Emilie Loring

Emilie Baker Loring (1864 - March 13, 1951) was a prolific American romance novelist of the 20th century. She began writing in 1914 at the age of 50 and continued until her death after a long illness in 1951. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,805960,00.html Time Magazine Obituaries] , March 26, 1951] After her death, her estate was managed by her sons, Selden M. and Robert M. Loring, who, based on a wealth of unfinished material they discovered, published twenty more books under her name until 1972. These books were ghost-written by Elinore Denniston.³

Personal life

Emilie Loring was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1864 to George M. Baker and Emily Frances (Boles) Baker. Her father was a playwright and publisher and her mother was a homemaker. Loring married Victor J. Loring, who was a lawyer. [http://www.geocities.com/loringpage/index.html Emilie Loring Reference Page] , vol. 51, edited by Anne Commire. Gale Research, 1988. pp. 103-104.] She died in Wellesley, Massachusetts on March 13, 1951. At the time of her death, Loring had sold more than a million copies of her first thirty books.

Loring's son, Selden M. Loring was also an author. He wrote "Young Buckskin Spy" (Lantern Press, 1954) and "Mighty Magic: An Almost-True Story of Pirates and Indians" (Holliday House, 1964).

The Papers of Emilie Loring are housed in The Archives, Department of Special Collections, Boston University, Mugar Memorial Library [http://www.bu.edu/archives/]

Works

Her books are highly formulaic and focus on the "wholesome love" and independent spirit of women who still value homemaking and motherhood. There are no sexual situations in her novels, and most are tinged with action-adventure plots that stimulate the main characters' emotions and provide drama. It was not until the 1960s that her male characters were allowed to say "damn." The majority of her novels are not overtly religious, although a few of her novels do give reference to prayer to a greater or lesser degree, or have clergy as secondary characters, such as Gay Courage, published in 1936. She waxes philosophical about a selection of topics including, but not limited to marriage, love, American patriotism, freedom, and optimism.

There are several repeating motifs in her work that annoy some readers and amuse others. Among them are a girl who is twenty-three with red hair, a dark-haired lawyer or aspiring politician for a hero, a quotation-spouting secondary character, a fan back chair, a Mandarin coat, a Chinese lacquer screen (room divider), New England as a setting or character trait (“New England granite”), and a black-and-white spotted dog. She also favored the surname "Shaw," which was the maiden name of Herman Melville's wife, who was the daughter of noted Massachusetts jurist, Lemuel Shaw. The middle name of both her sons is Melville. Given what we know of her life, for example her connections to New England, the name "Shaw", and lawyers, it is possible that these recurring details are somewhat autobiographical.

She has a habit of describing every flower in sight, as well as the outfits of the heroine and supporting characters in detail. Like time capsules, a great deal can be learned about the dress, etiquette, social classes, and political and economic conditions of the year each book was written in. Commonly used plot-lines in her novels are the Lost Will, Ward Grows Up, Orphaned Girl, Sickly Sister, Marriage of Convenience/Contract, and Already Secretly Married.

Emilie Loring has several pet phrases including: "gay courage," "try, everlastingly try," and "ideas and ideals." Her book "Beyond the Sound of Guns" (1945) is referenced nine times in "America’s Popular Sayings: Over 1600 Expressions on Topics from Beauty to Money and Everything In Between" by Gregory Titelman, all for phrases that are actually quotes or paraphrases from someone else. (If only Gregory had read the other forty-nine books…) For more information about George Titelman, go to [http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=31168] .

List of published works

As Emilie Loring

Books "(alphabetical by title)"

*1939 "Across the Years" (Little, Brown)
*1937 "As Long As I Live" (Penn)
*1947 "Beckoning Trails" (Little, Brown)
*1958 "Behind the Cloud" (Little, Brown)
*1945 "Beyond the Sound of Guns" (Little, Brown)
*1946 "Bright Skies" (Little, Brown)
*1964 "A Candle in the Heart" (Little, Brown)
*1925 "A Certain Crossroad" (Penn)
*1931 "Fair Tomorrow" (Penn)
*1963 "Follow Your Heart" (Little, Brown)
*1952 "For All Your Life" (Little, Brown)
*1965 "Forever and a Day" (Little, Brown)
*1971 "Forsaking All Others" (Little, Brown)
*1928 "Gay Courage" (Penn)
*1936 "Give Me One Summer" (Penn)
*1924 "Here Comes the Sun!" (Penn)
*1938 "High of Heart" (Little, Brown)
*1933 "Hilltops Clear" (Penn)
*1960 "How Can the Heart Forget?" (Little, Brown)
*1948 "I Hear Adventure Calling" (Little, Brown)
*1954 "I Take This Man" (Little, Brown)
*1968 "In Times Like These" (Little, Brown)
*1935 "It's a Great World!" (Penn)
*1944 "Keepers of the Faith" (Little, Brown)
*1967 "A Key to Many Doors" (Little, Brown)
*1930 "Lighted Windows" (Penn)
*1957 "Look to the Stars" (Little, Brown)
*1949 "Love Came Laughing By" (Little, Brown)
*1969 "Love with Honor" (Little, Brown)
*1954 "My Dearest Love" (Little, Brown)
*1970 "No Time for Love" (Little, Brown)
*1942 "Rainbow at Dusk" (Little, Brown)
*1955 "The Shadow of Suspicion" (Little, Brown)
*1972 "The Shining Years" (Little, Brown)
*1927 "The Solitary Horseman" (Penn)
*1966 "Spring Always Comes" (Little, Brown)
*1941 "Stars in Your Eyes" (Little, Brown)
*1929 "Swift Water" (Penn)
*1940 "There Is Always Love" (Little, Brown)
*1962 "Throw Wide the Door" (Little, Brown)
*1950 "To Love and to Honor" (Little, Brown)
*1938 "Today Is Yours" (Little, Brown)
*1922 "The Trail of Conflict" (Penn)
*1932 "Uncharted Seas" (Penn)
*1934 "We Ride the Gale" (Penn)
*1956 "What Then Is Love" (Little, Brown)
*1943 "When Hearts are Light Again" (Little, Brown)
*1941 "Where Beauty Dwells" (Little, Brown)
*1934 "With Banners" (Penn)
*1955 "With This Ring" (Little, Brown)

Articles and short stories

*"Box from Nixon's." Woman’s Home Companion magazine, vol. 48, p. 9-10, May 1921. "For information on this periodical see, [http://www.ketupa.net/crowell.htm] "
*"Glycerine tears." The Delineator magazine, vol. 106, p. 8-9, March 1925.

Play

*"Where’s Peter?" (Penn, 1928)

As Josephine Story

Books

*"For the comfort of the family;: A vacation experiment" (George H. Doran Company, 1914)
*"The Mother in the Home" (Pilgrim, 1917)

Articles and short stories

*"Rush order for fancy dress." "St. Nicholas Magazine", Vol. 41, p. 977, September 1914.
*"Gossip; an endless chain." "St. Nicholas Magazine", Vol. 42, p. 508-9, April 1915.
*"The delicate art of being a mother-in-law." "Woman’s Home Companion" magazine, vol. 46, p. 100, June 1919.

Publishing and copyright history

*Her earlier books (1922 to 1937) were originally published in hardcover by William Penn & Company in Philadelphia.
*Her books from 1938 to 1950 were originally published by Little, Brown and Company, as were all of her posthumous works.
*All thirty of her novels written during her lifetime were reprinted by Grosset (now Grosset & Dunlap) in 1961.
*Later all her works were reprinted in mass market paperback editions by Bantam Books’s Romance division.
*As late as 2005, Thorndike Press, an imprint of Thomson Gale, has been reprinting select titles in large-print format, although their web site does not show these books in their 2007 catalog. [http://www.gale.com/thorndike/]
*Little, Brown and Company owns the copyright on books dated (1952?) to 1954. Emilie Loring’s sons, Robert and Selden, are listed as "Child of the author" in the searchable copyright renewal records at [http://www.ibiblio.org]
*Selden was listed first in the copyright information from 1955 to 1960 (or 1961?). From 1962 to 1971, Robert is listed first in the copyright information. In the 1972 novel "The Shining Years", only Robert is listed as the copyright owner as the Executor of the Estate of Emilie Baker Loring.

Books, articles, and other references to Emilie Loring

*Emilie Loring: A Twentieth Century Romanticist, by Dorothea Lawrance Mann. Philadelphia: Penn Publishing Company, 1928. (out-of-print)
*Something about the author: facts and pictures about authors and illustrators of books for young people, vol. 51, edited by Anne Commire. Gale Research, 1988. pp. 103-104. (out-of-print)
*Pitfalls for Readers of Fiction, by Hazel Sample. Chicago: National Council of Teachers of English, [1940] . Available for purchase only at [http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentId=8995]
*Twentieth-century romance and gothic writers, edited by James Vinson. Gale Research, 1982. pp. 443-445. ISBN 0810302268
*Twentieth-century romance and historical writers, 2nd ed., edited by Lesley Henderson. Chicago, St. James Press, 1990. pp. 406-407. ISBN 091228997X 3rd Edition, edited by Aruna Vasudevan, St. James Press, 1994. ISBN 1558621806 [http://www.gale.com/stjames/]
*American Novelists of Today, by Harry R. Warfel. American Book, 1951. Greenwood Press Reprint, 1973. ISBN 0837162351 [http://www.greenwood.com/]

References