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Deep Valley #2

Emily of Deep Valley

maud hart lovelace vera neville

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Welcome back to Deep Valley! Emily Webster, an orphan living with her grandfather, is not like the other girls her age in Deep Valley, Minnesota. The gulf between Emily and her classmates widens even more when they graduate from Deep Valley High School in 1912. Emily longs to go off to college with everyone else, but she can't leave her grandfather. Emily resigns herself to facing a lost winter, but soon decides to stop feeling sorry for herself. And with a new program of study, a growing interest in the Syrian community, and a handsome new teacher at the high school to fill her days, Emily gains more than she ever dreamed...

In addition to her beloved Betsy-Tacy books, Maud Hart Lovelace wrote three more stories set in the fictional town of Deep Valley: Winona's Pony Cart, Carney's House Party, and Emily of Deep Valley, Longtime fans and new readers alike will be delighted to find the Deep Valley books available again for the first time in many years.

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1950
Series
Deep Valley
Places
mankato, minnesota, 

This edition

Format
304 pages, Paperback
Published
December 31, 2000 by HarperCollins
ISBN
9780064408585
ASIN
0064408582
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(4.1 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
39(39%)
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31(31%)
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100 reviews All reviews
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FarewellMaquia
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Emily Webster is my hero. She is at once an unabashed flag-waving patriot, and a passionate advocate for Syrian refugees.

This is, I think, my third reading of this book, but the first in a good long while. I had thought I remembered it pretty well, but it turned out there were lots of details I hadn't remembered, such as how great Cab (a minor character from the main series) is in this book. And also that Betsy makes an appearance. I had also forgotten just how sad the first half of the book is, but I remembered quite accurately that it becomes really wonderful. It almost (but not quite) makes me want to take up a volume of Browning and Herndon's Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life.
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Sosgirl18
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This book is so so dear. It’s a book for those who have been left out, or left behind. And a book for those who have despaired. And a book for those who have had dreams shattered. And finally a book for those who have faced those things and made the world a better place. In a world full of Dons…be an Emily!
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aloeverra
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I absolutely loved this book. If you are a fan of Anne, you’ll like this sweet story with a likable, relatable heroine, that moved along at just the right pace.

ETA: The premise of this book is that Emily is unsure of what to do after her high school graduation - all her friends are going off to college, it she stays home to care for her grandfather. However, she (rightly) decides that she must continue on with some kind of studies, and what she chooses are what we might call “extras” or “the riches:” she begins a literary club to read and discuss Browning’s poetry; she resumes piano lessons, and begins dance lessons. She reads Scott to her grandfather of an evening. And she finds a way to live out what she might have studied at school, right there at home.

I don’t have the words to describe what this means to me, I can only say that this is one of the reasons I love to read old books - because they seem to have a better understanding of Life and what is what makes a good one and what Life is About. Similar themes came up in The Harvester, which I read immediately after this book, and it’s a refreshing change from some of the ridiculous themes that are the focus of many contemporary novels.
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Negimoreno
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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There were two books that sustained me the most during my first year of marriage - a year when everything was changing, I had moved away from everything and everyone I knew, and I was post-school but pre-job or -kids, when my new husband was working long hours and I had huge spaces of time just by myself, wondering what my purpose was. One book was The Blue Castle, by LM Montgomery. The other was this book, Emily of Deep Valley. The questions and struggles Emily endured, the feeling of something ended without something else starting, the need to "muster her wits" and make her own path ... it all provided such encouragement and hope to my lonely soul!

I love that Emily's love story is secondary to her own self-discovery, that it provides a counterpoint to the lessons she is learning throughout her "lost year" but does not overshadow them. I love that Lovelace is not afraid to go against tradition - we are never sure if her heroines are going to end up with their first loves or with somebody new (in Lovelace's world, Anne Shirley and Roy Gardiner might very well have ended up more suitable to each other than Anne and Gilbert, shocking though that may seem!). I love that throughout everything she does is a thread of love and devotion to her grandfather, and never once is it suggested that she is wasting her life by staying with him. And I have to admit, I love all the descriptions of the clothes from back then!

It is an old-fashioned story, but Emily is a heroine for all ages.
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Mikosa63
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Re-read for November VSC. Still think Jed is written as a too good to be true guy, but oh well. I am firmly convinced that the engaged–practically! situation will wither away before it becomes real engagement.

Love this line which could be in a screenplay for the rom-com version:
"Miss Bangeter, casting off dignity for once, caught Emily to her queenly bosom."

Read:
1-16-2006. I know I've read it since then, but where are my records?
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proje90
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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The fact that I didn’t know this book existed is a TRUE CRIME. If you’re trying to place the vibe, think “Brooklyn” meets “Anne of Green Gables.” I haven’t devoured a book like this in so long. Maud Hart Lovelace paints a beautiful picture and the romance is to die for!!!!! I don’t know if another book will ever make me this happy ever again.
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chico-dono
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I have always loved the style of literature that came from the early twentieth century, but somehow I had missed this gem by Maud Hart Lovelace until some friends wanted to read it in our book discussion group. I'm so glad they suggested it, because "Emily of Deep Valley" has claimed a place in my heart and won't be forgotten any time soon.

The story opens with Emily Webster on the cusp of her high school graduation in 1912. Emily has enjoyed school and desperately wants to go to college, but she lives with her elderly grandfather and really can't leave him. As many of her friends head off for higher education, Emily struggles with being left behind and finding a new rhythm in her life.

As Emily's friends come home for their holiday breaks, Emily feels more lost than ever. She's not having the same experiences and is no longer part of their circle. She has new pretty dresses but few invitations to the parties that everyone else is going to.

While tempted to give in to despair, Emily decides instead to muster her wits. Maybe she can't follow her preferred life choice, but she can take control of where she is today. She begins to look outside of herself, to form and foster connections, and to build community in places that some would call unlikely. Emily comes to find joy and fulfillment, and endears herself to many - including a wonderful man who will capture the hearts of readers everywhere!

This ranks among the best 'coming into her own' stories that I've read, right up near longtime favorites Rilla of Ingleside and A Girl of the Limberlost. If these kinds of stories appeal to you, I couldn't recommend "Emily of Deep Valley" more highly!

This review originated at http://reviewsbyerin.dreamwidth.org
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M0k0cch1_13
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This is, by far, my favorite out of all of Lovelace's books! It's a in depth story of a young woman coming into her own, and realizing that she can gain education and purpose right in her quiet home town. Watching Emily spread her wings really inspired and moved me, and the ending is just the cherry on top!
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