Highly respected as a writer by critics and commentators, Hesba Stretton (1832-1911) was a vigorous campaigner for the rights of oppressed minorities and a founding member of the London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Though she is known today primarily as a writer of evangelical fiction for young people, including Jessica's First Prayer, this characterization fails to acknowledge the extensive range of her writings and social activism. Elaine Lomax re-examines Stretton's writing for children and adults, situating her body of work within the broad social and cultural context of its production to expose the depth and complexity of Stretton's engagement with contemporary ideas, debates, and discourses. Mining nineteenth-century periodicals, archival materials, and the minutes of the Religious Tract Society, as well as Stretton's own revealing log books, Lomax demonstrates Stretton's preoccupation with those at the bottom or on the margins of society. At the same time, she advances our understanding of the intersection of cultural and literary representations of the child and childhood with wider images of the colonized or excluded, and our knowledge of the history and development of juvenile literature and women's writing.

Cobwebs and Cables by Hesba Stratton is about the tale of Roland Sefton after he steals 10,000 pounds from his own bank and must come to terms with his sins and crimes. Excerpt: "Late as it was, though the handsome office clock on the chimney piece had already struck eleven, Roland Sefton did not move. He had not stirred hand or foot for a long while now; no more than if he had been bound fast by many strong cords, which no effort could break or untie."

In this sequel to "Jessica's First Prayer," Jessica, Daniel and the minister were at the church when a tragedy occurred. Daniel went home and discovered Jessica's mother crouching on his doorsill. She looked like a heap of rags and defiantly demanded Jessica. Daniel grew spiritually closer to God as he sought to know how Jesus might respond. This edition includes the five illustrations from the initial publication of Jessica's Mother in "Sunday at Home" magazine in 1867.

A novel set in the East end of London.

Young Cassy set forth from her forest camp alone and made a dear friend of a crippled man. She found employment with a rather odd family in London and met a grandfather convinced he is a character in The Pilgrims Progress. Cassy passionately searched for the truth about God's existence. This edition has seven illustrations and also contains the short story "A Man of His Word" by Hesba Stretton.

Originally published in 1981. Many of the classics of children’s literature were produced in the Victorian period. But Alice in Wonderland and The King of the Golden River were not the books offered to the majority of children of the time. When writing for children began to be taken seriously, it was not as an art, but as an instrument of moral suasion, practical instruction, Christian propaganda or social control. This book describes and evaluates this body of literature. It places the books in the economic and social contexts of their writing and publication, and considers many of the most prolific writers in detail. It deals with the stories intended to teach the newly-literate poor their social and religious lessons: sensational romances, tales of adventure and military glory, through which the boys were taught the value of self-help and inspired with the ideals of empire; and domestic novels, intended to offer girls a model for the expression of heroism and aspiration within the restricted Victorian woman’s world.

Hesba Stretton (1832-1911) was the nom de plume of Sarah Smith, an English author of children's literature. The name Hesba came from the initials of her siblings. She was the daughter of a bookseller from Wellington, Shropshire, but around 1867 she moved south and lived at Snaresbrook and Loughton near Epping Forest and at Ham, near Richmond, Surrey. Her moral tales and semi-religious stories, chiefly for the young, were printed in huge quantities, and were especially widespread as school and Sunday school prizes. She won wide acceptance in English homes from the publication of Jessica's First Prayer in 1867. She was a regular contributor to Household Words and All the Year Round during Charles Dickens' editorship, and wrote upwards of 40 novels. Her other works include Children of Cloverley (1865), Little Meg's Children (1868), In Prison and Out (1880), No Place Like Home (1881), The Soul of Honour (1898) and Hester Morley's Promise (1899).

Alone in London is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Hesba Stretton is in the English language, and may not include graphics or images from the original edition. If you enjoy the works of Hesba Stretton then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection.