Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work

Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work was written in 1909 by L. Frank Baum, best known as the author of The Land of Oz. It is the fourth novel of the ten-book Aunt Jane's Nieces series, which, after the Oz books themselves, was Baum's most popular literary work. It was published under the pen name "Edith Van Dyne," one of Baum's many aliases, just like the previous works in the series. The story of the three cousins Louise Merrick, Beth De Graf, and Patsy Doyle, and their circle is continued in the book. The title is a little deceptive; a more appropriate title would have been Aunt Jane's Nieces in Politics. Three days after Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville ended, the story picks up with freckled and red-haired Patsy still nursing a sunburn from her summer spent in the Adirondacks. She and Louise get letters from Kenneth Forbes, their "cousin," the young man who in the first book of the series inherited Aunt Jane's land. To some extent, Baum's decision to portray the Democratic candidate as a practitioner of "low politics" may be seen as a reflection of reality.