alarming changes in her family life came about, and her closest Christian friends moved away, she faltered in her faith and wisdom. Good study on how individuals react to differing personalities that may jar them, and to a variety struggles and pressures. First published in 1879. I listened to this lovely novel as a free download from LibriVox.org. Read beautifully by a very talented reader.

[Margarita · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first I didn't understand or sympathize with the character of Ruth. I wondered if any real person would act that way. But as the book progressed, I began to see a character in my own family as being motivated similarly. I have never understood that family member, and this book helped me understand her choices and reactions better. I really loved the book.

[Anete Ābola · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first of Isabellas books for grown ups I had ever read. I tried skimming through an e-book, but I just kept coming back to it, until I read it through. Only somewhere in the middle I understood this is a part of the series. I would have loved it in my teenage years already. Great book for girls!

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to

[Laurie Elliot · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are (too) many Christians like Ruth, but I'd rather read about Flossie!

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Number 3 in the Chatauqua Girls series by Pansy (Isabella Alden); this follows Ruth as she attempts to accept the fact that she has a stepmother and sister that she's never met. The sister, Susan, is a stronger Christian than Ruth, and is willing to bend to blend into the family. Ruth is the one that doesn't bend very well to the will of her Master, Jesus Christ, and her strong will and over-developed sense of propriety is often her undoing. One big lesson which will follow in Judge Burnham's Daughters (next book) is that like should marry like- A Christian should never be unequally yoked with someone who doesn't believe what you do.