I have always been a fan of the Betsy-Tacy books, but I never wanted to read this one because it wasn't really about Betsy. I finally read it before the last convention and it quickly became one of my favorites.

Emily is such an inspirational person. Her story takes place 100 years ago, but many of her feelings are timeless. She feels alone when her friends go off to university and she stays to be with her grandfather. She wants to outgrow her teenage self, so she begins by spending time with better people (her high school friends are very selfish, and never listen to her), and helping the local Syrians. When her friends visit from college, she realizes that she did indeed outgrow them. And another turn in the story was when Emily begins a relationship with Jed, a charming Southerner. Jed respects her in every aspect as opposed to potential beau Don.

SPOILER!

My favourite part is when Emily stands up to the obnoxious Don and closes off their platonic relationship:

"I suppose you think that I'm a cad?" Don asked.
"I just don't think about you. Goodbye", Emily said, and closed the door firmly behind him.

BURN! I was so happy Emily did this

Jed and Emily get engaged at the end, and being the wonderful man he is, suggests that she goes off to college, but Emily declines again because she always wants to stay with her grandfather. Emily is happy knowing she'll never be alone again.

I adore this book. It's one of my feel-good books that I own and go back to for a terrific comfort read. I love Emily, her seriousness, her smarts, and her determination to get the most out of her life in small-town Minnesota. Emily's low moods and her insecurities make her relatable and she is one of my favorite young women in fiction. I love all of this author's protagonists, but I think Emily Webster is my favorite.

There are certain books that are defined as classics for a reason.

These are the books that you read more than once and often times read to your children as they grow to love and appreciate books.

Emily of Deep Valley by Mitali Perkins and Maud Hart Lovelace is one such timeless classic. This takes place in the early 1900's at a time where life was a whole lot different than it is today. I think that is what defines it to me as a classic. As I read this novel I was immediately reminded of Turner Classic Movies. This book fits the genre of such like

Emily Webster is an orphan living with her grandfather, who is 81. A former soldier of the war on Gettysburg, he often has lapses in his memory often asking Emily the same questions again after already asking them. She is the model of elegance, simply answering them as if it were the first time hearing them. She takes care of her grandfather ensuring that he has something to eat. If not for her, all he would eat is milk and bread.

Emily's best friend is Annette who is the belle of the ball so to speak. She has the best of everything from custom designed dresses, the boys are all fond of her, and she is the most popular of the girls. The interesting thing about Emily is she isn't jealous or envious of Annette. She merely sees it as a chance to see the other side of life.

She has an innocent view of life and desires better things for herself upon graduation from high school. She dreams of college and all the possibilities that it would offer her, but she lacks the financial means to make that happen. Even though her grandfather cares for her financial, Emily isn't about to ask. She is an honor student and dreams of changing the world. Just how she does that is contained within the beautiful written and illustrated pages of this book.

I received this book, compliments of Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for my honest review. I have to say I loved it. It takes you back to the time period of It's A Wonderful Life and the Baileys. Where faith and love are the foundations that make us what we are and define our character not the things that money can buy. I would rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars and it now has a permanent part in our home library and one I can't wait to read to my children and grandchildren as well.

For more information on this book, the author, and where to get a first chapter peek, please read on.
This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Emily of Deep Valley
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Reprint edition (October 12, 2010)
by
Mitali Perkins

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A word from Mitali: Who In The World Is Mitali Perkins?

That's a good question. I've been trying to figure it out myself, spending most of my life crossing borders.

I was born Mitali Bose in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, and always tried to live up to my name 14which means 1Cfriendly 1D in the Bangla language. I had to! Because my family moved so much, it was the only way I could make new friends.

By the time I was 11, I'd lived in Ghana, Cameroon, London, New York and Mexico before settling in California just in time for middle school. Yep, I was the new kid again, in seventh grade, the year everybody barely makes it through.

My biggest lifeline during those early years was story. Books were my rock, my stability, my safe place as I navigated the border between California suburbia and the Bengali culture of my traditional home.

After studying political science at Stanford and public policy at U.C. Berkeley, I taught in middle school, high school and college. When I began to write fiction, my protagonists were often 14not surprisingly 14strong female characters trying to bridge different cultures.

Mitali Perkins is the author of several books for young people, including SECRET KEEPER (Random House), MONSOON SUMMER (Random House), RICKSHAW GIRL (Charlesbridge), and the FIRST DAUGHTER books (Dutton).

ABOUT THE BOOK

Often cited as Maud Hart Lovelace 19s (of Betsy-Tacy fame) best novel, Emily of Deep Valley is now back in print, with a new foreword by acclaimed young adult author Mitali Perkins and new archival material about the characters 19 real lives.

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 19t leave her grandfather. Emily resigns herself to facing a 1Clost winter, 1D 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-Tracy books, Maud Hart Lovelace wrote three more stories set in the fictional town of Deep Valley: Winona 19s Pony Cart, Carney 19s 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.

If you would like to browse inside Emily of Deep Valley, go HERE.

I'm glad I read this at last! I like how different Emily is than some of Lovelace's other characters. The school board scene was moving and very timely even now. I desperately wanted Emily to go to college and wished the ending had been slightly different - maybe Jed could have done more to encourage her? - but it was a different time for expectations for women (plus college wouldn't have been a requirement in those days for the social work she found herself called to do).

I liked this book in a totally different way from the Betsy-Tacy books. I enjoyed how Emily grew up on her own and accepted her differences. I enjoyed the references from the era. I loved the frog legs stories and the stories about Little Syria.

Upon rereading, this book is now #3 on my list of favorites!!! I love it SO much! I relate to Emily in so many ways; and I love her Grandpa and the little house across the slough and Cab and the "Hair Up" chapter and Jed Wakeman and the locust trees and just EVERYTHING. <3

Jed is SUCH a gentleman, and truly values everything about who Emily is. He invests himself in the Syrian community and her grandfather and the children he teaches. I really admire his character!

And Emily matures so much throughout the book. I really love that the book covers exactly one year, and in that time we see so much growth and change in her life!

This book was a whole new take on Maude Hart Lovelace. I can't believe I waited this long to read it. Glad it will now be part of my yearly comfort read of these books. It gives us the story of another slice of life in Deep Valley.

I adore Emily. She's just lovely.

Recently re-read this book since it was actually my introduction to the work of Maud Hart Lovelace and I read her books many times as a child and teen.

Adult opinion: Lovelace is an immensely talented writer with a great skill for description and character building.

Through the first few chapters, I loved the nuanced conflict around the main character and the lush descriptions of small town Midwest life at the start of the 20th century. Emily is a likeable character with realistic flaws. She's also an active character and takes charge of her own life more and more as the book goes on. There are no clear villains in her story, just life being hard.

So why only three stars?

I don't think the second half of the book is as nuanced as the first. A big part of Emily's personal development comes form helping the local Syrian immigrant community, but the Syrians are not fleshed out characters. They're adorable, yes, and it was more progressive in 1950 to even raise issues of immigration and racism in a children's book.

But the Syrians are not allowed much emotional complexity. They are perpetually "grateful" and "humble" to the white people helping them out. They really are just there as plot devices in Emily's story. They're in the book so much they deserved their own arcs. Even Kalil does not win over the American boys on his own; he owes everything to jed, who taught him wrestling.

Emily herself never has to confront her own privilege. She's always dreamed of doing social work, but she lived all her childhood next to a community that needed help and never considered helping them because it's less romantic to help the people in your own backyard. Also, Emily never considered that other people were feeling as lonely and out of place as she did--with even more reason! These would have been great character-building moments to include.

Also, I'm not sure this book needed a romance. It's immensely satisfying to see Emily dump the pretentious conformist asshole for a guy who treats her right, but her love interest is barely even present in the first two thirds of the book. They do that thing where minor characters keep talking up the love interest to Emily to show "he really is basically Jesus" but she never actually gets to see him doing the things other people praise. It gets very old to keep hearing minor characters saying "Emily is awesome!" and "Jed is awesome" to bolster up the romance rather than more examples of them just hanging out and talking.

Now, I know Emily was based on a real person so maybe Lovelace had to include the romance because the real person married young. But I don't think Emily really needed Jed's help to do any of the social or personal growth things she did in the book. She was already on her way by the time he showed up.

The conflict of Emily growing out of co-dependency on her high school friends is the strongest part of the novel. However, the romance and the social work parts feel like subplots that turned into a main plot and then a quick way to show how awesome the characters are.

Though I grew up reading and rereading most of the Betsy-Tacy books, I didn’t come across Emily’s story until I was an adult. I think this 2024 reading might be my third, and while I enjoyed it the first two times because it was another visit to Deep Valley, this time I read it with an increased appreciation for the “based on real people” angle since I was reading with DAR friends who are longtime Mankato residents who could tell me stories about local businesses owned by Syrian/Lebanese immigrants.

Based on the real life friend of the author, Marguerite Marsh. A lovely story of a young woman of brave faith and sweet character.