Marcia Schuyler is the first novel in the Miranda Trilogy by Grace Livingston Hill. It definitely sets the tone for one of the most beloved series written by Livingston Hill. It starts the series and backstory for characters that occur throughout the trilogy.
Goodreads blurb;
“Two sisters are as different as night and day--and inexplicably linked by the man they both desire. Kate Schuyler lives only for what pleases her in the moment, while Marcia Schuyler sacrifices her youth to marry her older sister’s jilted fiance. Can Marcia endure living in borrowed clothes and a borrowed home with a borrowed husband?”
Reading Grace Livingston-Hill is new for me but certainly not new for my family. My grandparents, who live in California, sent over two boxes of her novels and works. If you’re a fan of Livingston-Hill you’ll understand how very many books that is. On Goodreads alone, it says she had 220 distinct works. Luckily, I’ve just received around 60 or 70 of her works-so get ready for a lot of Livingston-Hill book reviews.
*Warning-Spoilers*
My opinion of the first book would be that it was difficult- not in the sense that it was slow or not easy to get into. This novel was published in 1808, and it was more of the mindset that was difficult to get into. For instance, when Kate runs away and marries her Beau. The Schuyler's are devastated and betrayed, but what bothers them more than the family name being slandered, is that David will be wife-less and would be embarrassed returning home as a single man. Being a 24 year old woman, I would never think that if I decided to leave a fiance and elope with another man...that my father would insist my 17 year old sister marrying my abandoned fiance.
Once getting past the generation and era difference and simply realizing things were different in 1808-I truly enjoyed the book. It is a romance novel, the entire trilogy is, and it is beautifully done. It is shown when Marcia holds her vows and respects them, even though they are made to a man who should not have been her husband. How she truly falls in love with David and they spend the remainder of their years together. Marcia truly is a feminist of her time. I do have to say, the characters did not seem real or “fleshed out” at some parts, but it truly is worth reading and finishing the trilogy. The best part of the novel for me was the introduction of Miranda (it is called the Miranda trilogies for a reason!) and her cheeky personality.
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