Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad
First edition
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| Author |
L. Frank Baum (as "Edith Van Dyne") |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Emile A. Nelson |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Young adult fiction |
| Publisher | Reilly & Britton |
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Publication date
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1907 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 347 pp. |
| Preceded by | Aunt Jane's Nieces |
| Followed by | Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville |
Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad is a young adult novel written by L. Frank Baum, famous as the creator of the Land of Oz. It was the second volume in the ten-novel series Aunt Jane's Nieces, which was, after the Oz books, the second greatest success of Baum's literary career. Like the other books in the series, the novel appeared under the pen name "Edith Van Dyne," one of Baum's multiple pseudonyms.
Though the original edition of Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad bore the publication date "1906" (the same year as its predecessor book, Aunt Jane's Nieces), the book was actually published "late in 1907." (Baum's adult novel The Last Egyptian, issued in the same period, bears a copyright date of 1907 and a publication date of 1908.)
In writing the book, Baum faced the task of creating an effective sequel to a successful novel. He enriched his story with abundant real-world observation and local color. Baum and his wife had taken an extensive tour of Egypt and the Mediterranean region in the first six months of 1906; and Baum exploited the experiences of that trip for his book. The Baums had witnessed the eruption of Vesuvius on April 7, 1906; Baum used the eruption as a central event in his novel. The characters in Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad follow some of the Baums' Italian itinerary closely, even staying at the same hotels as the Baums had done.
The second book in the Aunt Jane's series picks up where the first left off. The eccentric and down-to-earth millionaire John Merrick decides to take his three beloved nieces – Patsy Doyle, Elizabeth de Graf, and Louise Merrick – on a tour of Europe. The parents of the three girls react variously, but don't oppose the trip; Mrs. Merrick, Louise's mother, wants to accompany them as chaperone, a prospect that Uncle John rejects out of hand. Still, Mrs. Merrick allows her daughter to go; she wants to separate Louise from Arthur Weldon, the young man who has been courting her. (The social-climbing Mrs. Merrick is desperate for Louise to land a rich husband. Weldon's father is a wealthy railroad magnate, but the father and son are in a clash of generations and the elder Weldon threatens to disown the younger).
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Wikipedia