The Wide, Wide World

On a rainy evening, Ellen Montgomery learns that her parents are going to Europe and that she cannot go with them. A lost lawsuit has changed the family's circumstances, while her mother's poor health makes travel urgent. Ellen must face the prospect of living with her father's sister, away from the person who gives her home its warmth. Susan Warner places this separation at the opening of a novel concerned with Christian faith, strong feelings and the effort to behave well.

The story gives household details room to matter: a fire stirred into brightness, chairs set straight, a bed prepared for a visitor. In a later Christmas scene, Ellen talks with Ellen Chauncey about gifts and family customs, yet the comfort around her brings back thoughts of her absent mother. Readers interested in domestic fiction will find close attention to a child's grief, the small kindnesses of companionship and the religious beliefs through which adults try to explain hardship.