Miss Ludington’s Sister: A Romance of Immortality (1884)

Edward Bellamy (1850-1898) was an American author and socialist. His books include Dr. Heidenhoff’s Process (1880), Miss Ludington’s Sister (1884), The Duke of Stockbridge (1900), and the utopian novels Looking Backward: 2000-1887 (1888), and its sequel, Equality (1897). Miss Ida was a beautiful young girl horridly scarred by illness. She is now a middle-aged spinster wanting to hold on to her past. After seeing her village destroyed by a large machine she leaves and buys a plot of land on Long Island. Here she rebuilds her childhood village and lives in it alone. She is joined by a young boy who falls in love with a girl in a picture. Together they explore the idea of immortality.