The Lemon Jelly Cake
Madeline Babcock Smith. The Lemon Jelly Cake. University
of Illinois Press (1998).
ISBN: 0739425617
Situated in Tory, a small town in Central Illinois, Smith's whimsical
tales resemble the recently popular Jan Karon. Seen through the
eyes of Helene, the young daughter of the village doctor, Tory
is a gentle and naiive, though not completely innocent turn of
the century small town. Smith was about 65 when she wrote this,
her first novel, and died shortly after it was originally published.
Madeline Babcock Smith's only book "The Lemon Jelly Cake"
carried readers back to a kinder era of summer picnics and gentle
humor at the turn of the century in small-town Central Illinois
when it was published in 1952 by the well-respected publishing
house of Little, Brown and Company.
And now, thanks to the University of Illinois Press with help
from Millikin University English professor Dr. Daniel Guillory,
the book is back in print for a new generation of readers to savor.
To explain the background of the book and its author's ties to
Central Illinois and Millikin University, the University of Illinois
press asked Guillory to write the book's 10-page introduction
for the 1998 reprinting.
"I was very honored to have been a part of bringing this
wonderful book back for a new generation of readers," said
Guillory. "My involvement gave me the rare feeling of having
helped save something worthwhile."
"Nobody will argue that 'The Lemon Jelly Cake' is a masterpiece
or even a major work of fiction. But it is a moving and highly
readable minor work that preserves an important moment in the
cultural life of Illinois."
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