Mildred Jordan

Mildred Jordan (March 18, 1901 – October 23, 1982) was an American author and playwright. Born in Chicago, she worked at the Hull House[1] before relocating to Reading, Pennsylvania after her marriage.[2] Her first novel, One Red Rose Forever, which was based on the history of Lancaster County, was rejected by twenty-two publishers before finally appearing in 1941.[3] Her subsequent books often focused on the lives of Pennsylvania Dutch immigrants to America.[1][4]

Public reaction to Jordan's work was mixed. While a 1954 review of her play The Wonderful Cornelia referred to her as "one of the nation's best-known novelists",[5] John Updike expressed a more ambivalent view of her talents several years later, dismissing her in a sentence as "an unmeetably rich industrialist's wife".[6]

In addition to her own writing, Jordan also served as the editor of the Berks County Historical Magazine.[4] She received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Albright College in 1979.[7]

Jordan was represented by the literary agent Annie Laurie Williams,[5] whose other clients included Margaret Mitchell, John Steinbeck, and Truman Capote.[8]