Her Father's Daughter Author:Gene Stratton-Porter The author was an amateur naturalist, wildlife photographer, and one of the earliest women to form a movie studio and production company. She wrote some best-selling novels and well-received columns in national magazines, such as McCalls. Her works were translated into several languages, including Braille, and Stratton-Porter was estimated to ha... more »ve had 50 million readers around the world. She used her position and income as a well-known author to support conservation of Limberlost Swamp and other wetlands in the state of Indiana. Her novel A Girl of the Limberlost was adapted four times as a film, most recently in 1990 in a made-for-TV version. One of Stratton-Porter's last novels, Her Father's Daughter (1921), was set outside Los Angeles. She had moved about 1920 for health reasons and to expand her business ventures into the movie industry. This novel presented a unique window into Stratton-Porter's feelings about World War I-era racism and nativism, especially relating to immigrants of Asian descent. Stratton-Porter died in Los Angeles in 1924 when her limousine was struck by a streetcar.« less
Unlike some of Stratton-Porter's other charming fiction, this is blatantly racist and anti-Japanese. It was a shock for me to read this as a kid after having read Girl of the Limberlost.
I will warn you now: this is NOT "Girl of the Limberlost". I wish Gene Stratton-Porter had never come to California or set one of her stories there. Her beautiful descriptions of unspoiled land around Los Angeles are ruined by very shallow characterization, and racism as poisonous as Hitler's. This book stayed out of print and off shelves for good reason. If you are a Stratton-Porter collector or accustomed to reading shocking viewpoints of that period, have at it. Most readers will be insulted.
This survival adventure switches back and forth between the Stone Age and the present day (the 1980s). If you're interested in prehistoric man, archeology or spelunking, you'll be fascinated. Much effort was made to flesh out the characters of the modern-day cave explorers. However, the most memorable and haunting passages are those set during the prehistoric people's ordeal.