A Circuit Rider's Wife

Mary Elizabeth Eden looks back on married life through letters full of affection and sharp opinions about church society. Raised in an Episcopal family in Middle Georgia, she marries William Asbury Thompson, a young Methodist minister beginning work on the Redwine Circuit. Their courtship moves quickly, and a country drive brings them to the parsonage where their shared life begins. Corra Harris presents this domestic novel through the wife's voice, giving religious work the scale of a household and a marriage.

The narrator's humor becomes especially pointed when she compares William's modest circumstances with the rising career of his friend Horace Pendleton. Her doubts about polished sermons and worldly success sit beside her respect for William's generosity. Readers interested in clerical families or the everyday workings of faith will find a portrait shaped by personal loyalties, denominational differences, and the wife's willingness to question what others admire.