Aravis' Blog

Yesterday the very first project I BCed got cataloged. It’s “Aunt Jane’s nieces” by Frank L. Baum. The book is about an rich, difficult, elderly woman, who had no children of her own. So she askes her three teenage nieces to pay her a visit, in order to decided who shall inherit her estate. Louise, Elizabeth and Patsy, who are all completely different from each other, come and a lot of funny

Here is the first paragraph:

Professor De Graf was sorting the mail at the breakfast table.

“Here’s a letter for you, Beth,” said he, and tossed it across the cloth to where his daughter sat.

The girl raised her eyebrows, expressing surprise. It was something unusual for her to receive a letter. She picked up the square envelope between a finger and thumb and carefully read the inscription, “Miss Elizabeth De Graf, Cloverton, Ohio.” Turning the envelope she found on the reverse flap a curious armorial emblem, with the word “Elmhurst.”

Then she glanced at her father, her eyes big and somewhat startled in expression. The Professor was deeply engrossed in a letter from Benjamin Lowenstein which declared that a certain note must be paid at maturity. His weak, watery blue eyes stared rather blankly from behind the gold-rimmed spectacles. His flat nostrils extended and compressed like those of a frightened horse; and the indecisive mouth was tremulous. At the best the Professor was not an imposing personage. He wore a dressing-gown of soiled quilted silk and linen not too immaculate; but his little sandy moustache and the goatee that decorated his receding chin were both carefully waxed into sharp points—an indication that he possessed at least one vanity. Three days in the week he taught vocal and instrumental music to the ambitious young ladies of Cloverton. The other three days he rode to Pelham’s Grove, ten miles away, and taught music to all who wished to acquire that desirable accomplishment. But the towns were small and the fees not large, so that Professor De Graf had much difficulty in securing an income sufficient for the needs of his family…

It’s the first book of a series of 10 books… and I hope to get all of them into the LibriVox catalog soon!

Thanks again to all, who participated in getting this book done. Particularly to TriciaG and Meg!

The audiobook can be found here and if anybody feel like participating the second book “Aunt Jane’s nieces abroad” is currently in progress! 😀

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