The Choir Invisible

{{short description|1897 novel by James Lane Allen}}

{{for|the California band|Choir Invisible}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{infobox book |

| name = The Choir Invisible

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image =File:The Choir Invisible 1897 cover.png

| image_caption = 1897 book cover

| author = James Lane Allen

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| country = United States

| language = English

| series =

| genre = Novel

| publisher = Macmillan

| pub_date = April 1897

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| media_type = Print (Hardcover)

| pages = 361 pp

| isbn =

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}}

The Choir Invisible is a novel by James Lane Allen published in 1897. A bestseller,(6 October 1946). [https://books.google.com/books?id=PZ6lgRl6VAwC&pg=PA12 Fifty Years of Best Sellers], compiled in Popular Culture(19 February 1925). [https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0911FA3A5F17738DDDA00994DA405B858EF1D3 James Lane Allen, Author, Dies at 76: Creator of "The Choir Invisible" Collapses In Roosevelt Hospital From Chronic Insommnia], The New York Times it was the second-best selling book in the United States for 1897.

A poignant love story, it is set in Kentucky{{cite web|url=https://www.bartleby.com/library/readersdigest/391.html|title=James Lane Allen (1849-1925). The Choir Invisible. Keller, ed. 1917. The Reader's Digest of Books|website=www.bartleby.com}} in 1795 and begins with a portion of the poem "The Choir Invisible" by George Eliot.{{cite web|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2316?msg=welcome_stranger|title=The Choir Invisible by James Lane Allen|publisher=|via=www.gutenberg.org}} Although criticized for lacking depth, being full of digressions, and "artistically disappointing", it was his most popular novel.{{cite book|pages=69–72|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h49BVKlP_4cC&pg=PA70|title=James Lane Allen: A Sketch of His Life & Work|first=William K.|last=Bottorff|location=New York|publisher=Twayne|year=1964 |oclc=252052738 |series=Twayne's United States authors series |volume=56 }} An 1897 review in The Atlantic Monthly faulted the book for its "meagre" structure, yet praised its tone and style.{{cite magazine|magazine=The Atlantic Monthly|volume=80|pages=143–44|year=1897|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hp0RAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA143|title=Mr. Allen's The Choir Invisible}} The book is often regarded as Allen's best work.{{cite book|title=The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture|volume=9: Literature|editor1-first=M. Thomas|editor1-last=Inge|page=166|chapter=Allen, James Lane|isbn=9781469616643|publisher=UNC Press|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VymaAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA166|year=2014}}

The novel was developed from a novelette Allen published in 1893 titled "John Gray: A Kentucky Tale of the Olden Time".Bottorff, [https://books.google.com/books?id=h49BVKlP_4cC&dq=review+of+james+allen+the+choir+invisible&pg=PA161 p. 161, note 2].