Andrew the Glad

by Maria Thompson Daviess

Author of The Melting of Molly, Phyllis and The Golden Bird

104 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1913

About the author

Daviess was born in Harrodsburg, Kentucky in 1872. After her father died when she was eight, her family relocated to Nashville, Tennessee. She studied one year at Wellesley College, and then went to Paris to study art. Returning to Nashville, she continued to paint and also took up writing. Her first novel, Miss Selina Lue and the Soap-box Babies was published in 1909. The Melting of Molly, published in 1912, was one of the top best-selling books for the year. She published sixteen novels between 1909 and 1920.

In 1921, she moved to New York City, where she died in September 1924. She did not marry and had no children.

~ Wikipedia

Reviews

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thus was such a sweet romance and I loved it.
David was my favourite character - he was so warmhearted and sweet. (I always have a soft spot for characters named David anyways.)
I liked reading about the other characters too though.
I really enjoyed the dramatic reading of it on librivox which was really well done and enjoyable.
There was some racist stuff, but it was from the culture of the time and not any actual feelings of malice.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet, heartfelt, old-fashioned romance. I loved how the middle-aged adults take such a kindly interest in the affairs of the young people, leading to a novel with many generations having friendships across age demographics in a way we see very little of in our daily lives today. Phoebe, David, Caroline, Andrew, and the Buchanans were delightful lead characters to follow and root for. An easy read.

Not quite five stars because of some period racial terms (not meant cruelly, but still there) and a few moments of frustration with a couple characters.

[Regina · Rating 1 out of 5]

All of her books are more or less racist, which unfortunately is not really surprising given the tome and place of her writing. But this one is by far the worst.

Additionally it is heavily pushing the „lost cause“ myth. The father of one of the characters has gambled away everything and then commits suicide and leaves his wife to face the consequences. But that is allright, because he fought „nobly“ for the confederacy.

I could not finish the book, it made me sick.