Marcia Schuyler - Grace Livingston Hill

I know this is a very old book, (published exactly 100 years ago!), but I love it. I first discovered it at my local library, when I needed a break from the Sweet Valley Twins, and I really never went back to those vapid little blond bimbos.

Summary: Sometime in the early nineteenth century, Marcia Schuyler, sweet, unassuming younger sister of the more beautiful, but headstrong and selfish Kate, wakes up the morning of her sister's wedding to realize that her sister has eloped during the night with someone else. Grieved at the thought of her good-hearted, God-fearing brother-in-law suffering embarassment at being abandoned, she agrees to marry him instead. Though just seventeen, Marcia settles into her role as Madam David Spafford, and is treated as a cherished younger sister by her still-grieving husband. Eventually, the two fall in love. Vindictive Kate and a devious man try to drive a wedge between Marcia and David, but true love wins out, and the unjust are justly punished for their crimes.

It seems like a simple story. Almost too simple. My aunties don't like Grace Livingston Hill because the 'good' characters are too good, while the bads are just bad to the bone. But Marcia Schuyler is deeper than that. David Spafford, for all his noble intentions, eventually realizes that he's being an absolute shmuck for loving one sister while being married to another. He also realizes that his love for Kate was built upon shallow obsession, not an actual knowledge of her as a person, with strengths and weaknesses. Though one of the defining features of early twentieth-century fiction is moral ambiguity, Grace Livingston Hill goes against the grain, presenting a clearly defined right and wrong, and many wonderful character lessons within. Miranda, the scatterbrained neighbour girl who befriends the new bride Marcia, incurs the wrath of her grandmother by helping Marcia out on several occasions, but rests quite contentedly in her punishment, virtue being it's own reward. In this day and age, who thinks about that? I love contemporary fiction, but there is little discussion of real, everyday virtue, and I miss it. Good deeds might be rewarded, yes, or even unrewarded, but then the good-doer is allowed to grieve their mistreatment, while Hill simply insists that virtue is it's own reward.

Hill is a master at description. I can see the fluffy white bread, the quivering jellies, the delicate folds of Marcia's pink chintz gown. You will be drawn into this world, and you will love every moment of it.

Highly recommended as a good classic Christian read for a rainy Sunday afternoon. But try to get the newer editions of the book, perhaps the one put out by Barbour in 2000, as the older version contains inappropriate references to race.