The Trail of Conflict

Emilie Baker Loring was born about 1864 in Massachusetts. She sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Josephine Story. According to Reader's Friend, Ms. Loring published 30 romance novels between 1922 and 1950, beginning with my favorite A Trail of Conflict. After her death in 1951, her two sons found a large amount of unfinished materials. Those materials were developed into 20 romantic novels, published between 1952 and 1972. Ms. Loring''s publishing credits include two books as Josephine Story, a play as Emilie Loring and a handful of articles and short stories. The earliest date listed is 1914, when Ms. Loring was approximately 50 years old. The cover of a 1975 reprint of Bright Skies says over 34 million copies of Loring titles were in print at that time and touts Emilie Loring as America's Bestselling Author of Romance. She seems to have been forgotten by the larger romance community in recent years but to me Emilie Loring is a dear friend - one who died 25 years before my birth.

My grandma introduced me to Emilie Loring when I was nine years old. I read all the Emilie Loring novels in Grandma's collection over and over again while I was growing up. Those books were my refuge when things weren't going well at home. They gave me a glimpse of another life and put a smile on my face. Words and phrases sometimes remind me of characters in her books and I often forget Grandma is the only person I know who has actually read the same stories. Last year, Grandma gave me her collection of Loring novels and the books became some of my most treasured possessions. I'll share them with my daughters when they get older. In the meantime, I encourage all fans of romance to make Ms. Loring's acquaintance. (Emilie Loring)