A Little Maid of Virginia

The Little Maid's Historical Series #10

by Alice Turner Curtis, Elizabeth Pilsbry (Illustrator)

Rose Elinor Moore is eleven when her little cousin Mary Lou Abbott comes to visit at her beautiful home near Yorktown in the spring of 1781 during the Revolutionary War. They share many exciting adventures, including driving together to Yorktown to witness Cornwallis's surrender.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Fiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1922

About the author

Children's and young adult historical fiction author Alice Turner Curtis was born in Sullivan, Hancock County, Maine, USA. Her maiden name is Alice L. Turner. She is listed in the Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Books. Her father was a sailmaker. She was married (in Boston on 20 May 1895) to Irving Curtis (18 Jan 1835 – 18 Nov 1910). Her parents (both born in Maine) were John Vinal Turner and Susan Ann Spear. Alice lived her life in Maine and Massachusetts (notably, in Boston). She had been in the literary profession since at least 1895 (with Marjorie's Way being her first known book, published in 1904).

Alice Turner Curtis is the author of "The Little Maid's Historical Series", originally published, during the period from 1910 to 1937. Reprinted by Knopf in the 1940's and 1950's with illustrations by Sandra James. Some books were reprinted by Applewood in the 1990's with the original illustrations. One book containing two original stories was printed by Derrydale Books in 1991. She is also known for the Grandpa's Little Girls series, The Yankee Girl Civil War Stories, the Frontier Girl series, The Little Heroine series, the Marjorie series, the Little Runnaways series, and other books.

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a sweet book, I really enjoyed reading it with my daughter. It really was a jem.

[Nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

MCL. It was set during the Civil War in Virginia. Rose Elinor was an only child and not very happy when her cousin had to move in with them and share Rose's things. Later she becomes friends with Mary Lou.

[Mark]

I read a scanned image of this book at the following location:
https://archive.org/details/littlemai...

It tells the story of two little girls who are cousins, during the Revolutionary war. One girl (Mary Lou) was pretty much raised by a relation who was a British sympathizer. The other, Mary Lou's cousin, Rose Elinor, was quite spoiled by her parents, and is quite a lot different from other protagonists in this series.

Mary Lou comes to live at Rosecrest with her cousin Rose Elinor and her family. Rose discovers that Mary Lou is a British sympathizer. Thomas Jefferson converts Mary Lou to be a loyal American like her father.

Mary Lou came to Rosecrest with a letter from her aunt addressed to a famous British authority. A lot of the angst in the book centers around the letter, protecting it, preventing it from being delivered, delivering it, etc. It is said to have saved their lives, the letter.

The girls have various adventures and mishaps. They even get kidnapped in a cave. They see and interact with a number of historical figures.

Eventually, the Americans win.

Throughout the book, the Rose tries to help the American cause a number of times, but she mostly ends up just helping to further ensure the safety of Rosecrest, and the war is won, so she doesn't need to do anything by then. However, they interact with more historical figures than average. So, the plot is different here than usual.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't Love it that much but it was good.