Freckles, by Gene Stratton-Porter, for the young and not-so-young adult. Freckles is the name of a disabled orphan who appears one day at a lumber company looking for work. The manager hires him despite his disability and gives him the job of patrolling the perimeter of the timber in the Limberlost Swamp to protect him from dangerous timber thieves. First he must overcome his fear of the wilderness after growing up in an urban orphanage. He does so and becomes enamored of the nature about him. Romance sets in when he meets “the Swamp Angel.”
Gene Stratton-Porter set the novel in the real-life Limberlost Swamp near her home of Geneva, Indiana. She spent much time there, enjoying nature, sketching, and taking photographs, and became known as The Lady of the Limberlost to neighbors and fans. Freckles was one of her earlier novels, and is among the eight that have been made into films; Freckles itself was adapted into five movies from 1917 to 1992. At the peak of her popularity in the 1910s she had some 50 million readers. Two of her homes in Indiana are designated as state historic sites today.
Book publisher: Grosset & Dunlap, New York
Book copyright: 1904, 1916, Doubleday, Page & Company
Book edition: 1916 reprint
Pages: 352 (382 bound pages)
Size: 5″ x 7-5/8″
Dust jacket: Yes, also printed on reverse
Illustrations: Color frontispiece
Back matter: 14 pages of book listings
Digital edition © 2005 Curtis Philips. All Rights Reserved.