What was the most uplifting NL you have read?

[Susan]

Jassy uplifted me when I read it during a very emotional time in my life , and I read that book and it was reading about how Lindy Wicks loved Jassy and committed murder for her and how their hearts were joined by a cord. It was the first book I had been able to concentrate on, and it stuck in my mind. I can honestly say though that there is not a book of hers that does not inspire me.

[Barbara]

Oh this is hard . I think Jassy and To See a Fine Lady for the sorts of reasons already mentioned, but Road to Revelation ( Winter Harvest) and How Far to Bethlehem for the moral and honourable and sacrificial aspects.

[Sallie]

I always found the most downtrodden and abused characters, the ones with the most miserable lives were the kindest & most helpful to others. They knew how it felt and did not want to be part of that.

[Barbara]

Yes, that poor girl in To See a Fine Lady , Bella was it , the one who Caroline Stancy killed? She was utterly warped and twisted by her experiences .

But there are more Emmies than Bellas thank goodness

( I don't think it is Bella, but you know how it is i is when you have to go to the other end of the house to look. I am seriously thinking of moving my NL's into the computer room)

[Barbara]

No need to disturb the dog- it was Nancy. There was another maid called Bella,and Mrs Nead the cook ( I never noticed the name Nead before, so like 'need' )

[Barbara]

Yes, I don't think you can go beyond HFTB for sheer uplifting .

Though I do think Road to Revelation is too. There is a scene in it, when the prostitute, Klara ( I think) says to Mary Anne - who is weak and sick with the terrible cold - something like "wait till the men have gone, and you shall have my second pair of drawers, I've got two on"

NL comments 'an unromantic, cataclysmic speech'

Klara says about waiting til the men are out of sight entirely for Mary Anne' s benefit, she herself wouldn't care, but knows Mary Anne would be deeply embarrassed. And Klara has never really given anybody anything, never been able to in her deprived life. When the worst came, Klara was revealed as one of the strong and decent ones.

[MaryC]

Most uplifting? Definitely How Far to Bethlehem?! It reminds us that, despite all the suffering and the ironies of fate, everything will ultimately be all right!

An uplifting INCIDENT, in another book, is the one in Esther in which two of the emissaries sent out to search for candidates for the role of new queen pass a nondescript woman inconspicuously jogging along in the same direction on a mule--and it's Vashti, thinking joyfully, "I'm going HOME!"

[MaryC]

In fact, many of the overall depressing books have uplifting touches in the form of strong people (again, mostly women) who stand up and prevail. I found Sorrel one of those, in her decision not to leave town after all and in her finally standing up to Marion--whom, after all, she had magnanimously taken in even though it must have been constantly painful to her to have Jamie's widow in the house and who even took for granted that Sorrel owed her something.

[Barbara]

Yes Mary , I love those uplifting incidents too, Sorrel over Marion and , of course , the wonderful Vashti going home .

And, back to R to R, the moment when Mahitabel goes with her little knife to "Ben first, because he was my own"