Across the Chasm

Julia Magruders novel Across the Chasm was published anonymously in 1885 and, according to Magruders obituary in the New York Times (June 10, 1907), the novel soon earned the reputation of being the best of the year. The Times went on to quote a review of the novel in the London Saturday Review: Its great merit is that it sets forth some of the differentiating peculiarities of the best people of the North and the South. It is as fair to one side as to the other. It is also full of clever comedy and rich in contrasted character. By the time this 1899 edition was published, Magruder had decided to affix her name to it.