Catherine Marshall

“America’s most inspirational writer” – The New York Times Catherine Marshall, New York Times Best-Selling author, is best known for her novel Christy. Based on the life of her mother, a teacher of mountain children in poverty-stricken Tennessee, the story of Christy captured the hearts of millions and became a popular CBS television series. Christy’s impact is seen in the hundreds of individuals who became teachers in underserved communities after reading the novel. Her powerful second novel, Julie, is set in the 1930s in a Pennsylvania steel mill town prone to flooding. Danger increases as Julie and her father challenge the treatment of immigrant workers by steel mill owners in a town whose very existence depends on the strength of the dam controlled by them. Catherine first heard Dr. Peter Marshall preach as a student at Agnes Scott College. They were married after her graduation in 1936. Dr. Peter Marshall, the endearing Scottish preacher, was one of America’s best-known preachers and also served as Chaplain of the United States Senate. In 1940, their son, Peter John, was born. From 1943–45, Catherine struggled with the ravages of tuberculosis, for which there was no known cure at the time. Confined to her bed, she spent hours reading, studying Scripture, and journaling, which nurtured her later writing career. Catherine was only 35 at the time of Dr. Marshall’s sudden death in 1949. With a nine-year-old son to support, Catherine initially earned a living by compiling and editing her husband’s sermons and then writing A Man Called Peter, the national bestseller about her husband that was published in 1951. The 20th Century Fox movie version in 1955 became an immediate box office hit and was nominated for an Academy Award. In her nonfiction work, To Live Again, she explored some of the more challenging aspects of being widowed at a young age, single parenting, earning a living, and dealing with grief. The transparency of her writing about her own life and circumstances catapulted her non-fiction writing career to new heights and earned her the title of America’s most inspirational writer. In 1959, a decade after Dr. Marshall’s untimely death, Catherine married Leonard LeSourd, Executive Editor of Guideposts. Author and editor, this dynamic team collaborated often at Evergreen Farm on Christy and Julie and many other books. She also inherited a ready-made second family with Leonard’s children, Linda, Chester and Jeff, ages 10, 6, and 3. Both Christy and Julie took nearly a decade to complete. Vivid descriptions, complex characters, and page-turning plots in these novels were enhanced by full-throttled and frequent discussions between Catherine and Len. They also worked together on many of her inspirational non-fiction books including Something More, The Helper, Beyond Ourselves, Adventures in Prayer, and her autobiography Meeting God at Every Turn. This writer-editor duo combined forces with John and Tibby Sherrill in 1974 as partners in the publishing company Chosen Books. A beloved inspirational writer and speaker, Catherine Marshall LeSourd’s enduring career spanned four decades, six continents, and reached over 30 million readers.