Inside One Author's Heart

by Eugenia Price

"In these pages I have simply tried to share myself.  To give you, whose affection and loyalty and prayers have sustained me, a deeply personal idea of what this writer's life is like. I have also attempted to respond to a few of the questions you've asked most often.  Some may think the effort too sentimental, even arrogant, on my part.  So be it. For me, the writing has been a tough exercise in humility--at least as I understand its meaning.  No one could deserve the kind of devotion you continue to give me, but you do go on giving it.  This little book is between us.  It is for you who read, from the heart of this author who writes--not always superbly, by any means, but always up to the very best she can do."--Eugenia Price

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

115 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1992

About the author

Eugenia Price was born in Charleston, WV, June 22, 1916, to Walter (a dentist) and Anna Price. At the age of ten, she decided she wanted to be a writer and entered a poem in her school's literary magazine. She was raised as a member of the Methodist Church, but had left the church behind by the time she graduated from high school, at the age of 15, in 1932. She decided to leave writing behind to follow in her father's footsteps and pursue a career in dentistry. She attended Ohio University for three years, declaring herself an atheist during this time. In 1935, she became a student at Northwestern Dental School, the only woman admitted that year. She studied dentistry for two years, but writing continued to draw her. In 1939, she was hired to work on the NBC radio serial In Care of Aggie Horn. She continued as one of the writers for the show until 1942. She left NBC, going to work for the Proctor and Gamble show Joyce Jordan, M.D. from 1944-1946. In 1945 she founded her own television and radio production company, Eugenia Price Productions, developing other serials for Proctor and Gamble.

In 1949 Eugenia Price underwent a profound life change, giving up her college atheism to embrace Christianity. She considered a career change, but accepted a position with WGN Radio as writer, producer, and director for Unshackled, another radio serial. The popularity of the show led her to a lecturing career throughout the United States and Canada for several years.

Price began yet another career in the early 1950s when she was approached by one of the owners of Zondervan publishing. The 1953 publication of Discoveries Made from Living My New Life, a chronicle of her newfound faith and the experiences that led her to it, launched Eugenia Price into a new career as an inspirational writer. Other inspirational books followed, addresses issues of importance to women and children and other self-help concerns and urging readers away from advances in psychology and analysis and toward a life based on Biblical tenants. Many of her inspirational books are still in print, a testimony to the comfort and empathy many readers found in her works.

Eugenia Price gained a much wider audience though when she began publishing historical romances set in the American South. These novels were praised as "compelling sagas that blend personal stories of love and tragedy. . . with the dramatic events of a region's history." Her first historical romance, The Beloved Invader, was inspired her visit to Saint Simons Island, Georgia and based on one of the island's nineteenth-century inhabitants. The Beloved Invader was published in 1965 and followed by two other romances, New Moon Rising (1969) and Lighthouse (1971), to form the St. Simons Trilogy.

Her historical romances made Price a frequent member of the best-seller lists and brought her millions of readers. Although she continued to write and to publish inspirational works, it was her romances that brought her the greatest attention.

Eugenia Price died May 28, 1996, in Brunswick, Georgia of congestive heart failure and is buried in the Christ Church cemetery, Frederica, GA. Many of her books remain in print and have translated into 17 languages, charming readers of all ages and nationalities. Her manuscripts are housed at Boston University.

Reviews

[Lin Stepp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eugenia Price wrote 37 books, fiction, and nonfiction ... many of which I loved and enjoyed ... so I enjoyed some of the inside story on how she became a writer and how she writes her books in this autobiography. For me, her need to introduce and thank all the people who had been significant to her career slowed down the story ... as did too much description of events in detail of Eugenia Price Day in Georgia. The book wandered about a bit ... but I still enjoyed the bits and pieces in it about Price's life ... and as a writer, some of her discussion about the way she wrote and researched her books.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of names, but completes the circle of her personal books, on how she wrote historical fiction. She certainly was blessed w/ a devoted support system.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

From the back cover: "In these pages I have simply tried to share myself. To give you...a deeply personal idea of what this writer's life is like." So from that description, I took it that this would be a memoir of her life and how she got writing, etc. I've read most of her fiction and really enjoyed it so I thought this would be interesting to get some background on how she started. I was wrong in that assumption. Almost all of this short book (115 pages) is her expressing her thanks to her readers and to the network of friends that are her support group and to the folks at the various publishers that she has worked with. The repeated thanks got old quickly for me. For anyone who has read her fiction and read the afterwards of those books, this reads much like any of those. Not what I expected.

[Graceann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eugenia Price is one of my favorite novelists, and this slim volume shows what the life of this particular writer could be like from day to day. Interesting in the extreme.

[Angie Jacobs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eugenia Price is one of my favorite authors. Her books made me fall in love with the low country of South Carolina and Georgia and with beautiful St. Simons Island. This little book is a gem.

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charming. Ready to give SSI trilogy a try. Correct order for reading: Lighthouse, New Moon Rising, The Beloved Invader.