Elsie Dinsmore is an endearing eight-year-old girl with several bewildering problems. She has never known her mother, who died when Elsie was a baby, and she longs for a close, loving relationship with her father. He, however, has sent her off to be raised at Roselands, his brothers Southern plantation, where her teacher, Miss Day, harshly criticizes her and her cousins tease her relentlessly.
As Elsie learns to handle her problems, she begins to learn once more about herself. And as her faith in her heavenly father grows, she learns what it means to be child of god. The result is a story that inspires and challenges, and readers will take delight in how Elsie comes to depend completely upon faith in God for the peace and happiness she seeks.


Martha Finley (1828-1909) was born in Chillicothe, Ohio. She lived a quiet life and began writing, it is believed, during the Civil War when she was bedridden with a back ailment. She wrote twenty-eight books in the Elsie Dinsmore series over a period of thirty-eight years. In addition, she wrote more than fifty other short works and pamphlets, primarily for children, but it was the Elsie Dinsmore series whose popularity persevered over the years.

Anna Fields has found her true home behind the microphone after beginning her career on the stage in Washington, D.C. She has garnered several AudioFile Earphones Awards and won the coveted Audie Award in 2004.