Plain Jane and pretty Betty : or, The girl who won out by May Hollis Barton
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"Plain Jane and pretty Betty" by May Hollis Barton is a novel written in the early 20th century. Set in a small American town, it contrasts the shy, resourceful Jane Cross with privileged Betty Browning while exploring class, kindness, ambition, and the weight of reputation as a girl tries to “win out” through character and effort. The opening of the story follows sixteen-year-old Jane as she leaves the grim mining town of
Coal Run with her foster guardians, the Powells, survives a moving-van crash, and finds unexpected hospitality from odd but generous neighbors, Lydia Terrin and “Mad Marion.” Settling into Greenville, Jane’s first errand leads to a stinging slight from the beautiful Betty Browning, but also to a friendly ally in Billy Dobson, a grocer’s clerk and hopeful young inventor. That night a massive fire destroys Martin & Hull’s grain warehouses, injures Mr. Powell’s hands, and threatens the Brownings’ fortune because of a recent loan; by morning, suspicion—fueled by a witness and Mr. Hull’s resentment—unfairly falls on Billy. Jane publicly defends him, then returns home worried about money and quietly resolves to help as the Powells face hardship. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Barton, May Hollis |
|---|---|
| Title | Plain Jane and pretty Betty : or, The girl who won out |
| Original Publication | New York: Cupples & Leon Company, 1926. |
| Series Title | The Barton books for girls ; 5 |
| Credits | David Edwards, Dori Allard and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres |
| Subject | Young women -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | City and town life -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | Job hunting -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | Working class women -- Juvenile fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 77832 |
| Release Date | Feb 1, 2026 |
| Last Update | Feb 19, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 271 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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