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What does it take for a spirited young woman to turn ambition into a living of her own?
Polly wants to earn her own way, not wait for others to provide for her. In Lillian Elizabeth Roy's Polly's Business Venture, that wish leads her toward business and the work of becoming self-reliant. Her talents need a purpose, and her ambition needs more than good intentions. The challenge is to turn the wish for independence into useful work.
This gentle story places work beside friendship and family, keeping the people around Polly in view. Business offers a test of character as well as skill: planning, taking risks, meeting customers and learning from mistakes all matter. As Polly faces the problems of growing up, the book explores how effort and small choices shape a young woman's ability to stand on her own.
What you’ll discover
- A spirited young heroine Follow Polly's wish to put her talents to use and earn her own living.
- Ambition put to work Explore a story that connects the hope of independence with practical effort.
- Business as a test Consider the planning, risks and mistakes that make enterprise a challenge of character.
- People beside the work Notice how friendship and family share space with Polly's wish to make her way.
- Girls' fiction and independence Discover an early twentieth-century story that gives a young woman's working ambitions room.
Who will love it
Readers who like cheerful tales of girls with careers, lovers of antiques, auctions and old houses, and anyone who enjoys loyal friendships and a heroine who knows what she wants.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Polly has plans of her own
- Courage does not settle the heart
- Polly's fortune depends on loyal friends
- Quiet looking matters more than eagerness
- A discovery tests Polly's values
- A lost mine prompts a business
- Romance presses against Polly's working plans
- Business means more than making money
Who’s who
- Polly BrewsterA ranch girl from Colorado who loves antiques, studies decorating, and wants to earn her own way before she thinks of marriage.
- Eleanor MaynardPolly's closest friend and business partner, quick-witted and fond of matchmaking, who is openly attached to Paul Stewart.
- Tom LatimerA mining engineer and strong swimmer who loves Polly and tries different ways to win her over.
- Mr. DalkenA wealthy, kind older friend of the girls who lends his car and helps settle quarrels among them.
- Mrs. FabianThe patient chaperone who teaches the girls to spot antiques and bargain shrewdly in country houses.
- Jack BaxterA rich young college man who falls for Polly and hires the girls to furnish his apartment.
- Mrs. CourtneyA New York society woman and collector who hires the girls and dreams of a yacht voyage.
- Dodo AlexanderA talkative girl from Denver who drives well, loves collecting, and joins the girls' studies in New York.
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Polly's Business Venture
by Lillian Elizabeth Roy · 1922
Polly Brewster loses a gold mine, finds a trade, and keeps every suitor guessing in New York.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“Never show a girl your trump card.”
In short
Five girls stroll the deck of an Atlantic liner on the last day of the voyage home when a boy hands Polly Brewster a wireless message. She will not open it in front of her friends, and they will not stop teasing her.
Polly's Business Venture at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 5 min3 h 15 min fast, 4 h 50 min slow
- Length
- 58,000 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1922by Lillian Elizabeth Roy
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
A wireless message stirs up the liner
The story opens on the last day of a voyage home from Europe. The ship cannot dock that night, so the captain plans a dance. Polly Brewster, Eleanor Maynard, Nancy Fabian, Dorothy Alexander, called Dodo, and Ruth Ashby walk the deck. A boy from the wireless room hands Polly an envelope.
Polly does not open it. Her friends laugh and tease her. When she steps aside and reads the note, she blushes, and Eleanor cries that it is from him. Dodo thought Polly a man-hater. Now she asks whether anyone has ever proposed to her. Polly answers that Jimmy Osgood proposed to every girl in the party.
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Details
- First published
- 1922
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Roy, Lillian Elizabeth. Polly's Business Venture. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/pollys-business-venture.
Roy, L. E. (2026). Polly's business venture. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/pollys-business-venture (Original work published 1922)
Roy, Lillian Elizabeth. Polly's Business Venture. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/pollys-business-venture.
@book{roy2026pollys,
author = {Roy, Lillian Elizabeth},
title = {Polly's Business Venture},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/pollys-business-venture},
note = {First published 1922}
}
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What is Polly's Business Venture about?
It follows Polly Brewster, a Colorado ranch girl studying interior decorating in New York. When her family's mines fail, she starts buying and selling antiques with her friend Eleanor, while Tom Latimer hopes she will marry him.
Is Polly's Business Venture part of a series?
Yes. It is part of Lillian Elizabeth Roy's Polly series about Polly Brewster. The opening pages sum up the earlier books, so a new reader can follow the characters and the story without having read them.
Who are Tom, Eleanor and Mr. Dalken?
Tom Latimer is a mining engineer who loves Polly. Eleanor Maynard is her best friend and partner. Mr. Dalken is a rich, kind family friend who lends his car and settles quarrels among the young people.
The author
Lillian Elizabeth Roy
1868–1932 · American children's writer
Lillian Elizabeth Roy (1868–1932) was an American writer who lived in the United States. She wrote books for children in the early twentieth century. Her titles include Polly's Business Venture, Polly and Eleanor, and Girl Scouts in the Adirondacks. She wrote several books in these series.
“Never show a girl your trump card.”
More by Lillian Elizabeth Roy
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