author
Belle K. (Belle Kendrick) Abbott
1842–1893
A little-known Southern novelist whose one published book, Leah Mordecai (1875), stands out for its unusual interest in interfaith marriage and Jewish life in the post–Civil War South.
1 Audiobook
Leah Mordecai: A Novel
by Belle K. (Belle Kendrick) Abbott
About the author
Belle K. Abbott, also known as Isabella "Belle" Kendrick Abbott, was an American writer born on November 3, 1842, in Georgia. Reliable sources agree that she is best remembered for her only published novel, Leah Mordecai, issued in 1875.
That novel has drawn lasting attention because it centers on a Jewish heroine and explores questions of religion, identity, and marriage in the nineteenth-century South. Even with a very small body of published fiction, Abbott remains notable for writing about subjects that were uncommon in Southern literature of her time.
She died on December 27, 1893. I could confirm basic biographical details and the significance of Leah Mordecai, but I could not confirm a suitable portrait image from the sources I checked, so no profile image is included.