author
Mrs. Nathaniel Conklin
1841–1900
Known to 19th-century readers for warm, thoughtful stories for children and young women, this American writer also put her energy into social reform. Her work blends domestic fiction with a strong sense of sympathy, faith, and everyday courage.
3 Audiobooks
Tessa Wadsworth's Discipline: A Story of the Development of a Young Girl's Life
by Mrs. Nathaniel Conklin
Miss Prudence: A Story of Two Girls' Lives.
by Mrs. Nathaniel Conklin
Growing Up: A Story of the Girlhood of Judith Mackenzie
by Mrs. Nathaniel Conklin
About the author
Jennie Maria Drinkwater Conklin, who wrote under the name Mrs. Nathaniel Conklin, was born on April 14, 1841, in Portland, Maine, and died on April 28, 1900, in New Vernon, New Jersey. She became known while still young for writing stories for children, and she went on to publish fiction for girls as well as work for the religious press.
Beyond her writing, she was remembered as a social activist. She is noted as the originator of the Shut-in Society, an organization created to connect and encourage people who were confined by illness or disability.
Readers who come to her fiction today will find a distinctly 19th-century voice, shaped by moral reflection, feeling, and close attention to the inner lives of girls and women. Books such as Miss Prudence, Electa, and Three-and-Twenty helped make her a familiar name to her original audience.