Stepping Heavenward

"Stepping Heavenward" by Mrs. E. Prentiss is a novel that tells the story of Katherine Mortimer, a young woman, as she journals her journey from a teenager into an adult. The novel looks into the idea of growing as a person, working through her bad qualities, trying to understand her religion, and the hard parts of being in a family. We begin following Katherine at sixteen as she starts a journal about her life, her relationship with her mother, and wanting to be a better person. Her plans to become a better person, though, are challenged by her quick anger and the everyday difficulties as she grows up, which she experiences as she interacts with friends and goes to school. The start of the book introduces the difficulties she is faces internally, her relationships with people like her mother and friends, and the beginning of her religious journey. The reader is drawn into her world as she struggles with what others want from her and what she wants for herself, making it a great beginning to her journey.