A Girl of the Limberlost

A turn of the (20th) Century novel about family, dreams, wetlands, butterflies and love.

A ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps’ kind of story, about a young woman and her coming of age in an era when women were not supposed to be smart, or knowledgeable about nature.  Set in what was once a very real wetland in Northeast Indiana called the Limberlost Swamp, the story follows Elnora as she struggles to find a way to go to High School in order to fulfill her dreams of college and leave the swamp.  Relationships change, people change, plans change, and through it all Elnora not only survives, but thrives.  Gene Stratton-Porter is noted to have been one of the foremost women novelists of her era according to Patricia Raub in Wikipedia, and this book is a great example of her love of nature and detail in writing.  Be prepared, this is not a one-night read.  There was a highly rated 1924 Silent Film adapted from the book, as well as later films produced in 1934 and 1938.