10 h 7 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 10 h 7 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
An orphan boy has almost nothing—except an old woodsman whose loyalty gives him a place in the world.
In Irving Bacheller’s Eben Holden, William Brower tells of growing up under the care of Uncle Eb, a rough, kindly hired man. Together they reach a farming community in New York’s North Country, where a household takes William in. Among farms and woods, the boy begins to find a home.
As William grows, education and the hope of a career draw him beyond the farm. Hope Brower becomes a close friend and an important part of his youth. Set in the years around the Civil War, the story follows his widening world while keeping Uncle Eb’s steady love at its heart.
What you’ll discover
- An unlikely guardian Meet Uncle Eb, whose plain, steady care makes an old woodsman a boy’s best teacher.
- Life among northern farms Settle into the rhythms of a farm household in the North Country.
- A boy finding his place Follow William from childhood in the woods toward education and a life beyond the farm.
- Warmth and plain talk Enjoy rural humor and direct speech in a gently paced story of growing up.
- Loyalty beyond age and class Discover a lasting friendship between an orphan and the unlettered hired man who guides him.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy warm, humorous storytelling, old-fashioned rural characters, campfire tall tales, and families formed by choice will love this novel.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A guardian carries a child away
- Strangers help them find their way
- A welcome makes a new home
- Protection can leave a painful mark
- Affection and humor shape country life
- Belief gives Willie room to grow
- Generosity builds a family by choice
- Honest work matters more than appearances
- Kindness is something people do
Who’s who
- Eben HoldenUncle Eb, a gentle, joking farmhand who invents the swift and carries an orphan west to keep him from the poorhouse.
- William BrowerThe orphan boy who narrates the book, grows into a scholar and newspaperman, and wants to prove himself worthy of Hope.
- Hope BrowerThe golden-haired daughter of the Browers, a gifted singer who loves Willie but is drawn toward the wider world.
- David BrowerThe big, shrewd farmer of Paradise Valley who takes in the wanderers and wants the best education for his children.
- Elizabeth BrowerHis wife, a spotless housekeeper and hymn singer who mourns a lost son and guards her family's modesty.
- Jed FearyThe white-haired poet of the hills who tells Willie he will not make a farmer and urges him to go to college.
- Horace GreeleyThe famous editor of the New York Tribune, high-voiced and absent-minded, who tests Willie with an article about rats.
- John TrumbullA silent, powerful speculator who walks New York at night and takes an unexplained interest in Willie and Hope.
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Eben Holden
by Irving Bacheller · 1900
A boy rides in a pack basket on Eben Holden's back and hears his tales of hidden swifts.
Medium level5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
Would you walk across a wilderness with a six-year-old riding on your back in a pack basket? That is how Eben Holden begins.
Eben Holden at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h4 h 45 min fast, 7 h 5 min slow
- Length
- 85,400 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1900by Irving Bacheller
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
An old farmhand steals a boy away
The book opens with a flight. The boy's father, mother, and brother have drowned in a lake, and the farm is worth less than its mortgage. The county wants to send six-year-old Willie to the poorhouse, or hand him to a careless uncle. Eben Holden is a hired man with no home, so the authorities do not think him a fit guardian.
So Uncle Eb packs bread, butter, tea, and boiled eggs, ties them to a hunting basket, and sets the boy inside. He takes a cane in one hand and a rifle in the other. Fred, the old black shepherd, follows them out the gate.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1900
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 6 h 35 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Bacheller, Irving. Eben Holden. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/eben-holden.
Bacheller, I. (2026). Eben Holden. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/eben-holden (Original work published 1900)
Bacheller, Irving. Eben Holden. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/eben-holden.
@book{bacheller2026eben,
author = {Bacheller, Irving},
title = {Eben Holden},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/eben-holden},
note = {First published 1900}
}
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What is Eben Holden about?
It follows an orphan boy named Willie Brower and his guardian, the farmhand Eben Holden. They flee Vermont, settle with a family in northern New York, and Willie grows up to become a college graduate, a New York newspaperman, and a soldier.
Who is Uncle Eb and what is a swift?
Uncle Eb is Eben Holden, the beloved old hired man who raises Willie. The swift is an imaginary beast he invents, like a panther that cries like a woman, to give children a safe fear of the woods.
Is Eben Holden a true story?
It is a novel, published in 1900. Bacheller based the characters on people he knew in the north country, and real figures such as Horace Greeley and Abraham Lincoln appear in its pages.
The author
Irving Bacheller
1859–1950 · American journalist and novelist
Irving Bacheller was an American journalist and novelist, born in Pierrepont, New York, in 1859. He worked in New York City and founded a newspaper syndicate in 1884. His novel Eben Holden appeared in 1900. He also wrote The Light in the Clearing, published in 1917. He died in 1950.
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