Aunt Jane’s Hero
A Novel of Christian Marriage, Providence, and the Home
First published in 1871 · The Elizabeth Prentiss Collection
Available in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle.
160 pages · 6 × 9 inches
Paperback ISBN: 979-8-1610-5927-2
Hardcover ISBN: 979-8-1610-5946-3
The wedding is not the end of the story. It is where the work of making a home begins.
Horace Wheeler is handsome, ambitious, and certain of himself—and Aunt Jane, who has loved him since he was a boy, can see exactly how little of that will survive contact with real life.
The Civil War changes Horace’s future, and the loss of a leg continues to shape his work, courtship, and home. Prentiss follows him beyond romance into “the prose that follows the poem,” where faith and character meet the ordinary demands of money, illness, work, and neighbor love.
First published in New York in 1871, Aunt Jane’s Hero soon reached readers in England and, according to the bibliography in the 1882 Life and Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss, appeared in French. Its comedy, domestic observation, and earnest faith reveal the wider literary work of the author of Stepping Heavenward.
About This Edition
- The devotional opening and all twenty chapters, prepared from the 1871 A. D. F. Randolph first American edition.
- An original historical and literary introduction, including context for the first edition and its 1873 British resetting.
- Newly typeset for comfortable reading, preserving Prentiss’s wording and historical character while correcting evident errors.
- A coordinated volume in the Elizabeth Prentiss Collection.
About the Author
Elizabeth Prentiss · 1818–1878
Elizabeth Prentiss was an American novelist, children’s author, devotional writer, poet, translator, and hymn writer. Best remembered for Stepping Heavenward and “More Love to Thee, O Christ,” she brought humor, suffering, and serious Christian conviction into the ordinary circumstances of family life.
Read her biography →Questions About the Book
What is Aunt Jane’s Hero about?
Horace Wheeler’s courtship and marriage unfold in the shadow of his Civil War injury. The novel follows faith and character into household economy, work, illness, hospitality, and service.
Is this the complete novel?
The edition includes the devotional opening and all twenty chapters of the 1871 narrative. The publisher’s advertisements that followed the novel are omitted.
Which formats are available?
Paperback, hardcover, and Kindle are available on Amazon. The print edition is 160 pages at 6 × 9 inches.
Continue exploring the Elizabeth Prentiss Collection, including Stepping Heavenward and Life and Letters.