Her Life in Ink

"Aptly titled, Her Life in Ink depicts Elizabeth Garver Jordan, a late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century journalist who epitomized the new 'career woman,' working first as a journalist for Pulitzer’s New York World, for which she covered the infamous Lizzie Borden trial, before moving on to a variety of other roles, such as editor for Harper's Bazar magazine and book editor for Harpers. Jordan also wrote fiction and became famous in the mystery genre—America’s own Agatha Christie. Often at the expense of her personal life, Jordan worked fourteen-hour days to become a well-known and successful figure in her day. Harris masterfully weaves together the complexities of Jordan’s life and highlights why this overlooked author needs her rightful place restored in literary history."  -- Rose Neal, author of E.D.E.N. Southworth's Hidden Hand: The Untold Story of America's Famous Forgotten Nineteenth-Century Author
"At last we have the whole story of the charismatic Elizabeth Jordan! Sharon Harris’s biography is a compelling read, at times surprising and always fascinating and insightful." -- June Howard, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emerita of English, American Culture, and Women's & Gender Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
"Her Life in Ink captures the multi-faceted career of Elizabeth Garver Jordan, an extraordinary (if often overlooked) literary figure who had an outsized influence on late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American culture. Thanks to Sharon Harris’s meticulous research, Jordan earns her rightful place in literary history as a journalist, editor, fiction writer, activist, and Golden Age mystery novelist. By telling the story of a singular individual, this biography simultaneously illuminates how professional women of Jordan’s era forged unconventional lives through kinship networks of mutual care and support." -- Lori Harrison-Kahan, professor of the Practice of English, Boston College; coeditor of The Case of Lizzie Borden and Other Writings by Elizabeth Garver Jordan
"Her Life in Ink recovers a determined Elizabeth Garver Jordan, a precocious child turned savvy woman with a capital-p Plan. Harris’s deep research reveals how Jordan met gendered challenges and achieved success as journalist, editor, mentor, and author in multiple genres, including her role at the forefront of the Golden Age of mystery writing, a contribution to literary history previously overlooked. 'Never was there a woman who had more irons in the fire,' a newspaper wrote of Jordan’s life. Harris’s Her Life in Ink uncovers those irons, each burning brightly in an amazingly prolific life, reminding us that female ambition has deep roots." -- Elizabeth DeWolfe, professor of History at the University of New England; author of Alias Agnes: The Notorious Tale of a Gilded Age Spy