3.5* for well-written historical fiction with an excellent sense of place - but one I wouldn't read again, as it was honestly a rather sad story.

This book has probably been on my to-read list the longest

Wow...horrible old-fashioned writing! I struggled through it. The story had some highlights and a couple good characters, but there was so much to get through before you could even enjoy those!

I finished it! Technically this is a re-read, but I did not remember much at all, except that I liked it much better this time. Historical fiction about the early days of frontier Minnesota, Fort Snelling, and the founding of St. Paul. Written by my favorite author. It's very detailed and full of description, but there is also a good love story and good characters.

I’m struggling to rate this one—I like Lovelace’s writing, even though this is clearly an earlier work, I enjoy historical fiction, and I see much value in reading books that were written in a different era. I realize the politically correct view is to criticize the past; I think that is a narrow view and prefer to read history in context, recognize that we cannot fully put ourselves in our ancestors’ shoes, and learn from their strengths as well as their mistakes.

Back to this book. I’m not a romantic and I had a hard time accepting the probability of a character like Jasper Page carrying a candle for a married woman through most of the book and then suddenly deciding that he loves a much younger woman (in spite of her lower social status). I found Dee and her family very likable, sympathetic characters, and I felt that Lovelace did a good job of balancing the collision of three very different worlds—soldier, trader, and native—in light of the research that would have been available to her as she wrote. I also enjoyed her descriptions of the setting, especially having read this during a winter season similar to the one that trapped Dee on M’sieu Page’s island.

A charming historical novel, appropriate for Young Adult readers as well as adults. Just what you would expect from the marvelous Maud Hart Lovelace.

Historical fiction painting a picture of life in what became Minnesota

very enjoyable read--one of those books that's way better than you expected

click link for review http://william1978.quazen.com/shoppin...

I'm glad I read this, but I don't see myself ever re-reading it. The beginning was a little slow and Narcisse gave me a pain. Or maybe I should say that the DuGays' reaction to Narcisse gave me a pain. I'm glad that they could support him through his bipolar episodes, but couldn't one of them lose their temper with him just once?

I enjoyed the romantic scenes and wouldn't mind spending a winter with Jasper, but thought the proposal scene was a little too cute. It reminded me of Maud's early short stories with their satisfying but pat endings. All that said, it's always fun to find the essence of Maud in her non-BT writings and I certainly learned a lot about the place and period.

Maud Hart Lovelace’s Early Candlelight is the story of “Merry old Denis! Honest capable Tess…he didn’t know a more faithful man than Hypolite; and Amable was a good voyageur…At the thought of Narcisse, the smile in his eyes died down for a moment. But there were some younger boys coming up–George Washington, Lafayette…grinning, freckle-faced youngsters…Daniel Boones and Napoleon Bonapartes…the DuGay daughter…a girl of such character–and downright beauty…Dee. It’s a sweet name…And it begins so many words that fit you–de-licious, de-lightful, de-fiant” and her infatuation with M’sieu Page.

“Several days a week at early candlelight he came to tea at the Boles’” where “the ladies of the garrison study French…every Tuesday and Friday at early candlelight…Dee twisted her arms about her knees in great content. She loved this hour of early candlelight.” However, “It seemed to Dee that the world darkened less because the sun at last sank behind the bluffs, than because of the forebodings in their hearts.”

“Where [the nation] had paused it had put up this fort, as one puts a slip of paper in a book to keep the place.” “This is a white man’s world, and the Indian’s place in it is sad. There are not many white men brave enough to want to share it with them.” M’sieu Page… “Everybody loves him. The Indians and the half breeds and the squatters and the soldiers. They don’t know that his kindness to them comes from a belief that he is better than they. It was so clever and brave of him to be born Jasper Page…It was as if he recognized in his own splendid strength an obligation to help those less well armored for life…It was going up so high which made him fall so far.”

Yet “even a treeless prairie holds June on a jade plate…Death and birth and love, wielding an invisible needle on an invisible thread, drew them together…It is thus that legends start.” Maud Hart Lovelace’s Early Candlelight is timeless!

I don't know why my mind kept making this comparison, since it's been years since I've watched the movie, but I kept thinking about "Legends of the Fall" while reading this book. As far as memory serves, aspects seemed pretty similar. Tragic. Complicated relationships. Not really the ending I was looking for. It's probably told cleaner though (less swear words, scenes etc. than the movie; though this is an assumption since I watched an edited version through ClearPlay).

So if tragic romance, where he's adoring her, but she's married, and lovely little single girl doesn't get noticed until the end, is your kind of thing, you might like this book. It's slightly more redemptive at the end ... but I wasn't entirely convinced that he truly changed as Lovelace didn't think it necessary to clue the reader in to if/ or what change took place. It just ended with the "happy ending."

Also, as Lovelace was a huge fan of her home State, there is a lot of description and detail about the landscape and times of the pioneer days in Minnesota and Wisconsin areas.

Cleanliness: a man falls in love with a married woman. There is drinking and smoking and one character is a drunk. It mentions that many trappers sleep around with Indian girls. A man sleeps with someone's betrothed (it's unclear whether he forced her or she agreed) - not detailed. A girl commits suicide. A couple of d*mns and a few blasphemies.

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