The Lemon Jelly Cake (Prairie State Books)

The Lemon Jelly Cake carries readers back to kinder, gentler times in small-town Central Illinois at the turn of the century. Evoking a forgotten America of lush lawns, bountiful summer picnics, shaded front porches, and gentle humor, the tale is set in an era when the day's toughest decision might have been what to serve for dinner or which suit or dress to wear. The Lemon Jelly Cake was a selection of the Literary Guild and was serialized in Woman's Day magazine. It was in its fifth printing when its author, Madeline Babcock Smith of Decatur, died in December 1952. In this new Prairie State Books edition, an introduction by longtime Millikin University faculty member and Findlay resident Dan Guillory situates the book and its charming tale firmly in the Central Illinois of 1900.