Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roast Beef Medium | 1911 | Edna Ferber | Buy |
| 2 | Roast Beef Medium: The Business Adventures of Emma McChesney | 1913 | Edna Ferber | N/A |
| 3 | Personality Plus | 1914 | Edna Ferber | Buy |
| 4 | Emma McChesney and Co. | 1915 | Edna Ferber | Buy |
The Emma McChesney series was among Edna Ferber’s earliest popular works, featuring a divorced woman making her way as a traveling saleswoman. Roast Beef Medium (1911) introduced the character in a collection of linked stories, followed by Personality Plus (1914) and Emma McChesney and Co. (1915).
Emma McChesney was unusual for her time as a literary character: a working single mother who was competent, funny, and independent. The series was popular with magazine readers before being collected into book form, and it helped establish Ferber’s reputation as a writer interested in women who worked for a living.