“Emily Climbs" finds Emily Byrd Starr and her new local friends growing up and becoming teenagers. Emily longs to attend the Queen's Academy in order to get her teaching license, but her conservative relations oppose this idea. Instead, she is allowed to go to Shrewsbury High School with her friends, but must live with her strict Aunt Ruth and is forbidden by her family from writing poetry. Emily refuses to be daunted by these restrictions, continues to work on her writing, and finds success with her short stories and work on the local newspaper. Romantic dramas complicate Emily's relationships, while she also grows closer to her distant relation, the mysterious Dean Priest. "Emily Climbs" is a timeless and heartfelt coming-of-age story that continues to engage readers may years after its first publication. This edition includes a biographical afterword.
