Simply, Perfectly Grand

In her second novel, Pamela Borden Heckert introduces readers to Jennie Selover, a St. Mary's Hall girl who crossed paths with some of the pupils in her debut historical novel, Alma Mater. Once again, the author creates a story based on exhaustive research into the members of a large nineteenth-century family.

Fifteen-year-old Jennie Selover left post-Gold Rush San Francisco with her half-brother Abe and his family to escape the violence of that lawless pioneer town in 1856. Once in New York City, Abe made it possible for her to attend St. Mary's Hall, a progressive Episcopal boarding school in New Jersey. There she embraced the Christian faith, living amongst 175 other girls like herself under the guidance of the founder, Bishop George Washington Doane. But after she left St. Mary's Hall, she had to either find a calling in life or settle down with a husband as her fellow schoolmates did.

Simply, Perfectly Grand follows Jennie Selover's life during the War of the Rebellion, Reconstruction, and the Gilded Age in New York City, through joys and disappointments, all while clinging to her faith and endeavoring to live up to Bishop Doane's expectations. But life as a woman in the late-1800s was no easy feat. Pamela Borden Heckert invites you to come along on Jennie's journey as she navigates heartache and triumph while struggling to find her place in a world dominated by men.