Mildred Jordan
American writer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mildred Jordan (March 18, 1901 – October 23, 1982) was an American writer and playwright. Born in Chicago, she worked at the Hull House[1] before relocating to Reading, Pennsylvania after her marriage.[2] Her first novel, One Red Rose Forever, which was based on the history of Lancaster County, was rejected by twenty-two publishers before finally appearing in 1941.[3] Her subsequent books often focused on the lives of Pennsylvania Dutch immigrants to America.[1][4]
A 1954 review of her play The Wonderful Cornelia said she was "one of the nation's best-known novelists",[5] John Updike said her "pen name, Mildred Jordan, masked her true identity as an unmeetably rich industrialist's wife".[6]
In addition to her own writing, Jordan also served as the editor of the Berks County Historical Magazine.[4] She received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Albright College in 1979.[7]
Jordan was represented by the literary agent Annie Laurie Williams,[5] whose other clients included Margaret Mitchell, John Steinbeck, and Truman Capote.[8]
Bibliography
Novels
- One Red Rose Forever (1941)
- Apple in the Attic (1942)
- The Shoo-fly Pie (1944)
- I Won't, Said the King (1945)
- Asylum for the Queen (1948)
- Miracle in Brittany (1950)
- Echo of the Flute (1958)
Plays
- The Wonderful Cornelia (1954)
- Apple in the Attic (1962) (with Lucile Logan)
Nonfiction works
- Proud to be Amish (1968)
- The Distelfink Country of the Pennsylvania Dutch (1968)