Free Novels Set in Indiana PDF – Famous Indiana Authors

Indiana Fiction Collection

Free online modern books by major publishers was found in a search for ‘Indiana Fiction’ in the Internet Archive book collection. Some authors are: Karen Kingsbury, Jean Shepherd, Gail Giles, Gene Stratton-Porter, Shirley Jump, Jeanne M. Dams, Kate Collins, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, Sara Hoskinson Frommer, Franklin Dixon, Jason Robert Brown, Michael Martone, M. E. Rabb, Wanda E. Brunstetter, Susan Lewis, Juanita Coulson, Philip Gulley, Maris Soule, Joe L. Hensley, Joshua Elder, Jo Ann Ferguson, Edward Kelsey Moore.

Teen Idol

Cabot, Meg

Macmillan Children’s 2005

“High school junior Jenny Greenley is so good at keeping secrets that she’s the school newspaper’s anonymous advice columnist. She’s so good at it that, when hotter-than-hot Hollywood star Luke Striker comes to her small town to research a role, Jenny is the one in charge of keeping his identity under wraps. But Luke doesn’t make it easy, and soon everyone — the town, the paparazzi, and the tabloids alike — know his secret … and Jenny is caught right in the middle of all the chaos.”

When Lightning Strikes

Cabot, Meg

Simon Pulse 2007

When lightning strikes there can only be trouble – as Jessica Mastriani finds out when she and best friend Ruth get caught in a thunderstorm. This is trouble with a capital T – this trouble is serious. Because somehow on that long walk home in the thunderstorm, Jess acquired a new found talent. An amazing power that can be used for good. . . or for evil.

One Shot: Jack Reacher

Childs, Lee

Dell 2012

Ex-military investigator Jack Reacher is called in by James Barr, a man accused of a lethal sniper attack that leaves five people dead, and teams up with a young defense attorney to find an unseen enemy who is manipulating events.

Lost Souls

Collins, Michael

Viking 2004

“On Halloween night in a dead-end town in Indiana, local cop Lawrence discovers the body of a three-year-old girl, dressed as an angel, who appears to be the victim of a hit-and-run accident. Called into a private meeting with the mayor, Lawrence is told to steer the investigation away from a Star athlete, who is set to quarterback a championship game. But as the investigation spirals out of control, the body count mounts, and Lawrence discovers an astounding level of hypocrisy at work among the town’s most prominent citizens.” Booklist.

Let Me Count the Ways

De Vries, Peter

Little 1965

“A story of a Polish-American family in the midwest. The first narrator is the father, a furniture mover, married to a religious fanatic. He endures a 12-year hangover when he thinks he has disgraced the family. The second narrator is the son, whose story revolves around a split personality caused by a religious mother and an anti-religious father. Mr. De Vries is actually writing a serious commentary on the foibles of man.” – Library J

When This Cruel War is Over

Fleming, Thomas

Forge 2001

“In the last year of the Civil War, headstrong southern belle Janet Todd secretly works to rally support for the Sons Of Liberty, a revolutionary conspiracy aiming to turn the northwest Union states into a second Confederacy. Her chief recruiting prospect is the dashing Major Paul Stapleton, a battle-scarred Union officer who is disillusioned by the grisly tactics of his army.” Booklist

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

Fowler, Karen Joy

Penguin 2013

This novel won the PEN/Faulkner Award and was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize. Karen Joy Fowler weaves her most accomplished work to date—a tale of loving but fallible people whose well-intentioned actions lead to heartbreaking consequences.

The Fault in Our Stars

Green, John

Dutton 2012

“Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.”

Running Out of Time

Haddix, Margaret Peterson

Simon & Schuster 1995

When a diphtheria epidemic hits her 1840 village, thirteen-year-old Jessie discovers it is actually a 1995 tourist site under unseen observation by heartless scientists, and it’s up to Jessie to escape the village and save the lives of the dying children.

Notawkah, Friend of the Miamis

a story of the Wabash country, now within the bounds of the sovereign state of Indiana, when it was on the fringe of the trans-Allegheny frontier, 1761-1762

Hays, Arthur Homer

Caxton 1932

This story depicts events at a critical period in the history of the Northwest. The British had recently won the region from the French in the French and Indian War, and Native Americans there had to decide whether their trade and diplomatic relations with the British would be friendly or hostile. Meanwhile, American frontiersmen were looking hungrily at these new lands.

Hoosier Tales: Stories from Contemporary Indiana Authors

Henson, Charles W., ed.

Henson 1995

The volume contains 30 short stories within four chapters, entitled: ‘Home and Hearth’, ‘Small Town Folks’, ‘Mystery and Adventure’, and ‘Town Limits’.

Cold Cold Heart

Hoag, Tami

Orion 2015

Dana Nolan was a promising young TV reporter until a notorious serial killer tried to add her to his list of victims. Nearly a year has passed since she survived her ordeal, but the physical, emotional, and psychological scars run deep. Struggling with the torment of post-traumatic stress syndrome, plagued by flashbacks and nightmares, Dana returns to her hometown in an attempt to begin to put her life back together.

The Beef Princess of Practical County

Houts, Michelle

Random House Children’s 2010

After years of waiting, it is finally Libby Ryan’s turn to shine at the Practical County Fair. Libby is filled with excitement as she and her granddad pick out two calves for her to raise on her family’s cattle farm, in hopes of winning the annual steer competition. After a few months of preparing for the Practical County Fair, Libby finds that she is growing closer to her steers with each passing day, and the pressure to win Grand Champion is mounting.

Something Rising (light and swift)

Kimmel, Haven

Free Press 2004

This tale is set in a “small town in Indiana. Cassie Claiborne, the most grounded person in her family, longs for her feckless father to return home but in the meantime, she grows into a young woman and shoulders the burden herself. On one of his increasingly rare visits, her father takes her to a pool hall. and she watches him play. When she takes her turn with the Cue, it becomes clear that Cassie has an innate talent for the game. She starts playing for money and routinely beats arrogant men who think they can easily best a young girl. Her skill ultimately leads her to a match with her father, but even pool playing can’t make up for his abandonment of her, or the fact that Cassie’s destiny might lie beyond Roseville.” Booklist .

Last Words

Koryta, Michael

Little, Brown & Co. 2015

An investigator for a Florida-based Death Row defense firm, Novak’s life derailed when his wife, Lauren, was killed in the midst of a case the two were working together. Two years later, her murderer is still at large, and Novak’s attempts to learn the truth about her death through less-than-legal means and jailhouse bargaining have put his job on the line. Now he’s been all but banished, sent to Garrison, Indiana to assess a cold case that he’s certain his boss has no intention of taking.”

South of the Big Four

Kurtz, Don

Chronicle 1995

South of the Big Four is a gracefully told, arresting look at an America in which the center no longer holds, where a new kind of forgiveness and understanding must be found. In the tradition of A Thousand Acres and A Map of the World, the novel’s sudden truths and lasting images transcend the daily lives of its Midwestern characters to create a penetrating, resonant story, made all the more remarkable because it is the author’s debut.

Raintree County

which had no boundaries in time and space, where lurked musical and strange names and mythical and lost peoples, and which was itself only a name musical and strange

Lockridge, Ross Jr.

Houghton 1948

Story of Raintree County, Indiana from 1844 to 1892, showing current events as the hero saw them on his visits back to his home county.

The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat

Moore, Edward Kelsey

Knopf 2013

Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat diner in Plainview, Indiana is home away from home for Odette, Clarice, and Barbara Jean. Dubbed “The Supremes” by high school pals in the tumultuous 1960s, they’ve weathered life’s storms for over four decades and counseled one another through marriage and children, happiness and the blues. Now, however, they’re about to face their most challenging year yet.

In Orbit

Morris, Wright

New American Library 1967

“In the space of one day, Jubal E. Gainer, high school dropout and draft dodger, manages to rack up an impressive array of crimes, moral and felonious. He steals a friend’s motorcycle, rapes a simple-minded spinster, mugs a pixyish professor, and stabs an obese visionary who runs a surplus store. He then waits out an Indiana twister and goes on his way, leaving as much wreckage in his path as the twister itself.” Library J

All the Bright Places

Niven, Jennifer

Prentice Hall 2002

The New York Times bestselling love story about two teens who find each other while standing on the edge. When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school—six stories above the ground— it’s unclear who saves whom. Soon it’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink. . . .

Adversary in the House

Stone, Irving

Doubleday 1947

Based on the life of “Eugene V. Debs, famous for his fanatic devotion to the cause of the working man. It’s the tragic story of a man who married a woman who became his staunch adversary. She opposed him in his work until the end of his days, while the woman he lost remained unswervingly loyal to him.” – Literary Guild

A Daughter of the Land

Stratton-Porter, Gene

Toronto: 1918

Gene Stratton-Porter (1863-1924) was an author, naturalist, and wildlife photographer. She was also one of the earliest women to form a movie studio and production company. She wrote popular columns in national magazines as well as best-selling novels that were read by millions. Born and raised in Indiana, she and her husband lived near Geneva, IN. Two of her most popular novels were set in the swamp near their home.
– Wikipedia entry for Stratton-Porter

Mrs. Porter’s new novel is a story of two or more generations ago. Kate Bates is the youngest daughter of a rich Indiana farmer, known as the “land king.” Each of her numerous brothers, on reaching his majority, has been presented with a two-hundred acre farm, the deed to which remains in the father’s possession. Kate, when she learns that she is to be denied even the brief term of schooling that has been her sister’s portion rebels against her father’s authority. She has helped earn so many two-hundred acre farms for her brothers that her one ideal comes to be the possession of that number of acres for herself. The story follows her through many years of struggle and disappointment to final achievement.
– Book Review Digest. Novels set in Indiana.

See also: Books about 19th Century American Women Authors

Freckles

Stratton-Porter, Gene

NY: Grosset & Dunlap 1904

Alice Adams

Tarkington, Booth

Doubleday 1921

Awarded the 1922 Pulitzer Prize. “Alice Adams is a ‘small town’ girl of the Middle West. She has charm and ambition, but handicapped as she is by lack of money, background and ideals, her imagination can compass no higher career than struggling to keep with her childhood friends whose fortunes have grown with the town. Alice is a pathetic figure, at once amusing, appealing and irritating, as are her self-sacrificing but one ideaed mother and her simple-minded, goaded father. A lightly handled albeit penetrating study.” – Cleveland

The Gentleman from Indiana

Tarkington, Booth

NY: Doubleday 1899

Newton Booth Tarkington (1869-1946) was born in Indianapolis to a judge, and was named after his mother’s uncle, a California governor. Booth attended Phillips Exeter Academy and began college studies at Purdue. After two years he transferred to Princeton, but did not graduate. He then tried to be an illustrator and a writer, but earned nearly nothing from either occupation until he published “The Gentleman from Indiana” in 1899. This was an immediate bestseller, and he quickly followed up with more. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature twice, for “The Magnificent Ambersons” and “Alice Adams”.

The Turmoil, a Novel

Tarkington, Booth

NY: Harper & Brothers 1915

The city that is the scene of this story might be Chicago, but it probably is not: it might be any one of the industrial cities of the middle west, but it probably is no one of them. It is any city, every city, that makes Bigness its god. Chief among the worshippers of Bigness in this city was Sheridan of the Sheridan trust company, and this is the story of Sheridan and his family; particularly it is the story of the youngest of them. Bibbs, a dreamy, imaginative youth, sick in mind and body. Such is the Bibbs first introduced to us. The Bibbs we see the last of has become the servitor of business with the rest of them: rising to the occasion when his father needs him and proving himself a man after his father’s own heart. And yet one hopes that he will prove to be something more than a servitor, that he will learn to make Bigness itself the servant; and Mary Vertrees, the very fine girl who had learned to love Bibbs in failure and in success, lends color to the hope.
– Book Review Digest

The Salt and the Savor

Troyer, Howard W.

Wyn 1950

Chronicles the development of Indiana from pioneer days to the Civil War; development of the Grange movement, daily life and customs.

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

Vonnegut, Kurt

Dial 2006

“Eliot Rosewater—drunk, volunteer fireman, and President of the fabulously rich Rosewater Foundation—is about to attempt a noble experiment with human nature . . . with a little help from writer Kilgore Trout. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater is Kurt Vonnegut’s funniest satire, an etched-in-acid portrayal of the greed, hypocrisy, and follies of the flesh we are all heir to.”

The Sirens of Titan

Vonnegut, Kurt

Random House 1959

Malachi Constant is a feckless but ultimately good-hearted millionaire who, in this incondensable interplanetary Candide (lacking perhaps Voltaire’s utter bitterness), searches the solar system for the ultimate meaning of existence. This came a close second in 1959 competition for the Hugo award.

Except for Thee and Me

West, Jessamyn

Harcourt 1969

Earlier episodes in the courtship and marriage of the Birdwells of “Friendly Persuasion”, as they settle a farm on the Indiana frontier, cooperate with the Underground Railroad, and raise their family in good Quaker tradition.

The Friendly Persuasion

West, Jessamyn

Harcourt 1945

Episodes in the life of a Quaker family in Indiana, including a minor Civil War encounter. Books set in Indiana.

The Massacre at Fall Creek

West, Jessamyn

Harcourt Brace 1975

“In 1824 an explosive event on the American frontier threatened massive and bloody Indian reprisals. The little-known and long-forgotten record tells of the brutal murder of innocent, peaceful Indians, including women and children, by five white men. From this scant evidence of history Jessamyn West has fashioned an exciting and richly plotted novel of haunting meaning”. -Publisher

The Witch Diggers

West, Jessamyn

Harcourt 1951

Picture of life on a farm in Southern Indiana in 1899. Novels set in Indiana.

VINTAGE BOOKS -Indiana Novels

The Outlet

Adams, Andy

Boston: Houghton, Mifflin 1905

Andy Adams (1859-1935) was born in Whitley County, IN and raised on a family farm, but left for Texas as a young man, where he spent 10 years as a cowhand. From there he went to Colorado to try mining. At some point he took up writing and produced several successful books.

Prince Cinderella

Alexander, Grace

Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill 1921

Grace Caroline Alexander (1872-?) was born in Indianapolis, and was a teacher in the public schools there for many years. From 1891 to 1903 she also was a music critic and editorial writer for the Indianapolis News, and after 1904, a reader for the book publisher Bobbs-Merrill.

The Blue Moon; A Tale of the Flatlands

Anderson, David

Boston: Bobbs-Merrill 1919

The scene of the story is laid in Indiana in the late forties of the 19th century. The hero is a young man known as the Pearlhunter to his companions along the Wabash and he himself does not know his own name. Ever since he can remember he has lived with his mother among the pearl fishers. She is a woman of refinement, but he knows nothing of her past. She tells him part of her history, but her death cuts it short, and he goes out into the world nameless. The story has to do with the unraveling of this mystery and with the adventures that follow his finding of the wonderful pearl, known as the Blue Moon.

An Indiana Man

Armstrong, LeRoy

Chicago: Schulte 1891

Dwight Le Roy Armstrong (1854-1927) was born in Plymouth, IN and was educated in the local schools. He attended Indiana University for a time, but left to take a newspaper job. After working as a reporter he became a newspaper editor in Lafayette for 10 years, leaving in 1905 for Salt Lake City, where he continued to edit newspapers. Besides fiction, he also wrote histories and biographies.

Knights in Fustian; A War Time Story of Indiana

Brown, Caroline

Boston: Houghton, Mifflin 1900

A Civil War story.

A Princess of Fiji

Churchill, William

NY: Dodd, Mead 1892

In the Twilight Zone

Craven, Roger Carey

Boston: C.M. 1909

Life Sketches from Common Paths

Dumont, Julia L.

NY: Appleton 1856

Julia Louisa Cory Dumont (1794-1857) was raised in New York by a widowed mother. She arrived in Vevay, IN in 1814 with her husband, where she began a long dual career; as an inspiring and revered teacher, and as a popular and respected author. You can find a biographical article about her by Skelcher, Lucille Detraz and Jane Lucille Skelcher at the Indiana Cultural History page of this site.

The Big Brother

Eggleston, George Cary

NY: Putnam 1875

Historical fiction, about the War of 1812 and Tecumseh’s war.

The Hoosier Schoolmaster: A Story of Backwoods Life in Indiana

Eggleston, Edward

NY: Grosset & Dunlap. 1871

“The Hoosier schoolmaster is a young man who undertakes the management of the Flat Creek school. He fights the boys; “boards roun’ ” with their parents; incurs the hostility of a gang of horse-thieves and burglars, who have at their head the principal physician among the Flat Crickers; narrowly escapes lynching at the hands of a mob instigated by the robbers..”

Edward Eggleston (1837-1902) was born in Vevay, Indiana. He was both a novelist and a historian, authoring several texts of U.S. history.

The Hoosier School-boy

Eggleston, Edward

NY: Scribner’s Sons 1900

See the biographical note on Eggleston at his other novel, above.

Signing the Contract, and What It Cost

Finley, Martha

NY: Dodd, Mead 1879

Martha Finley (1828-1909) was born in Chillicothe, OH; daughter of a doctor. Her family moved to South Bend, IN when she was eight years old, where she was educated in private schools. She then conducted a school of her own. In 1854 she moved east, living in Philadelphia and New York where she taught school and wrote newspaper stories and Sunday-school books. During the Civil War she began producing novels that became bestsellers.

Kismet

Fleming, George

Boston: Roberts Brothers 1877

Elkswatawa, or, The Prophet of the West. A Tale of the Frontier vol 1

– Volume 2

French, James Strange

NY: Harper 1836

James Strange French (1807-1886) was a lawyer, novelist, and later a hotel keeper. He was educated at William and Mary and the University of Virginia, then read law with his uncle Robert French in Fayetteville, North Carolina. In 1831, French represented Nat Turner, as well as a number of other slaves accused of participating in Nat Turner’s slave rebellion. He was the author of at least one other novel, Sketches and Eccentricities of Col. David Crockett of West Tennessee (1833).

Gee-boy

Hooper, Cyrus Lauron

NY: Lane 1903

Cyrus Lauron Hooper (1863-?) was born at Rockport, IN. He graduated from Indiana University, and also attended the University of Chicago. He worked as an administrator in the Chicago city school system. Besides a few works of fiction, he also authored a number of textbooks.

A Man Story

Howe, Edgar Watson

Boston: Ticknor 1889

Edgar Watson Howe (1853-1937) was born at Treaty, IN. Mostly self-educated, he began work at a printing office at the age of 12. At 19 he was publishing a newspaper in Golden, CO, and then moved on to Atchison, KS, where he edited the Atchison Daily Globe for 34 years. During his tenure the Globe became the most extensively quoted newspaper in the U.S., as other newspapers used his material. In 1911 he turned the paper over to his sons, devoting himself to travel and travel-writing. He was known as the “Sage of Potato Hill”.

Hoosier Odd Fellows: A Story of Indiana

Kinkead, James H.

Cincinnati: Kinkead 1877

The Rugged Way

Kramer, Harold Morton

Boston, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard 1911

Harold Morton Kramer (1873-1930) was born in Frankfort, IN; the youngest of 10 children. He as educated in the Frankfort public schools. In 1898 he volunteered for service in the Spanish-American War, and then volunteered again in WWI. However, he was too old for military service in 1917, so was sent to France with the YMCA to help provide support for the troops. He began his career as a printer in Frankfort, and soon became a newspaper editor there. In 1910 he retired from newspapers and supported himself by lecturing.

An Indiana Girl

Lincoln, Fred S.

Washington: Neale 1901

Frederick S. Lincoln (1874-?) was born in Ottumwa, IA, moving with his parents to Logansport, IN as a toddler. He also lived for a time in Columbus, IN.

A Forest Hearth : A Romance of Indiana in the Thirties

Major, Charles

NY: Macmillan 1903

The author was born in Indianapolis in 1856 but lived in Shelbyville from the age of 13. He was a popular writer whose first novel appeared in 1898. He was also an attorney and an amateur historian of Indiana and of the English Tudor period.

Uncle Tom Andy Bill: a story of bears and Indian treasure

Major, Charles

NY: Macmillan 1908

See the biographical note on Major at his other novel above.

“A book of lively, wholesome stories of adventure which Uncle Tom Andy Bill, seventy and reminiscent, selects from his boyhood experiences.” – Book Review Digest.

The World Destroyer

Mann, Horace, (pseud.)

Washington: Lucas-Lincoln 1903

The Man from Brodney’s – Famous Indiana Authors

McCutcheon, George Barr

NY: Dodd, Mead 1908

George Barr McCutcheon (1866-1928) was born in Tippecanoe County, IN. His father was a respected farmer who was given charge of the first farm opened by Purdue University. George attended Purdue briefly, but left to be a newspaperman in Lafayette. About 1901, with his career as a novelist well underway, he left the newspaper and Lafayette, moving to New York. He published many popular novels through the nineteen-teens and ‘twenties.

Quill’s Window

McCutcheon, George Barr

NY: Dodd, Mead 1921

“Quill’s Window is the name given by a certain Indiana country population to the opening of a cave high up on a rock, a site connected with many weird stories. It becomes the center of this story, which relates the villainies of an invalided rake, posing as an ex-service man while he is making love and seducing country girls and trying to secure the hand of a rich heiress. When his iniquities have found him out, the cave becomes his last refuge where he is hounded down and brought to bay by the brother of one of his victims.

Slag; A Story of Steel and Stocks

McGibeny, Donald

Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill 1922

The Sand Doctor

Mulder, Arnold

Boston: Houghton Mifflin 1921

Thad Perkins: A Story of Early Indiana

Myers, Frank A.

London: Tennyson Neely 1899

A Hoosier Chronicle

Nicholson, Meredith

Houghton 1912

Study of political and social life in Indiana with a love story involving the mystery of the heroine’s parentage.” – NY state lib.
Meredith Nicholson (1866-1947) was born in Crawfordsville, IN, son of one of the more substantial farmers in his county. He moved with his family to Indianapolis in 1872, remaining there most of his life. As a young man he worked at local newspapers and also studied law. In the late ’90s he left newspaper work to serve as Treasurer for a mining corporation in Denver, returning to Indianapolis in about 1900. It was about that time that he began writing full-time, gradually becoming one of the best-known writers of his day.

House of a Thousand Candles

Nicholson, Meredith

Bobbs 1905

“Underground passages, a villain, a love affair, shooting and much mystery are associated with the ‘house of a thousand candles,’ in which a young globe-trotter must live a year in order to comply with his grandfather’s will.” -A.L.A.

The Siege of the Seven Suitors

Nicholson, Meredith

NY: Grosset & Dunlap 1910

The Hoosier Editor. A Tale of Indiana Life

Perrow, George L.

Indianapolis: Tilford & Carlon 1877

The Conflict: A Novel

Phillips, David Graham

NY: Appleton 1911

David Graham Phillips (1867-1911) was born in Madison, IN, the son of a banker. After attending Madison’s public schools, David studied at Asbury College (now DePauw University), transferring to Princeton after two years. After graduation there he worked as a reporter in Cincinnati, earning a reputation as something of a phenomenon. In 1890 he sought greener pastures in New York, winding up on the editorial staff of Joseph Pulitzer’s “World” in just three years. In 1901 he published his first novel, “The Great God Success” to popular and critical acclaim. He soon gave up newspaper employment and earned his living with novels and free-lance articles for magazines, becoming known as a muckraker. He is considered by some critics to be one of America’s best novelists; by others simply a great journalist.

The Social Secretary

Phillips, David Graham

Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill 1905

See the biographical note at his other entry above.

Tales of a Vanishing River

Reed, Earl H.

NY: Lane 1920

“The background of this collection of sketches and stories is the country through which flowed one of the most interesting of our western rivers before its destruction as a natural waterway. This book is not a history. It is intended as an interpretation of the life along the river that the author has come in contact with during many years of familiarity with the region.”
– from the author’s Foreword

Pipes O’Pan at Zekesbury

Riley, James Whitcomb

Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill 1888

James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916) was an Indiana writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the “Hoosier Poet” and “Children’s Poet” for his dialect works and his children’s poetry respectively. Pipes o’Pan at Zekesbury was his fourth novel, released to great critical acclaim. -Wikipedia entry for Riley.

Seth Way

Snedeker, Caroline D.

Boston: Houghton 1917

Caroline Dale Snedeker (1871-1956) wrote primarily for young adults. Born in New Harmony, IN, she grew up in Vernon, IN and attended the College of Music in Cincinnati. After her marriage, the couple lived in New York. Seth Way was her third published novel. The setting is the utopian New Harmony settlement in Indiana in the 1840’s.

A story of the New Harmony community, Robert Owen’s experiment in communal living in Indiana. With a few exceptions the characters are real people.

The Rose of Love

Teal, Angeline

NY: Dodd, Mead 1903

Angeline Gruey Teal (1842-1913) was born on a farm in southern Ohio, and moved with her family to Noble County, IN at three. She attended rural schools and Miss Griggs’ Seminary at Wolcottville, IN. In 1866 she married a doctor in Kendallville, where she wrote poems, children’s stories and short stories for magazines for many years.

Alice of Old Vincennes

Thompson, Maurice

Indianapolis: Bowen Merrill 1900

A historical novel dealing with the life of the old Northwest in Revolutionary times.

James Maurice Thompson (1844-1901), son of a Baptist minister, was born in Fairfield, Indiana. The family moved to north Georgia in the 1850s and he was educated by tutors in the classical languages, literature, French and mathematics, which provided the basis for his later work as a civil engineer. During the Civil War Thompson served in the Confederate Army. After the war he lived in Calhoun, Georgia, studied surveying and engineering, and took up the study of law. He lived in Calhoun two years and began his career as a writer there.

A Banker of Bankersville: a Novel

Thompson, Maurice

NY: Cassell 1886

See the biographical note about the author at Alice of Old Vincennes, on this web page. This story is semi-autobiographical, about Crawfordsville, IN, where the author lived.

Hiram Blair

Tufts, Drew

Chicago: McClurg 1912

On the Frontier with St. Clair: A Story of the Early Settlement of the Ohio Country

Wood, Charles Seely

Boston: Wilde 1902