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The Opened Shutters
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
356 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1906
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About the author
Clara Louise Burnham
198 books6 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 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 17, 2023
I have a first edition book. I liked the story although it was written in 1906 and is in the style of that period. However, the author wrote with a lot of dialog so it is much easier to read (instead of long descriptions of locations, what characters looked like and felt).
The main character is Sylvia, a sixteen year old girl who has become orphaned and is rescued by her unmarried aunt and uncle. She feels unwanted at first until she is sent to live at her uncle's farm that is managed by her cousin. Soon she feels at home with her cousin and feels cared for finally. Her talent is found out and nourished.
Other characters enter and their relationships make up the rest of the story. It has a good ending with a misunderstood love.
The main character is Sylvia, a sixteen year old girl who has become orphaned and is rescued by her unmarried aunt and uncle. She feels unwanted at first until she is sent to live at her uncle's farm that is managed by her cousin. Soon she feels at home with her cousin and feels cared for finally. Her talent is found out and nourished.
Other characters enter and their relationships make up the rest of the story. It has a good ending with a misunderstood love.
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August 24, 2020Read this book online for free through Project Gutenberg:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25954/...
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25954/...
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews