Isabella "Belle" Kendrick Abbott (November 3, 1842 – December 27, 1893) was an American author from the Deep South, whose only published novel, ''Leah Mordecai'', was issued in 1875. A native of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, she married Benjamin F. Abbott, and lived for many years on

Peachtree Street Peachtree Street is one of several major streets running through the city of Atlanta. Beginning at Five Points in downtown Atlanta, it runs North through Midtown; a few blocks after entering into Buckhead, the name changes to Peachtree Road a ...

, between Cain Street (subsequently renamed International Boulevard) and Harris Street.

''Leah Mordecai''

''Leah Mordecai'' was published at Christmastime 1875, when Abbott was 33.''See''

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital libr ...

's transcript of the boo

/ref> It is a coming of age story set in Charleston, South Carolina, during the 1850s, shortly before the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. The title character, who is

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish, finds herself subjected to scorn and abuse by the jealous and grasping woman who marries her widowed father, a wealthy banker. Seeking relief from her unhappiness, Leah only engenders further distress when, upon entering into marriage with an importunate

gentile Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym fo ...

, she incurs the violent wrath of her father. The author, who was not Jewish, found herself unable to avoid

stereotypes In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

or convincingly portray detailed specifics as well as the mindset of contemporary Jewish life.

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* * 1842 births 1893 deaths 19th-century American novelists 19th-century American women writers American women novelists Writers from Atlanta Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state) {{US-novelist-1840s-stub