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Grace Livingston Hill Collection No. 1
Grace Livingston Hill Collection No. 1 : four complete novels, updated for today's readers, edited and updated for today's readers by Deborah Cole. Contains:
-- Aunt Crete's Emancipation / Grace Livingston Hill
-- A Daily Rate / Grace Livingston Hill
-- The Girl from Montana / Grace Livingston Hill
-- Mara / Isabella MacDonald Alden
Now you can curl up and enjoy three of Grace Livingston Hill's most moving novels in one, easy-to-hold treasure. The valuable addition of Mara by Grace's beloved aunt, Isabella Alden, makes your collection complete. From the dream of Aunt Crete's Emancipation, to the sobering realities of A Daily Rate, to the inspiring discovery by The Girl from Montana, to the unforgettable tale of Mara, you'll be swept off your feet and carried away to another time, another place. Here main characters have character, romance is real, and love lives as surely as the heart beats.
-- Aunt Crete's Emancipation / Grace Livingston Hill
-- A Daily Rate / Grace Livingston Hill
-- The Girl from Montana / Grace Livingston Hill
-- Mara / Isabella MacDonald Alden
Now you can curl up and enjoy three of Grace Livingston Hill's most moving novels in one, easy-to-hold treasure. The valuable addition of Mara by Grace's beloved aunt, Isabella Alden, makes your collection complete. From the dream of Aunt Crete's Emancipation, to the sobering realities of A Daily Rate, to the inspiring discovery by The Girl from Montana, to the unforgettable tale of Mara, you'll be swept off your feet and carried away to another time, another place. Here main characters have character, romance is real, and love lives as surely as the heart beats.
450 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
6 people are currently reading
255 people want to read
About the author
Grace Livingston Hill
603 books572 followersalso wrote under the pseudonym Marcia MacDonald
also published under the name Grace Livingston Hill Lutz
A popular author of her day, she wrote over 100 novels and numerous short stories of religious and Christian fiction. Her characters were most often young female ingénues, frequently strong Christian women or those who become so within the confines of the story.
niece to Isabella MacDonald Alden
also published under the name Grace Livingston Hill Lutz
A popular author of her day, she wrote over 100 novels and numerous short stories of religious and Christian fiction. Her characters were most often young female ingénues, frequently strong Christian women or those who become so within the confines of the story.
niece to Isabella MacDonald Alden
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 15, 2022
All four stories in this collection were interesting and completely without anything inappropriate. My favorite story was the first one, probably because it was short and got right to the point without much extra info and also because it contained my favorite kind of plot: someone who was mistreated gets a great reversal of situation.
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May 19, 2020I'm not even kidding you. I read this book when I was like 8 or 9. That's a lot for a little kid to take on.
December 14, 2019
Grace Livingston Hill wrote the first three books in this collection, and I would rate them each a 3. Her aunt, Isabella Alden, wrote the last book, which I would rate a 4. I had never read one of Isabella Alden's books before but enjoyed it more than the ones by Grace Livingston Hill in this collection, so I may consider trying to track down more of them.
The first book, Aunt Crete's Emancipation, is a type of Cinderella story in which the maiden aunt, Crete, lives with a sister and niece who treat her like a maid and leave her behind when they go to a posh resort to try to snag a wealthy husband for the niece. The two also want to avoid a soon-to-arrive relative, Donald Grant, because they expect him to be poor and backward. They receive their comeuppance when Donald turns out to wealthy, well-connected, and generous. This is not a true romance because Donald and Aunt Crete have no romantic interest in each other, but he does rescue her from a life of drudgery. The storyline is predictable for anyone who has read Cinderella, but its thread of revenge--or is it justice?--may hold appeal for readers desiring to see "Cinder-Crete" come out on top while her small-hearted relatives receive just desserts.
In A Daily Rate, young Celia Murray starts a boardinghouse in a large city and is able to take in an aunt who has been unwelcome in another niece's home. (Hmm . . . do I detect a common theme here? How many women could not provide for themselves in the late 1800s or early 1900s and had to rely on the goodwill of relatives?) The women are hoping to have a Christian influence on boarders, and in this aim, Celia seems a bit condescending toward the boarder Mamie because Mamie doesn't bath enough, keep herself clean, or dress conservatively. There is some bad advice for getting rid of acne by washing the skin with burning-hot water then cold water and curing oily hair by washing it with borax. I found such advice to be interesting insights into life a century ago but not necessarily what I would say to someone seeking a closer relationship with God. The plot is obviously a bit contrived because Mamie and other boarders do draw closer to God (and Mamie's acne gets cured!) through following Celia's advice and example. Still, I enjoyed reading this overall wholesome story from years ago.
In The Girl from Montana, Hill doesn't shy away from topics like the threat of rape and alcoholism. Kudos to her! I can't imagine this was an easy sell to Christian publishers in the early 1900s. The storyline is more of a traditional romance with Elizabeth Bailey fleeing one man and having her life saved by another man. Although neither the hero or heroine starts the story with much belief in God, seeds of faith sprout and blossom for both of them over the course of the novel. I suspect this is the type of novel that Hill is best known for and that helped her rise to bestseller status.
Mara by Isabella Alden seemed to me like an early 1900s version of "The Bachelor." Four young women set out on life after college and find love and--**spoiler alert**--lose it also. Although this book would have been considered a romance at the time, it's obviously different from modern romance novels in which heroines can be dumb as dirt and still get the man. As is true of "The Bachelor" TV show, there was something refreshing and entertaining in seeing that not every couple lives happily ever after.
The latter part of Mara rallies against Mormonism and polygamy. After reading the novel, I learned that this was a popular subgenre of literature from about the 1850s to 1900. Who knew? Interesting.
The first book, Aunt Crete's Emancipation, is a type of Cinderella story in which the maiden aunt, Crete, lives with a sister and niece who treat her like a maid and leave her behind when they go to a posh resort to try to snag a wealthy husband for the niece. The two also want to avoid a soon-to-arrive relative, Donald Grant, because they expect him to be poor and backward. They receive their comeuppance when Donald turns out to wealthy, well-connected, and generous. This is not a true romance because Donald and Aunt Crete have no romantic interest in each other, but he does rescue her from a life of drudgery. The storyline is predictable for anyone who has read Cinderella, but its thread of revenge--or is it justice?--may hold appeal for readers desiring to see "Cinder-Crete" come out on top while her small-hearted relatives receive just desserts.
In A Daily Rate, young Celia Murray starts a boardinghouse in a large city and is able to take in an aunt who has been unwelcome in another niece's home. (Hmm . . . do I detect a common theme here? How many women could not provide for themselves in the late 1800s or early 1900s and had to rely on the goodwill of relatives?) The women are hoping to have a Christian influence on boarders, and in this aim, Celia seems a bit condescending toward the boarder Mamie because Mamie doesn't bath enough, keep herself clean, or dress conservatively. There is some bad advice for getting rid of acne by washing the skin with burning-hot water then cold water and curing oily hair by washing it with borax. I found such advice to be interesting insights into life a century ago but not necessarily what I would say to someone seeking a closer relationship with God. The plot is obviously a bit contrived because Mamie and other boarders do draw closer to God (and Mamie's acne gets cured!) through following Celia's advice and example. Still, I enjoyed reading this overall wholesome story from years ago.
In The Girl from Montana, Hill doesn't shy away from topics like the threat of rape and alcoholism. Kudos to her! I can't imagine this was an easy sell to Christian publishers in the early 1900s. The storyline is more of a traditional romance with Elizabeth Bailey fleeing one man and having her life saved by another man. Although neither the hero or heroine starts the story with much belief in God, seeds of faith sprout and blossom for both of them over the course of the novel. I suspect this is the type of novel that Hill is best known for and that helped her rise to bestseller status.
Mara by Isabella Alden seemed to me like an early 1900s version of "The Bachelor." Four young women set out on life after college and find love and--**spoiler alert**--lose it also. Although this book would have been considered a romance at the time, it's obviously different from modern romance novels in which heroines can be dumb as dirt and still get the man. As is true of "The Bachelor" TV show, there was something refreshing and entertaining in seeing that not every couple lives happily ever after.
The latter part of Mara rallies against Mormonism and polygamy. After reading the novel, I learned that this was a popular subgenre of literature from about the 1850s to 1900. Who knew? Interesting.
April 24, 2019
This collection of Grace Livingston Hill was not her finest. I regard her as a brilliant writer but I prefer some of her other stories over this collection.
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May 1, 2025Carol Chastain
January 23, 2009
There were four full novels/stories in this book. I had actually previously read the three by Grace Livingston Hill, so I just read Mara, the story by Isabella Alden. It was yet another story about polygomy - a fictional one obviously!
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March 12, 2009JF-YAHil
February 5, 2010
I liked the first 3 stories by Grace Livingston Hill, but the fourth story by her aunt Isabella Alden, I did not like! Took forever to get through that one, but I finally finished it. Hard to read.
April 12, 2013
Mara was really depressing and where it dealt with actual historical facts it was not well researched. Very poor choice to include in a collection of great G.L.Hill books (which I rated 5 stars).
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews