My Pretty Maid (Illustrated)

Like most of Mrs. Miller's work, this first appeared in a story paper (in this case, the New York Family Story Paper) and was later reprinted in paper-covered format. This story marked one of several turning points in Mrs. Miller's long writing career. At the time of its writing, she had a contract with Street & Smith to write for The New York Weekly. When a new editor rejected the first installment of this tale, she sold the story to competitor The New York Family Story Paper instead and eventually broke her Street & Smith contract to move back to the Family Story Paper, the venue where her most famous story, The Bride of the Tomb, had debuted. Mrs. Miller claimed to have felt vindicated when, years later, the story was issued in book form by Street & Smith in spite of the earlier rejection.

"...love at first sight, trials and tribulations, a wicked superhuman old lady, almost!death, and nature trumping nurture." - by Laura Bang, Goodreads

This edition of the book contains 10 place-, time-, and subject-relevant illustrations that are unique to this edition of the book.

"Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller" was the pen name for Mittie Frances Clark Point, taken from the name of her second husband. She wrote around 80 "dime novels" from 1881 to 1915 and was one of the best-known authors of her time. Her fiction brought her wealth and fame.

A native of Doswell, Virginia, she was educated at home and at the Richmond Female Institute, from which she graduated on June 30, 1868. After graduation, she married Thomas Jefferson Davis and gave birth to a daughter. Both her husband and child died within two years, leaving her alone in Washington. Grief stricken, she returned to her family in Richmond, where she wrote stories for the Old Dominion and Temperance Advocate magazines.

In May 1878, she abandoned her writing when she married Alexander McVeigh Miller and moved to Fayette County. She soon began writing again, hoping to augment her husband's meager earnings as a schoolteacher. Her first success came in 1883 with the sensational romance titled The Bride of the Tomb. Numerous lucrative publications followed, enabling Miller to build a mansion called The Cedars in Alderson, and to finance her husband's political career, helping him win a seat in the West Virginia Senate from 1901 to 1909.

Miller earned more than $100,000 from her romance novels. In 1908, after discovering her husband's infidelities, she divorced him and moved to Boston with her daughter, Irene. Facing poverty again after years of plenty, Miller eventually settled in Florida, where she died at the age of 87.

Dettagli