
In a bustling winter parlor, a chorus of eager young voices fills the room as the local women’s society prepares its many projects. At the center stands Claire Benedict, a natural organizer whose calm confidence draws the trust of friends, clergy, and neighbors alike. She juggles everything from committee awards to costume fittings, effortlessly turning chaos into coordinated effort.
Yet beneath the praise lies a quieter tension: Claire’s mother watches with both pride and concern, wondering how long her daughter can shoulder such a load. As the snow falls outside, the story explores the delicate balance between duty to community and the yearning for a life beyond the familiar nest. Listeners are invited to share Claire’s world of devotion, ambition, and the subtle question of what comes next for a young woman so deeply woven into the fabric of her town.
Language
en
Duration
~7 hours (415K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Charlene Taylor, Emmy and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Release date
2014-04-30
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1841–1930
A bestselling American writer of Christian fiction, she published more than 100 books and became widely known under the pen name “Pansy.” Her stories often blended everyday family life with moral questions in a way that made them especially popular with young readers and church audiences.
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