Wanted

by Pansy, Isabella MacDonald Alden

This edition includes group discussion questions, a biography of the author and an introduction to Isabella Alden’s books by Christian author Jenny Berlin.Rebecca Meredith has endured much in her twenty-seven She lost her mother and two siblings, bore the heart-ache of being jilted by her fiancé, and suffered the sting of her father’s remarriage. With a new Mrs. Meredith installed to run the household and help her father, Rebecca doesn’t know where she fits in. She needs a place to call her own, a place to feel wanted and needed. Determinedly, she sets out to make her own way in the world and finds employment in the McKenzie household as a nurse-companion to the family’s youngest daughter. Soon, Rebecca grows to love the little girl with as much fervor as she learns to dislike the child’s father. Mr. Deane McKenzie is arrogant, selfish and overbearing and Rebecca suspects he mistreats his invalid wife. Surely Mrs. McKenzie needs Rebecca’s help and Rebecca is determined to protect her. But things are not quite what they seem and family secrets, once learned, make Rebecca re-examine how she can help the family most. The entire McKenzie family will need Rebecca’s prayers and God’s intervention if they are ever to be made lovingly whole again; and Rebecca may just find their home is the one place she belongs, after all.

225 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1894

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

[Rebekah Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was different, yet not different, than Pansy's other books. It has the same wonderful style and feeling, but it touches on a topic not addressed before in her other works (at least not in any of the 70+ books I have read): drug addiction. However, this is not the only topic and everything was handled in such a way that it didn't defile or create wrong images.

Rebecca's struggles of "not being wanted" are ones that everyone faces when we turn our eyes away from serving others and think only of ourselves. I was both encouraged and challenged in my own walk when reading this book

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a story rich in spiritual truths, and a slower pace.

[AnnieKaye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story (as always by this author) about finding our place in the world.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my second or third time reading this book, and I highly recommend it! I haven't come across many novels that emphasize so strikingly and yet beautifully our tendencies to lean on our own understanding when our Heavenly Father is showing us His infinite love.

There are many lessons to learn in this book - just like ALL of Pansy's books - but I love that it IS still a novel about a young girl whose adventures lead her from home life to working life, and of course with some romance thown in!

[Momanyi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing how these Pansy writings minister deeply to one's soul. God knew I needed to listen to this particular one, and just right now. I'm grateful for impactful and sound Christian writers like Isabella M A.

[Traci · Rating 4 out of 5]

This will feel very Victorian to a modern audience, but I happen to like Victorian morality, so this was a tender story for me. I liked it very much.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to this from Librivox, reading by TriciaG. I really enjoyed this story, it had some interesting twists that were followed throughout the story.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

[Laurie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pansy's stories never fail to touch my heart and this one did not disappoint.