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Jewel #1
Jewel: A Chapter in Her Life
Jewel is an eight year old girl who visits the home of her rich grandfather with her "black sheep" father. A lovable child, she enters the frigid atmosphere of this unwelcoming house with affection for everyone she meets. This nostalgic story has a Christian Science base.
300 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1903
About the author
Clara Louise Burnham
213 books7 followersThe American author Clara Louise Burnham wrote 26 novels between the years 1881 and 1925. Amongst these were Christian Science themed fiction: The Right Princess (1902), Jewel (1903), and The Leaven of Love (1908). These three novels are considered her “Christian Science trilogy.” Burnham’s short stories and novels enjoyed widespread success and were well received, and several of her books were adapted for stage and screen.
Burnham was born Clara Louise Root in Newton, Massachusetts, on May 26, 1854. She was the daughter of Dr. George F. Root, a composer famed for his American Civil War songs, such as “The Battle Cry of Freedom” and “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys Are Marching.” Her brother Frederick W. Root was a musician who wrote both hymn texts and one hymn melody found in the Christian Science Hymnal. The Root family moved to Chicago, Illinois when Clara was a child, and she spent the rest of her life living between Chicago and her summer home at Bailey’s Island, Maine, where she died June 20, 1927.
While Clara Louise Burnham’s fiction may not be well known today, her popularity went well beyond the Christian Science community, as one biographer noted: “To write twenty-six books is something, is it not? To have written twenty-six books which have sold half a million copies (the publisher's offhand guess) is something else again and more. Clara Louise Burnham has done that; and the cold arithmetical statement does not begin to convey the real nature of her achievement. You must read her to know how capable a novelist she is, how expert, how gifted with humor, insight, fertility in those slight inventions which make up the reality of a fictionist's whole….” (Grant M. Overton, The Women Who Make Our Novels, New York: Moffat, Yard & Co., 1918, 267)
(Biographical information taken from: http://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/r...)
Burnham was born Clara Louise Root in Newton, Massachusetts, on May 26, 1854. She was the daughter of Dr. George F. Root, a composer famed for his American Civil War songs, such as “The Battle Cry of Freedom” and “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys Are Marching.” Her brother Frederick W. Root was a musician who wrote both hymn texts and one hymn melody found in the Christian Science Hymnal. The Root family moved to Chicago, Illinois when Clara was a child, and she spent the rest of her life living between Chicago and her summer home at Bailey’s Island, Maine, where she died June 20, 1927.
While Clara Louise Burnham’s fiction may not be well known today, her popularity went well beyond the Christian Science community, as one biographer noted: “To write twenty-six books is something, is it not? To have written twenty-six books which have sold half a million copies (the publisher's offhand guess) is something else again and more. Clara Louise Burnham has done that; and the cold arithmetical statement does not begin to convey the real nature of her achievement. You must read her to know how capable a novelist she is, how expert, how gifted with humor, insight, fertility in those slight inventions which make up the reality of a fictionist's whole….” (Grant M. Overton, The Women Who Make Our Novels, New York: Moffat, Yard & Co., 1918, 267)
(Biographical information taken from: http://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/r...)
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 25, 2024
In essence, this is a story about a bright and loving little girl who brings light and hope to her grandfather's household. The method by which she does this is through the teachings of Christian Science (CS). While I appreciated Jewel's persistent love for those around her, and her personification of her doll Anna Belle was utterly adorable, I found that, not being a Christian Scientist myself, I could not agree with every CS precept presented. Otherwise, this story follows the usual trend of such plots, and it has many lovely scenes. I most especially appreciated Jewel's love for Dr. Ballard, even though he was opposed to the teachings of CS that she so adamantly believed in. They both continued to "reflect love" to each other, and this was refreshing. It would be lovely if more such love could be displayed in our world today.
March 3, 2015
A sweet, lovely story with well-developed characters and beautiful, strong prose.
I really did love this book. It's more sentimental than the author's first Christian Science novel -- The Right Princess -- and it goes heavy on Christian-Science-Is-Wonderful-ness, but that was the style of the time, and besides, hope, help and healing ARE wonderful, so who am I to complain?
I also found it interesting to see Christian Science through the eyes of an early convert from the days when everyone was new to these ideas and when Mary Baker Eddy was still leading the movement. Plus, it provided a peek at upper-crust, society life in and around New York at the turn of the last century, which I always find a bit fascinating.
I really did love this book. It's more sentimental than the author's first Christian Science novel -- The Right Princess -- and it goes heavy on Christian-Science-Is-Wonderful-ness, but that was the style of the time, and besides, hope, help and healing ARE wonderful, so who am I to complain?
I also found it interesting to see Christian Science through the eyes of an early convert from the days when everyone was new to these ideas and when Mary Baker Eddy was still leading the movement. Plus, it provided a peek at upper-crust, society life in and around New York at the turn of the last century, which I always find a bit fascinating.
September 26, 2009
It is impossible not to fall in love with little Jewel. And even though I don't generally like books that strongly promote one religious idea or another, the overwhelming Christian Science nature of the story has made me want to explore Christian Science.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews