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Gentlemen from England

maud hart lovelace delos lovelace

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Maud Hart Lovelace--internationally famed author of the Betsy-Tacy children's books--joined literary forces with her husband, Delos, to produce Gentlemen from England, first published in 1937. It's the fictionalized story of a real nineteenth-century English colony near Fairmont, Minnesota, located near Maud Lovelace's hometown of Mankato.

Tales of the immigrant British men and women, striving to recreate English country estates on the Minnesota prairie, intrigued the Lovelaces. The authors' thorough research became the basis for this vivid novel of colorful fox hunts, festive balls, and English family life set on the huge bean farms bought from a land speculator.

375 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1937

This edition

Format
375 pages, Paperback
Published
May 15, 1993 by Minnesota Historical Society Press
ISBN
9780873512879
ASIN
0873512871
Language
English

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About the author

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maud hart lovelace

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Maud Hart Lovelace was born on April 25, 1892, in Mankato, Minnesota. She was the middle of three children born to Thomas and Stella (Palmer) Hart. Her sister, Kathleen, was three years older, and her other sister, Helen, was six years younger. “That dear family" was the model for the fictional Ray family.

Maud's birthplace was a small house on a hilly residential street several blocks above Mankato's center business district. The street, Center Street, dead-ended at one of the town's many hills. When Maud was a few months old, the Hart family moved two blocks up the street to 333 Center.

Shortly before Maud's fifth birthday a “large merry Irish family" moved into the house directly across the street. Among its many children was a girl Maud's age, Frances, nicknamed Bick, who was to be Maud's best friend and the model for Tacy Kelly.

Tib's character was based on another playmate, Marjorie (Midge) Gerlach, who lived nearby in a large house designed by her architect father. Maud, Bick, and Midge became lifelong friends. Maud once stated that the three couldn't have been closer if they'd been sisters.

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Community Reviews

Rating(3.6 / 5.0, 11 votes)
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11 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
xFangero
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I was disappointed in one of my favorite authors, at the first novel of hers I've read-I didn't even finish it! I started wondering just how good the story line was,part way in, and flipping through it, I wondered why I would want to finish!
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MrDeathTheCat
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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A more adult read than the Betsy-Tacy series with adult themes (like adultery) told without graphic indulgence and with subtle and non judgmental moral overtones. Characters are less developed and less personable than I expected from Lovelace but I still found the novel an interesting, quick read. Based on a real group of "gentleman" immigrants from England that sought to recreate their society and culture in Minnesota it did offer some things to think about concerning class, immigration, and acculturation. In some ways it's a mash up of Little House of the Prairie and Pride and Prejudice but short on the warmth and wit that could have made it more of an experience.
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SosanoSasuno
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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An interesting fictional look at a quirky chapter in Minnesota history: a short-lived colony of British gentry trying to farm on the prairie. There is nothing particularly noteworthy about the writing style or plot, but the story is worthwhile for history buffs and grown-up fans of the Betsy-Tacy books.
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ptc_yt
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Gentlemen From England is a darker story than most that Maud Hart Lovelace fans have come to love and expect. Still, and in spite of this, Gentlemen From England ranks as a favorite read of mine for the year. Sure, some may call it a "pot boiler" for it has a LOT of drama, but I honestly don't agree with that label. Yes, there is plenty of drama, but it is a well researched and well written novel and it makes for an exciting and compelling read; a book that I just didn't want to put down.....

To read more about of review: http://libraryhospital.blogspot.com/2...
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pooey__lofl
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I read this as my “Regional Book” for the Literary Life Podcast Reading Challenge. Having two Authors is always interesting because some things feel choppy. Overall I liked the book, having Delos Lovelace write the book brought in quite a bit of action/drama and Maud kept it interesting with the relationships/romance.
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TastiestLunch
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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By the author of the beloved Betsy-Tacy books. Interesting to see her progression as an author. It's easy to see why this novel of hers isn't as popular as her others. It is not a children's book, but I enjoyed the interesting historical fiction:

"It's the fictionalized story of a real nineteenth-century English colony near Fairmont, Minnesota, located not far from Maud Lovelace's hometown of Mankato. Tales of the immigrant British men and women, striving to recreate English country estates on the Minnesota prairie, intrigued the Lovelaces. The authors' thorough research became the basis for this vivid novel of colorful fox hunts, festive balls, and English family life set on the huge bean farms bought from a land speculator." -back cover
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BFlorry
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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“What a curious page they had written in the history of their time and place! Long after the last of them had ceased to be important, they would be recalled as the men whose money had gone to provide play for themselves, and working capital for others...what else fed the Americans through the grasshopper plagues, and what else paid for the good houses and barns, and for breaking up the virgin prairie? Where else did the money come from that bought the cattle, the sheep, and the plough-horses?...Even though they had frittered away their own opportunity for a place in the new, pleasant land, they had helped make the land secure and pleasant for others. ‘Three cheers for the great adventure in beans...And for the great Adam B. Crockett” who originally sold them the land.

Gentlemen from England is more than a Minnesota history text published in 1937. It is the story of a boy who becomes a man just as the land is settled into a town. It is the story of a savior who nurses his neighbor from the domestic abuse of her husband and is subsequently shunned by the community for being her paramour. It is the story of a savior who delivers the community’s proprietor Crockett from a lynching by his drunken, disgruntled customers. It is the story of a savior who intercepts the pursuit of a grief-stricken father of his daughter’s lover upon discovering her death while delivering his stillborn grandson. It is the story of a savior who becomes the hero of the hunt for the notorious wolf Three Toes. It is the story of a savior who rescues his friends from bankruptcy by organizing a traveling troupe of hurdle-jumping horsemen called the Rainbow Riders. It is the story of nondescript Englisher named Richard who loses hope, love, and reputation but whose faithfulness and persistence leads to redemption at the end of the Rainbow. “They all knew how Richard had changed. In the clear-headed, determined leader of their expedition they saw little of the uncertain immigrant of four years back, nothing at all of the impulsive, defiant failure who had opened the Kentish Arms [saloon].”

Although I savored every word, my favorite was Book Three, Chapter Four; I discovered Gentlemen...at Christmas, and this chapter centered around the Halliday family’s English traditions. It concluded with my favorite quote, “Waiting is a task for the brave, for the resolute, for those who believe in their stars.” Gentlemen from England gets all the stars! Lovelace fans will devour this timeless classic.
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