Thanks to whoever recommended the Grace Livingston Hill

[HappyGrace]

books WAAAY back on the (sniff, sniff) old boards. I am really enjoying them. They are nice light reading that is uplifting and edifying!

[Jean in Newcastle]

They are my mom's favorite books! Have you tried the George MacDonald romances (I think one is called "The Fisherman's Daughter" or something like that). She likes them too. I think you too might be kindred spirits!

[Hen Jen]

have to admit that her books are favorites of mine...I collect the old hardcover editions. I love to read them while eating...have you noticed she talks about food alot? Maybe a result of the depression years??

[Virginia Dawn]

I still have my favorite: Crimson Roses.

[HappyGrace]

I was hoping to find more in that genre, thank you!

[Rhonda@LivingWater]

One of my favorites is The Christmas Bride (I read it every year).
I've been reading them for 20 years and collect them too.
Such lovely, wholesome books.:)

[Mrs. H.]

I too love GLH for fun, light reading. I think all the peeks into domesticity (cooking, sewing, cleaning house) are absolutely precious, and I like that each book has a good moral feel to it.

The old hardbacks are the ones I seek out. I recently checked out a couple of the paperbacks from my library, and they looked like Harlequin romance novels by looking at the covers. Girls looking they were about to swoon into some guy's arms. GLH would be appalled.

[chai]

Oooh, you brought back some old memories. My grandmother used to read GLH. I can still picture her in her favorite chair with a few of the books piled next to it. Her crocheting basket was always there too. When I got older, I read them after she finished.

I LOVE the George MacDonald books too!

[Rebecca in VA]

They interest me because they're excellent looks into our country's history during the period 1895-early 1940s, which is when GLH was writing. I see many, many references to historic events which would have been current events for GLH and her readers. You see the Roaring 20s flapper era (numerous flappers appear), the Great Depression, the unsettled West, the Boxer Rebellion in China, World War I, World War II, the Spanish Flu of 1918, and on and on. GLH was a wonderful writer!

[Rebecca in VA]

There's even a wonderful book about homeschooling, 1920s style! It's called "The Prodigal Girl." The family in this book lives a cushy, middle-class life in the days before the Great Depression. The parents come to realize -- to their shock and horror -- that the public schools are teaching philosophies that are foreign to their Christian faith. Their children are sneaking around behind the parents' backs and becoming more and more rebellious. The dad packs up the whole family and takes them off to an old farmhouse that they own in northern New England (it was the house where the father grew up, and he never sold it). He has a wonderful neighbor (a pastor) begin to homeschool the children directly from the Bible. There are a lot of twists and turns in the plot, as the parents come to realize how deeply into sin the children have fallen. Great stuff, and it shows how prescient GLH was on many matters.

[Hen Jen]

gosh, how do you pick a favorite? I don't think I can.

my late father in law's favorite was "the best man" , I think...that's the one where the hero thinks he is taking the best man's place and ends up marrying the bride, if I'm remembering right...

I always really liked Marcia Shuyler- kind of set earlier than her usual books, she researched the material for it.

Pattern on the mount was a hard read, I felt for the wife...

I think my favorite is probably "The witness" which is different from her usual, kind of a modern re-telling of Paul and Stephen. I remember thinking the first time I read it that It was probably the one she was most proud of.

She really had a heart for boys, interesting because she had only daughters, right? I loved "The obsession of Victoria Greyson" for those bad boys...and I loved "Cloudy Jewell" because I loved how an old, faded, lonely lady was lifted up and loved and kind of mother-adopted.

I have lots of favorites, hard to pick just one!

and oh my, how GLH detested flappers to her very fiber of her being...I always look forward to a horrible painted, forward flapper showing up and stirring up a mess!

fun reading!

[Mrs. H.]

Don't you just love how GLH wrote a book for every situation?

Got rebellious teens? Read The Prodigal Girl

A boy everyone thinks is bad/no good? The Obsession of Victoria Grayson

A daughter you hope has high character? Ariel Custer

There is a book for almost every situation one can imagine involving family/home life.

[Rebecca in VA]

It's "The Gold Shoe." A beautiful society girl becomes snowbound and is forced to take refuge in the home of a very conservative, religious mother and son (the son happens to be gorgeous himself, and an ex-football star in college). The girl is very much intrigued by their way of life, and over the coming months she keeps in touch and begins to fall in love with the son. It's a great love story, not only between the young people but between the mother and her future daughter-in-law.

This is probably my favorite GLH book.

[HappyGrace]

I ordered "The Prodigal Girl" to start with and I'm delighted to have other titles lined up!

Now, for the George MacDonald books, are they made of up different series to be read in order, or are they standalone?

[Jean in Newcastle]

If I remember correctly, some of the George MacDonald books are in series (they have the same characters in a couple that I recall). But I can't tell you what they are!

[chai]

Here are the George MacDonald books that I have (of that style).

The Fisherman's Lady (pubished in 1875 as Malcolm)
The Marquis' Secret (sequel to Fisherman's Lady) (pubished in 1877 as The Marquis of Lossie)

The Baronet's Song (pubished in 1879 as Sir Gibbie)
The Shepherd's Castle (sequel to Baronet's Song) (pubished in 1883 as Donal Grant)

The Laird's Inheritance (Published in 1881 as Warlock o' Glenwarlock)