author
Lucille Van Slyke
b. 1880
A popular early-20th-century American storyteller, she wrote lively novels and magazine fiction with a warm eye for everyday people. Her best-known work often explored immigrant life in Brooklyn, especially Syrian American families, through vivid, approachable characters.
1 Audiobook
Little Miss By-The-Day
by Lucille Van Slyke
About the author
Born Harriet Lucille Baldwin in Mannsville, New York, on September 28, 1879, she was the daughter of a newspaperman and went on to graduate from Syracuse University in 1902. Writing as Lucille Van Slyke, she built a career in fiction during the 1910s and 1920s.
Her books included Eve's Other Children (1912), Little Miss By-the-day (1919), and Nora Pays (1925). She also published many short stories in magazines such as McClure's, Collier's, and Pearson's, and wrote serialized newspaper fiction including The Newlywed Lindsays and Brides Will Be Brides.
Van Slyke was especially noted for stories about Syrian immigrants in Brooklyn, often centered on a child named Nazileh and her family. Her work was popular enough to reach early film audiences too: both The Stolen Kiss (1920) and Brides Will Be Brides were based on her stories. She died in Norwalk, Connecticut, on January 20, 1966.