Customer Reviews

Emily of Deep Valley: A Deep Valley Book (P.S.)

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Finally, back in print! Muster your wits and stand in your own defense with Emily. Living as an orphan in turn-of-the-century Deep Valley, Em has yearnings she doesn't expect to reach. However, Emily has depths of which she was unaware. Buy this book for the misfit, the dreamer, the popular, the average girl you know. Emily shines and sends that forth to the reader.

Emily of Deep Valley is a lovely book wherein a young woman musters her wits and finds the life she deserves, while still honoring her family obligations.

It gives Maud Hart Lovelace the chance to stretch out her imagination, which had plenty of room in the fact-ish Betsy books. But she shines here, with some extra freedom.

The reissue is lovely, with the Vera Neville cover illustration, enough extras to make the most ardent fan happy, and fine clear print.

Go buy the book and give it to your favorite young teen. There's gotta be something for kids who are tired of vampires and dystopias. This is it!

Emily Webster isn't going to college after graduation. She's staying in Deep Valley to take care of her elderly grandfather. This is the story of how Emily copes with being left behind by her Crowd, literally and figuratively, and creates a life for herself after high school. Although Betsy Ray has a mere cameo in this book, it is a must read for Deep Valley fans who will love Emily as a standalone heroine in her own right.

In Deep Valley, Minnesota, orphan Emily Webster lives with her Grandpa Webster. Like other girls in the class of 1912 at the high school she attends and now graduating, she has dreams of going to college. However, she not only owes her elderly relative for taking her in, she feels strongly that she must not leave her beloved Grandpa Webster alone; thus she remains outside of the Crowd.

Although she expects a cold "lost winter" Emily vows to keep active. She works hard studying and is fascinated with the culture of the nearby Syrian community. However, it is the new high school teacher Jed Wakeman who has Emily dreaming once again of being all that she can be.

One of the three Deep Valley stand alone stories (see Carney's House Party and Winona's Pony Cart), Emily's tale is a reprint of a warm Americana tale. Emily is a fabulous individual who initially feels sorry for herself but comes out of her funk when she decides to make herself a better person while she suffers through the "lost winter" as her few friends go to college. Jed is a nice person studying for his Masters in sociology. However it is the "bad boy" Don Walker who danced with Emily and somewhat steals the show with his scorning intelligence as he purposely butchers Browning and his mocking speech at high school commencement. With humor and pathos Maud Hart Lovelace brings to life the seemingly innocence of 1912 Minnesota when a teen smoking a cigarette means juvenile delinquent.

Harriet Klausner

Yes, I will say it's up there with my favorite in the series. This works well as a stand alone novel if you've not read the others in the series. Emily, recently graduated from high school, lives with her grandfather at the edge of town. She's not the popular one and would love to go off to college with the other graduates, but she feels strongly about staying with her grandfather. At first she wallows in her depression, but then she learns to fill her days with activities that she loves--dancing lessons, piano lessons, starting a club for underpriviledged immigrants, helping out with the immigrant Syrian community, starting a literary club. Eventually, she finds herself so busy that she's having a blast.

I guess one reason I like this book so well is that it reminds me of myself kind of. Instead of always chasing after those friends who aren't there, take the initiative and seize the day. Make what you can of it, and enjoy your own life--not theirs.

This is a sweet, endearing book. I love how Emily discovers herself through being in difficult circumstances and choosing to make her own way. I also liked the surprising complexity of the character "Don" and Emily's feelings for him even though he was a cad. Emily of Deep Valley was a treat to read and is one of my favorite Maude Hart Lovelace books. The cover and illustrations inside are lovely.

I have never read the classic Maud Hart Lovelace books including her Betsy-Tacy books and Emily of Deep Valley. I have been collecting the Betsy-Tacy books so I can read them with my daughters so when I had the opportunity to get this new re-release of Emily of Deep Valley I had to try it. I am pleased to say that I am looking forward to the Betsy-Tacy books based on this one (though this one actually comes after the others chronologically). It really took me back to the simple times of my childhood when some of my best friends came in the form of characters in classic books (Laura Ingalls Wilder, Trixie Belden, The Bobbsey Twins, The Boxcar Children, The Happy Hollisters, etc...) girls who lived in worlds where so many of today's issues didn't exist. With places and people that were quirky and fun and all around books that I don't have to censor for my children. I am thrilled to have finally discovered Maud Hart Lovelace and the beautiful new packaging that this classic book comes wrapped in.

I have read and re-read the Betsy-Tacy books since childhood. I discovered this book a decade ago, and my copy is starting to fall apart. Thank God it's back in print! I may buy this edition just to have a spare! I LOVE the story of shy Emily with her low self-esteem and her toxic romance, and how through her own efforts she becomes the person she's meant to be. I love Maud Hart Lovelace's books!

"Emily of Deep Valley" made me nostalgic for a time I never lived in and made me steal into a cozy, snow-globed world of sparkle and sunshine and laissez-faire.

Emily is saddened at high school graduation. She feels like she has shut the door on a wonderfully potent part of her life and, due to her ailing grandfather and her inability to go to college as she so desires, she has little in her future to look forward to.

The sacrifice Emily makes to live with her sweet-tempered ( and awfully funny ) Civil War Veteran grandfather is at the heart of the novel and Emily's core. So many of her flighty high school chums ( to whom a post-secondary education seems wasted amongst the debris of socializing and sororities) have fabulous stories to tell and places to go, Emily must reconcile herself to Deep Valley life.

What Emily lacks for in tangible opportunity, she makes up for in will and resourcefulness. While bound to Deep Valley, she will make the most of a life's education that those at college could scarcely dream of. Whether it's volunteering to plow through Browning with a favourite teacher one night a week in literary debate or helping the burgeoning immigrant Syrian community, Emily expands her circle and breaks the boundaries of her high school persona. Moreover, she meets ( and eventually falls in love ) with a warm-heartedly delightful high school teacher whose interest in Emily stems from her social conviction.

There is a strong sense of social consciousness at the heart of the book: from Emily's debate subjects to Emily and Jed's recognizing of the world at the edge of Deep Valley and the immigrant community that expands their horizons.


From the moment Emily wears her hair up for the first time to a fateful New Year's Dance, Emily establishes herself as a strong-willed, resilient, charitable and delightful heroine. Indeed, Jo March ( of Little Women) would probably have given an approving nod of Emily's decidedly Pilgrim's Progress spirit.


I highly recommend this to the Louisa May Alcott, Frances Hodgson Burnett and L M Montgomery sort. The Harper P.S. edition had interesting facts about Maud Hart Lovelace and her illustrator.

I used to have to request Maud Hart Lovelace's books from other library branches, because they were out of print and the entire St. Louis County library system had only one set among all the branches. So I'm thrilled to see them all in print again.

I had forgotten about Emily's story until I received this book for review. Loved it all over again! The new introduction by Mitali Perkins adds perspective and insight into the book, now that I'm reading it again as an adult and mother of daughters.

Highly recommend!