Title: Nedra
First published: 1905
Description: "Nedra" is a 1905 era soap opera with Gibson Girl styled illustrations.  Story:  Wealthy, engaged English sophisticated couples take a world voyage via ocean liner. After several weeks, all are shipwrecked in the Pacific. Only two survivors wash ashore on an island which the dark skinned in habitants call Nedra.  Unfortunately, these two survivors were halves of two different engaged couples. As the months roll forward, this newly created couple falls in love. On the day of their wedding ceremony, staged exactly one year to the day from their shipwreck, they are in the process of getting married when a large ship is spotted on the horizon.  Hearts pounding, they are saved!  But, what does salvation mean?  After returning to civilization in nearby Tahiti, what can they expect to happen? Did their old flames really perish in the wreck? If not, will the rescued couple sever their relationship and return to their old flames? Or--  Will they embarrass their families by continuing their shipwreck romance?  And---Do they dare to return to England as a couple? These questions, and many more, will be answered by reading "Nedra."

G.B. McCutcheon made a decent living writing the type of book currently made into romance movies for television. One of his most famous books was "Brewster's Millions."  In his day, his prolific books provided escape from the hard-working, plain lives of Americans to  romantic and far away places.

An online Social Security 'name' website claims that (according to census random samples) the female name, Nedra, was in the top 1,000 names in decades 1910, 1930 and 1950.  Prior to this book, the name probably did not exist.

Contributed by:  Nedra Collins (born in the 1950’s) named after Nedra Brown (born in the 1930’s). I don’t know who Nedra Brown was named after, but I expect it was after someone born in the 1910’s who was named after the book.  Pronounced either way—Ned'-ruh  or Nee'-drah.
Subjects: Nedra, 1905, 1906, romance novel, shipwreck, Fiction, romance, general, Fiction, humorous, general, Man-woman relationships, fiction, New york (n.y.), fiction, Marriage, fiction, Indiana, Fiction
Places: Tahiti, Pacific
People: G. B. McCutcheon, Lady Tennys
Time periods: turn of the century, early 1900's