Adam's Eden

by Faith Baldwin

Vanessa Steele's somewhat bohemian grandson arrives in Little Oxford and becomes involved with several very different women until he discovers an enduring romance

Genres: Romance

193 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1977

About the author

Faith Baldwin attended private academies and finishing schools, and in 1914-16 she lived in Dresden, Germany. She married Hugh H. Cuthrell in 1920, and the next year she published her first novel, Mavis of Green Hill. Although she often claimed she did not care for authorship, her steady stream of books belies that claim; over the next 56 years she published more than 85 books, more than 60 of them novels with such titles as Those Difficult Years (1925), The Office Wife (1930), Babs and Mary Lou (1931), District Nurse (1932), Manhattan Nights (1937), and He Married a Doctor (1944). Her last completed novel, Adam's Eden, appeared in 1977.

Typically, a Faith Baldwin book presents a highly simplified version of life among the wealthy. No matter what the difficulties, honour and goodness triumph, and hero and heroine are united. Evil, depravity, poverty, and sex found no place in her work, which she explicitly intended for the housewife and the working girl. The popularity of her writing was enormous. In 1936, in the midst of the Great Depression, she published five novels in magazine serial form and three earlier serials in volume form and saw four of her works made into motion pictures, for an income that year in excess of $315,000. She also wrote innumerable stories, articles, and newspaper columns, no less ephemeral than the novels.

Reviews

[Ceejay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered Faith Balewin in my late sixtes, early seventies. Ms. Baldwin was already dead for close to forty years.I'm so glad I found her! I have watched her change from a more melodramatic writer, and a source for numerous 1930's Hollywood movies, to a defender of small town America. This novel falls into the second category. She handles interpersonel relationships so well! I'm glad to say, that by the end of this multigenerational tale, true love is found. Getting there is what makes Faith Baldwin such a great writer.

[Cricket Muse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another pleasant read about Little Oxford, which is a New England. Set sometime in possibly the seventies, the story addresses the freer attitudes towards relationship that came with that era.

The main story is about Adam, a young man with a dream girl in mind but can’t see the reality that dreams don’t always come true. Adam is likable, especially in how devoted he is to his ailing grandmother, Vanessa or Van.

Baldwin infuses her stories with plenty of characters that overflow from previous books making this not so much as a standalone but rather a continuation of previous Little Oxford stories.

[Nolan · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's an old romance from the late '70s, and it goes down as the worst book I'll read in 2026. Spare me the questioning emotions like "Are you sure?" I know it's only April, but I can't picture a book being worse than this.

It was a romance that was nearly devoid of plot. The main character, Adam, is and arrogant twerp who sees women as pieces he can move about on the game board of his purposeless life. He came to love his Eden--his hometown--but the author did nothing to describe it in a way that it became vivid for me. Seriously, I'm positive this will go down as the worst of them all!