Mary Louise

The backstory alone makes Mary Louise remarkable: L. Frank Baum originally wrote this book as a tribute to his beloved sister, only to have his publisher reject it for featuring a heroine who was 'too independent.' Baum rewrote the entire novel. The original manuscript was lost, but what remains is a startlingly modern girl detective series that predates Nancy Drew by over a decade. Fifteen-year-old Mary Louise Burrows possesses exactly the kind of trouble-making maturity that made publishers nervous in 1916. She investigates mysteries with sharp instincts and fierce independence, moving through a world where adults consistently underestimate her. The series pulses with a quiet defiance, a young woman who refuses to be contained, who solves puzzles precisely because everyone expects her to fail. Mary Louise endures for the same reason she scandalized Baum's publisher: she believes wholeheartedly in her own capabilities. For readers who love spunky predecessors to Nancy Drew, or anyone curious about the bold girls' fiction that came before the genre was even named, this is essential reading.