Showing results by narrator "Anne Hancock" in All Categories

"They've lost the sense of right and wrong." This is the verdict of Chester Thornton, successful man of business, who is shocked to find that while he has spent years amassing his fortune, his five children have been breaking all the lessons of the Bible. His solution is to move to the Vermont farm where he grew up: no electricity, no friends to lead them astray, and a reacquaintance with Bible teachings. Very quickly, they adapt: skating, sledding, shared chores, and family time around the fire work its magic. But there is one holdout.

1917. American boys have joined the Great War in Europe. On the homefront, mysterious occurrences like ships catching fire and factories blowing up have people wondering: is this German sabotage? Hilda Lessing's family has been split apart due to the death of her father, and her uncle has found her a job doing housework on a friend's farm. Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz and their workers are German and a young train engineer whom she befriends on the way to the farm jokingly warns her to "Watch out for spies!"

Ramona Ortegna, the foster child of Señora Moreno, is much loved by all who live and work at the Moreno ranch, except Señora herself, who cannot bring herself to think of the girl as anything but a mixed-blood child. Half white, half Indian, Ramona had been adopted by the Senora’s sister who then entrusted the child to her upon her death. Already embittered by the loss to the Americans of much of her southern California land as the result of the 1846 Mexican-American War, the pious old woman is also distraught by the near destruction of California’s Catholic missions.

While being accosted by an over-ardent admirer who takes advantage of their being alone, Hazel's pony is spooked and runs off with her. Unfortunately, the girl's horsemanship, restricted to civilized rides in Central Park, is powerless to control him. Hours later she's rescued by a handsome missionary and their attraction grows as they travel to rejoin her party. Both are profoundly affected by their encounter. The missionary returns to his work among the indigenous people of the desert; the girl to a social life that quickly loses its appeal.

Orphaned cousins Jane and Lucilla, both 19, receive the exciting news that their guardian is at last allowing them to leave boarding school. But their rosy future is thwarted when they find he has made some bad investments and fled, leaving them with a cottage in the English countryside and a modest bank account.

As a mute, burly German peasant is helping British soldiers move a fallen tree, he's struck on the head. When he regains consciousness he calls out to the astonished Major Manning, using his nickname "Monkey"—in perfect English.

The only survivors of a shipwreck off a Pacific island are Cambridge professor Edward Bowden and an orphaned baby girl. When Valentine Ryven is discovered 20 years later, Edward has recently died, and she is relieved and excited to be taken to England, where she believes her loving family awaits. Valentine is sure of a warm welcome because among the papers retrieved from the wreck is a letter from her Aunt Helena saying so. But in 20 years things change ... especially when money is involved.

Jamie MacFarlane has returned a hero from the Great War but with a stubborn chest wound. The government has sent him to their new thermal springs hospital in California “where it was hoped that the brilliant sunshine, the fruits, and the clean air, the eternal summer of a beneficent land” would heal him. But nothing has worked and with his parents now deceased and no one to care for him, it seems the next step is a camp rife with tuberculosis. Realizing this, Jamie begins his Great Adventure on foot toward the ocean.

Sir John Waveney has inherited Waveney Hall. A veteran of the Great War himself, his inheritance has come because of the deaths in action of his two distant cousins, leaving him as the next male heir. He hopes to make the acquaintance of his two remaining cousins, Lady Jenifer Marr and Anne Belinda. But Lady Marr proves very vague about her twin sister's whereabouts. Is she traveling with a friend or (as has been intimated) has she been incarcerated in a mental institution? No one seems to actually know, and several people seem bent on frustrating John's attempts to find her.

The engagement of effervescent Mally Lee to handsome, well-connected Roger Mooring is not going well. They quarrel constantly and Mally's idea is to spend time apart and delay the wedding. She has no money of her own and hopes to find a job, which materializes when Sir George Peterson hires her to be a governess to his daughter. She happily heads to London and all is well until Sir George and his odious secretary, Paul Craddock, accuse her of the theft of a diamond brooch and an important paper.

Cloud of Spruce, the ancestral home of the Lesley clan, is situated amid orchards and spruce woods with a perfect view of Prince Edward Island harbor. Six-year-old Marigold Lesley is sure that the sound of the wind through the trees is the whispers of fairies; that just over the hill is a beautiful Hidden Land; and that her friend Sylvia—who no one else can see—will always be waiting to play with her. Marigold lives with her understanding mother, her curmudgeonly Old Grandmother, and her strict Young Grandmother who doesn't approve of imaginary friends.

Sally Meredith's young life has been full of adventure. As a suffragist, she fought for women's right to vote. She drove an ambulance in France during the war. And she's already had a proposal and a broken engagement. But the past few years have been deadly dull, taking care of a cranky relative and now living alone in a quiet village. So when her eccentric uncle Fritzi arrives with the tale of his most recent invention - a deadly gas that nations are striving to get hold of - she's intrigued.

Shirley Hollister is desperate. She, her ailing mother, and her four siblings are being forced out of their cramped city apartment. Where to go on her meager stenographer's salary? On a whim, she takes a trolley ride into the countryside and spies a barn: spacious, full of light, and surrounded by God's wondrous nature. Her new landlord, Sidney Graham, is intrigued by this lovely young woman and her plans to turn his abandoned barn into a home.

Constance Wetherill's world has collapsed. The young socialite has discovered that her late uncle has squandered the family fortune, and she is left with $5000 and the care of her elderly grandmother. Having no experience in the world of work, Constance takes a chance. In an out-of-the-way town, far away from anyone she knows, she finds a rambling house with cheap rent where she hopes to open a tea room. Is the place haunted? The townspeople think so because there have been sightings of a lady in white roaming the house and grounds.

Evangeline Knapp's neighbors are in awe of her prowess. She re-upholsters furniture and can take scraps of fabric and create a beautiful garment. Her house is always immaculate and her children are beautifully behaved - except for the stubborn youngest, but with Eva's strength of will, they're certain she'll sort him out in time. The neighbors don't know that in her frenzied zeal to create the perfect home, her children live in dread of her temper. She loves them, but she can't stand having to remind them constantly about the same things, simple rules easy enough for anyone to understand.

Cornelia Copley's plans to finish college and get her degree in interior decoration are thwarted when she is unexpectedly called home due to her mother's illness. Heartbroken at the interruption and not understanding why her father can't see how important her education is, Cornelia soon finds there is plenty of trouble at home: Her mother has had a breakdown and is in a sanitarium; her father has lost his job and taken a lower position; and her brother Carey is going with a wild crowd.

Patterson Greeves, a noted scientist and academic, is retiring to his family manse to write a book. But on arrival, he finds two letters, one from each of his daughters, announcing their imminent arrival. One plans to visit and the other to live with him. He panics: though a man of many accomplishments, he has been an abysmal and absent father.

This delightful sequel to Webster's Daddy Long-Legs centers on socialite Sallie McBride, who reluctantly agrees to become director of an orphan asylum. The asylum's benefactors, her friends Judy and Jervis Pendleton, insist she is just the person to institute the sweeping reforms the institution needs. The exuberant Sallie soon begins ruffling feathers of the staff, filling the children's lives with hope and love, and locking horns with the new Scotch doctor, the Dear Enemy of the title.

Hoping to win the hand of lovely Cleone Charteris, Philip Jettan discovers that wealth and country manners are not enough. Cleone has been exposed to the gallantries of London society and finds Philip too blunt and boorish. His sophisticated father agrees and the frustrated young man departs for Paris and an education.

Grace Livingston Hill’s three novels about 19 century small-town America remain relevant a century after they were first published. The timeless themes include the powerful influence of gossip, the importance of faith, and the precious gift of true friendship.