The novel The Adventures of Kathlyn was also a serial produced as thirteen episodes and starring Kathlyn Williams. MacGrath wrote both simultaneously, timing things so the novel would be in the bookstores when the serial was running. The serial was only the second serial made by an American company, and the first of the "cliffhanger" style that became popular over the next decade. It was popular enough to spawn a feature length film a couple of years later with the same title and largely the same cast.
Kathlyn travels from California to India with her father and sister, to find herself caught up in a quest for jewels and captured with her family by the villainous Umballa. She possesses an unquenchable spirit and a way with wild animals. She will need both to endure her perils and help her family return to California.
