Snuggle Up With A Good Book - Elsie's Endless Wait

Elsie's Endless Wait Book One of the Life of Faith: Elsie Dinsmore Series
by Martha Finley
Published by Mission City Press, Inc
199 pages

This book is based on the bestselling literary classic, Elsie Dinsmore. Written by Martha Finley.

Here is a little about the history of Martha Finley. Martha Finley was born on April 26, in Chillicothe, Ohio. Her mother died when she was young, and her father was a doctor and devout Christian. He soon remarried, Martha's stepmother, Mary Finley. Mary Finley was a kind and caring woman and helped to start Martha's career as a writer. After her father's death in 1851, Martha began her teaching career in Indiana. She later lived in New York City with an elder sister, where she continued teaching and began writing stories for Sunday school children. Martha also lived in Philadelphia, where her early stories were published by the Presbyterian Publication Board. Though she sold several stories, her early efforts at novel-writing were not successful. Three years after she began writing the Elsie Dinsmore Series, the story of the little Southern girl was accepted by the New York firm of Dodd Mead. Released in 1868, Elsie Dinsmore became the publisher's best-selling book that year.

The Elsie stories eventually expanded to 28 volumes, and included the lives of Elsie's children and grandchildren. Martha published her final Elsie Dinsmore book in 1905. Four years later, she died less than three months before her 82nd birthday. She is buried in Elkton, Maryland, where she lived for more than 30 years in the house she built with the proceeds from her writing career. Matha Finley was a remarkable woman who lived a simple Christian life; yet through her many writings, she effected the lives of several generations. She never married, never had children, yet she left behind a legacy.

Elsie's Endless Wait is a Christian fiction book set in early America. Elsie lives on a cotton plantation called Roselands, near a coastal city in the Old South during the early 1840's, some years prior to the American Civil War, and the abolition of slavery. A girl of 7 or 8, knowing how to read, would probably really enjoy this book. I greatly liked it, and I am 14, so I think it would be well-liked by a girl of any age. It could also be used as a mother-daughter read together, a read-aloud or for a group of girls reading it together. It is a wonderful story, and has lots of good, character-building traits in it.

1 Corinthians 15:34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

There are good morals and values that will build character, not destroy it, throughout the story. Anyone who reads it will see that. I loved all the Scripture that was used in the book. Sin is confronted in the book as sin. I have found many places in the books that people realize they have sinned and many have turned from it. The sinful nature of the 'bad guys' in this book, would be the other Dinsmore children, who often taunt and tease little Elsie. A child who is old enough to understand what good and bad morals are can easily recognize sin. If you are reading it as a mother-daughter book, then you can point out where someone is being sinful or mean.

Ephesians 4:25-27 25Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. 26Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27Neither give place to the devil.

I was very convicted of some of the sins I commit everyday to my siblings. The way the other Dinsmore children acted was so mean and hateful. I realized that I often act the same way. I encourage you to not just brush off a feeling you have when you read some of this book. Do something about it.

Another thing I loved was the names of the characters. Elsie is such a cute name, don't you think? I thought it was a cute name for a little girl when I first started reading. Some other names I like are Adelaide, Enna, Travilla, and Miss Rose Allison. Aren't they just elegant? I think they are. I hope you enjoy the names in the book as I did.

Elsie's faith in God made me think about my own walk with God. I surely wasn't as strong as Elsie was in her faith. She never gave a snarky remark back to her mean-spirited aunts and uncles. She will not sin and hide something, as Arthur, her uncle, does a lot. I think you will be a bit convicted of your own sins when you read this book. I can't wait until I am able to get the second book in the series, Elsie's Impossible Choice. I can't wait to find out what happens! Can you?

You can find more books like this one at A Life of Faith.


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The Life of Faith Collection
Which includes:
Elsie's Endless Wait
Millie's Unsettled Season
Violet's Hidden Doubts
Laylie's Daring Quest