
Bonnie May is a bright‑eyed youngster who seems to float through life with a carefree air, her imagination turning even the shadows of a theater balcony into a stage of wonder. When a stray beam of sunlight catches her golden hair and the flutter of a blue ribbon, she becomes an unexpected focal point for the audience and for the mysterious Baron, who watches her fleeting entrance with equal intrigue and puzzlement. The novel opens with that fleeting glimpse, hinting at a world where performance and reality blur, and where a child’s curiosity can set off a chain of small but consequential events.
Soon after, Bonnie’s path crosses that of a young American soldier stationed in Honolulu during the summer of 1898. Their chance meeting in a bustling market stalls a promise that she “shall never forget” him, launching a series of choices that will test her daring, pull her into family secrets, and draw her into the lively, sometimes chaotic, world of early‑twentieth‑century America. Listeners will be drawn into Bonnie’s spirited quest to balance the allure of the stage with the pull of emerging friendships and the mysteries that lie just beyond the footlights.
Language
en
Duration
~7 hours (435K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1916.
Credits
Sonya Schermann, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Release date
2023-09-12
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
1870–1952
Best known for early 20th-century novels such as Bonnie May and Children of the Desert, this American writer moved easily between mainstream fiction and imaginative stories for younger readers. His work often blends strong atmosphere with an interest in unusual characters and emotional turning points.
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