"I wish some great catastrophe would happen to somebody (not me, of course) so that I might have something of importance to set down in my journal. But, I suppose everyone's journal (who is foolish enough to keep one) is made up of everyday incidents, mixed up with a startling love adventure now and then."
Phebe F. Beach July 1, 1857
In 1857, Phebe Beach, a young woman from Bridgton, Maine was coming of age, beset by the constraints of society that expected her to marry and become in her words "a stocking darner and a baby manufacturer." She shared her frustrations in a diary she began writing that year. Her lively, lighthearted descriptions of annoying suitors, girlish rivalries, and social gatherings soon gave way to other more tragic happenings as the nation hurtled into civil war.
"Caroline Grimm deftly brings her character and her voice vividly to life. This is no dusted-off diary, it's a seamlessly threaded lifespan of adventures from start to end. Highly recommended as a way to spark a new interest in American History, or simply as an inspiration and a lovely escape."
Joanne Masterson
Based on a true story.