Two decades before the Civil War, an eight-year-old Southern heiress longs for the love of the father she has never known -- but when they meet at last, nothing is as Elsie expects. Can the proud and willful Horace Dinsmore learn to love his only child -- a little girl whose first allegiance is to God?

Miss Rose asked Elsie, 'Your father is away, isn't he?' Elsie looked up and replied wistfully, 'Yes, ma'am. He's in Europe. He has been away since before I was born, and I've never seen him. Oh, I do wish he'd come home! I want to see him so much! Do you think he would love me?' Meet Elsie Dinsmore, a lovely eight-year-old heiress who lives on a wealthy Southern plantation in the mid-1800's. Her mother is dead and she has never known her father. Living in her grandfather's home, she often feels rejected, unloved, and misunderstood. Elsie is sustained by her deep Christian faith and her hope to one day be loved by her father. But will Horace Dinsmore ever come home? Will he love her?

Elsie's Endless Wait is the first book in the Elsie Dinsmore: A Life of Faith series. This captivating story of a young girl's faith, purity of heart and simple Christian devotion, became an instant American classic over a hundred years ago. Now, in this revised and updated, modern-language edition of the 1868 book by Martha Finley, a whole new generation of readers will meet one of the most beloved fictional heroines of all time.