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The City of Fire
"A Girl Doesn't Have to be Old Fashioned to be Good!" Lynn Severn, beautiful daughter of a small town minister, is deeply troubled by the barrier which has come between her and her former playmate, Mark Carter. A more lovable heroine than this simple and natural girl would be difficult to find.
333 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1922
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329 people want to read
About the author
Grace Livingston Hill
593 books570 followersalso wrote under the pseudonym Marcia MacDonald
also published under the name Grace Livingston Hill Lutz
A popular author of her day, she wrote over 100 novels and numerous short stories of religious and Christian fiction. Her characters were most often young female ingénues, frequently strong Christian women or those who become so within the confines of the story.
niece to Isabella MacDonald Alden
also published under the name Grace Livingston Hill Lutz
A popular author of her day, she wrote over 100 novels and numerous short stories of religious and Christian fiction. Her characters were most often young female ingénues, frequently strong Christian women or those who become so within the confines of the story.
niece to Isabella MacDonald Alden
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
February 4, 2019
This book is a hypocrite.
...or, rather, the author was so focused on the "worldly issues" in front of her face that she couldn't even see the massive problems with her worldview and her plot. Spoilers may occur naturally in the course of thisrant review. Click "more" with caution.
Scene first. We have the young antihero, a teenaged and mischievous boy, creeping around looking for something to do and hearing folks plot mischief. Does he tell the police? Nope. He decides to line his own pocket and play hooky after agreeing to commit a crime. Getting paid for a crime is about as bad as doing the crime, silly Billy. During this entire passage I was shocked to find that he repeatedly uses minor swears, peppered across nearly every page of the book, h* and d* alike, with lots of gosh and darn and so on for good measure.
Scene two. The heroine--the Sunday-school teacher extraordinaire, the beautiful maiden, the talented church organist, the apple of the eye and only child of her parents, a pastor and his wife.
Scene three. The hero--a prodigal who stole the heart of the fair maiden in her girlhood and is inherently ignorant of this fact. War veteran, former POW, and sole prop of his widowed mother. Prime idol of the wayward Billy.
To put it briefly, Billy gets his money and tries to foil the trap he got paid to set, but it closes fast with his own dear friend in it. Henceforth Mark has no alibi except for Billy's, and Billy can't tell because of the crime. The real target of the crime, a rich profligate, arrives in Sunday Corners very drunk and in a bad way.
What GLH portrays very clearly in this book as evil are:
+drinking
+smoking
+lying
+dressing too scantily
+dancing
+entering a bar
+too much money not used for charity
+being friendly to anyone who does any of the above
+also gossip, but you can still be friendly to those
What happens that I was hoping would be addressed, which wasn't:
+Lynn is beautiful and smart and has the power to turn men's heads on sight
+Lynn is an insufferable snob
+It's better to remain pure and reserved than tell the Gospel to a rich would-be adulteress
+While the preacher immediately helps the pampered rich kid sober up and heal, telling him about God, he has apparently left Mark, who he claims to view as an own son, to wander about in the world and doesn't know the state of his soul. The portrayal of this major plot element really left me scratching my head.
+Holy was portrayed as a synonym for good. Yes, there was a salvation message, but it was clear that it was meant in addition to living a perfect life. Only--no one in this book was living a perfect life, except maybe the preacher, but he hadn't preached the Gospel until to Billy and Mark at the very end...if he was their preacher from infancy, why didn't they know it previously? This form of soft legalism really got on my nerves, because at the same time his daughter wasn't perfect either.
+Sainted mother and aunt. Mark's mother, and Billy's aunt, are portrayed as suffering saints. They have no clue how to war for these kids and they are supposedly strong Christians but without any impulse to give strong Bible lessons to the son/nephew. What was that supposed to mean? They seem to be following actions rather than following God.
+Billy's swearing. Not a single rebuke.
And so on, more of that sort. I finished it, but I didn't want to.
...or, rather, the author was so focused on the "worldly issues" in front of her face that she couldn't even see the massive problems with her worldview and her plot. Spoilers may occur naturally in the course of this
Scene first. We have the young antihero, a teenaged and mischievous boy, creeping around looking for something to do and hearing folks plot mischief. Does he tell the police? Nope. He decides to line his own pocket and play hooky after agreeing to commit a crime. Getting paid for a crime is about as bad as doing the crime, silly Billy. During this entire passage I was shocked to find that he repeatedly uses minor swears, peppered across nearly every page of the book, h* and d* alike, with lots of gosh and darn and so on for good measure.
Scene two. The heroine--the Sunday-school teacher extraordinaire, the beautiful maiden, the talented church organist, the apple of the eye and only child of her parents, a pastor and his wife.
Scene three. The hero--a prodigal who stole the heart of the fair maiden in her girlhood and is inherently ignorant of this fact. War veteran, former POW, and sole prop of his widowed mother. Prime idol of the wayward Billy.
To put it briefly, Billy gets his money and tries to foil the trap he got paid to set, but it closes fast with his own dear friend in it. Henceforth Mark has no alibi except for Billy's, and Billy can't tell because of the crime. The real target of the crime, a rich profligate, arrives in Sunday Corners very drunk and in a bad way.
What GLH portrays very clearly in this book as evil are:
+drinking
+smoking
+lying
+dressing too scantily
+dancing
+entering a bar
+too much money not used for charity
+being friendly to anyone who does any of the above
+also gossip, but you can still be friendly to those
What happens that I was hoping would be addressed, which wasn't:
+Lynn is beautiful and smart and has the power to turn men's heads on sight
+Lynn is an insufferable snob
+It's better to remain pure and reserved than tell the Gospel to a rich would-be adulteress
+While the preacher immediately helps the pampered rich kid sober up and heal, telling him about God, he has apparently left Mark, who he claims to view as an own son, to wander about in the world and doesn't know the state of his soul. The portrayal of this major plot element really left me scratching my head.
+Holy was portrayed as a synonym for good. Yes, there was a salvation message, but it was clear that it was meant in addition to living a perfect life. Only--no one in this book was living a perfect life, except maybe the preacher, but he hadn't preached the Gospel until to Billy and Mark at the very end...if he was their preacher from infancy, why didn't they know it previously? This form of soft legalism really got on my nerves, because at the same time his daughter wasn't perfect either.
+Sainted mother and aunt. Mark's mother, and Billy's aunt, are portrayed as suffering saints. They have no clue how to war for these kids and they are supposedly strong Christians but without any impulse to give strong Bible lessons to the son/nephew. What was that supposed to mean? They seem to be following actions rather than following God.
+Billy's swearing. Not a single rebuke.
And so on, more of that sort. I finished it, but I didn't want to.
January 22, 2013
I read this story on Kindle. Originally published in 1922, GLH has written a Christian suspense romance here. I am not crazy about suspense, but it contained a message that I think is so relevant today. The male character had a lot of major battles with pride that he has to overcome before he can really hear the voice of God again. He had done some pretty dastardly things, but kept them inside of himself almost to the end of the book. After they were confessed and forgiven the man was finally able to live again and the romance proceeded accordingly. The book had a witty young boy named Billy in it that caused lots of humor, but we were also privy to much of his internal thinking, and were able to see much personal growth in him. The female character was the daughter of a very dedicated country pastor and his wife. They all had to deal with the inner workings of a small town, and that was a very encouraging part of the book. It had some pretty scary parts in it, but was overall, a good book.
December 31, 2015
Billy is great, but the story as a whole is a bit confusing with all the entangled plots, too many sudden deaths, and the romance is almost not even there Grace Livingston Hill has done better in other books, but this was still fun.
November 2, 2016
Awesome
You can learn so much in this it has a lot of good stuff otherwise AMAZING ❤ ❤
You can learn so much in this it has a lot of good stuff otherwise AMAZING ❤ ❤
June 11, 2021
Rating: 3.5 / 5 (rounded down)
I can't say that this wasn't a Grace Livingston Hill novel, as her writing style is far too familiar for me to ever mistake it. However, story-wise...it really doesn't feel like a novel of Hill's, and there is a key reason why:
It is almost entirely misrepresented as being a romance. Instead, it really feels more like a coming-of-age story, as the focus is not on Marilyn or Mark--who are more like side characters that come together at the end but with very little interaction between them during the course of the story--but on Billy, a fourteen year old kid who worships both of them. The story starts off with Billy overhearing something he shouldn't, and then deciding that he should get in on the action to make some money. Him doing this earns him $30--the thirty pieces of silver that make him a Judas, in other words--but then also gets Mark in trouble. The rest of the story is more or less Billy trying to make things right, and the majority of the perspectives and events are with regards to him.
The cover of this book made me think of something exciting, and for all the world I thought that it would be a story like in The Red Signal. Seriously, that was what I was expecting. And, as far as a coming-of-age story goes, although it's alright, it's...well, it's not what I picked up this book for to read, and that's why I'm rounding it down in terms of ratings and stars. In the future, if I pick it up again, I may be more lenient since I would know what to expect out of it, but, for now, I just feel that it's really misrepresented and therefore a bit of a disappointment. Overall, I liked the story fine, but....well. BUT.
I can't say that this wasn't a Grace Livingston Hill novel, as her writing style is far too familiar for me to ever mistake it. However, story-wise...it really doesn't feel like a novel of Hill's, and there is a key reason why:
It is almost entirely misrepresented as being a romance. Instead, it really feels more like a coming-of-age story, as the focus is not on Marilyn or Mark--who are more like side characters that come together at the end but with very little interaction between them during the course of the story--but on Billy, a fourteen year old kid who worships both of them. The story starts off with Billy overhearing something he shouldn't, and then deciding that he should get in on the action to make some money. Him doing this earns him $30--the thirty pieces of silver that make him a Judas, in other words--but then also gets Mark in trouble. The rest of the story is more or less Billy trying to make things right, and the majority of the perspectives and events are with regards to him.
The cover of this book made me think of something exciting, and for all the world I thought that it would be a story like in The Red Signal. Seriously, that was what I was expecting. And, as far as a coming-of-age story goes, although it's alright, it's...well, it's not what I picked up this book for to read, and that's why I'm rounding it down in terms of ratings and stars. In the future, if I pick it up again, I may be more lenient since I would know what to expect out of it, but, for now, I just feel that it's really misrepresented and therefore a bit of a disappointment. Overall, I liked the story fine, but....well. BUT.
November 8, 2018
A life of reading
All the time I was growing up, I spent many hours reading stacks of books that I had brought home from the library, Grace Livingston Hill books were read many times so I decided to read them as an older woman to see if they had the same charm of souls coming to Christ. They do.
All the time I was growing up, I spent many hours reading stacks of books that I had brought home from the library, Grace Livingston Hill books were read many times so I decided to read them as an older woman to see if they had the same charm of souls coming to Christ. They do.
May 5, 2013
This one almost didn't feel like a Grace Livingston Hill book. The main character is a 14 year old boy for most of the book, although it is told in the third person POV. I wish I had gotten this book when my boys were little, it would have been a good book to read to them as a bedtime story.
October 5, 2018
Another Great Christian book.
This is a story of a young man, becoming a Christian, and the woman he married.
And a boy becoming a Christian man, and all their adventures, and trials soon the way.
This is a story of a young man, becoming a Christian, and the woman he married.
And a boy becoming a Christian man, and all their adventures, and trials soon the way.
September 12, 2011
Good story
April 30, 2014
This one was a little different, for a GLH book, and didn't keep my attention to well! It ended up being a very good book, but just not so exciting!
October 15, 2013
Found free in iBooks. Good flow to the story, kept me interested. But wish she had developed some parts of the story more instead of letting them drop.
April 5, 2015
Good book
Read
July 8, 2015Good light read
Good read but is a usual Grace Livingston Hill book with the good guys coming out on top. Beautiful backdrop!
Good read but is a usual Grace Livingston Hill book with the good guys coming out on top. Beautiful backdrop!
March 2, 2017
I had some mixed feelings about this book. While the story itself was really good, and I loved the message, a lot of people died, making it feel very sad. It was cute though.
October 10, 2019
A story so real you cannot put it down.
Grace Livingston Hill never disappoints. I've been reading her books since I was a child, back in the late 1950s. This one has has so many twists and turns and breath-stopping moments....a must read!
Grace Livingston Hill never disappoints. I've been reading her books since I was a child, back in the late 1950s. This one has has so many twists and turns and breath-stopping moments....a must read!
June 22, 2018
very good
June 19, 2023
I DID IT!!! I finally finished this book! Good for me! It only took me approximately 8 check different check outs from the library before I actually completed the whole thing...Wow... now what to say?
Honestly, I didn't really like this book. It probably deserves a 2 star rating from me because I will not be re-reading. However, there were some good qualities that I think elevate this book to deserving of 3 stars, even if didn't particularly enjoy it. The characterizations in this book were poor - some of the worst I've seen in GLH. None of the main characters really had much interaction with the reader. Here is what you know: Mark is proud, stubborn, and handsome. Marilyn is beautiful, principled, and bluntly prudish. Billy is poor, mischievous, and utterly devoted to both Mark and Marilyn. I really struggled to sympathize with ANY of the main characters' decisions (except maybe Billy), and it was very difficult for me to get into the story as a result. (Although now that I think about it, I'm not sure that Mark or Marilyn were even in the book enough to be main characters...really Billy is the main character and Mark and Marilyn are side characters that get a lot of page time.)
As far as story line goes, this book felt rushed and unrealistic. The lack of depth of characterization didn't help, but I really struggled with the whole "I won't defend myself" plot line as well as the utterly prudish treatment of the rich young man who accidentally found his way into Sabbath Valley. The Christians in this book were by and large the type that give Christianity a bad name, and I struggled with that as well.
Overall, I'm giving this a higher star rating because I felt like it made for a very good allegory for Christ's forgiveness. I understand the need for some bad character choices in order to really demonstrate Christ's love and forgiveness, and I appreciated the fact that this book actually had a hero character who had made some pretty bad mistakes (the only other GLH book I can compare it to would be maybe Not Under the Law - that one also had focused on God's grace to sinner's and had a main character who had broken the law, etc. although in a different way). This is definitely something that needed to be addressed and is not often discussed in GLH works. It's not something I particularly enjoy reading about, but I appreciate it. (I would have enjoyed it more if the main character had just owned to the mistake at the beginning instead of letting stupid pride get in the way of literally everything in the plot. That annoys the every loving crap out of me!)
Overall, I disliked the storyline and characters, but am rating it slightly higher because I thought the allegory was good.
Honestly, I didn't really like this book. It probably deserves a 2 star rating from me because I will not be re-reading. However, there were some good qualities that I think elevate this book to deserving of 3 stars, even if didn't particularly enjoy it. The characterizations in this book were poor - some of the worst I've seen in GLH. None of the main characters really had much interaction with the reader. Here is what you know: Mark is proud, stubborn, and handsome. Marilyn is beautiful, principled, and bluntly prudish. Billy is poor, mischievous, and utterly devoted to both Mark and Marilyn. I really struggled to sympathize with ANY of the main characters' decisions (except maybe Billy), and it was very difficult for me to get into the story as a result. (Although now that I think about it, I'm not sure that Mark or Marilyn were even in the book enough to be main characters...really Billy is the main character and Mark and Marilyn are side characters that get a lot of page time.)
As far as story line goes, this book felt rushed and unrealistic. The lack of depth of characterization didn't help, but I really struggled with the whole "I won't defend myself" plot line as well as the utterly prudish treatment of the rich young man who accidentally found his way into Sabbath Valley. The Christians in this book were by and large the type that give Christianity a bad name, and I struggled with that as well.
Overall, I'm giving this a higher star rating because I felt like it made for a very good allegory for Christ's forgiveness. I understand the need for some bad character choices in order to really demonstrate Christ's love and forgiveness, and I appreciated the fact that this book actually had a hero character who had made some pretty bad mistakes (the only other GLH book I can compare it to would be maybe Not Under the Law - that one also had focused on God's grace to sinner's and had a main character who had broken the law, etc. although in a different way). This is definitely something that needed to be addressed and is not often discussed in GLH works. It's not something I particularly enjoy reading about, but I appreciate it. (I would have enjoyed it more if the main character had just owned to the mistake at the beginning instead of letting stupid pride get in the way of literally everything in the plot. That annoys the every loving crap out of me!)
Overall, I disliked the storyline and characters, but am rating it slightly higher because I thought the allegory was good.
October 15, 2025
Grace Livingston Hill’s “The City of Fire” is a suspenseful religious romantic story that uses Biblical references of Judas and his 30 pieces of silver, repentance and acceptance of what Jesus Christ did on the cross. At times there were too many different plots but they did fit together and this story had religious prominence throughout making it quite enjoyable as well as the romantic angle that also talked of redemption for the sinner. Billy the teenager is one of the main narrators and he is quite humorous and sweet. I liked almost all the residents of Sabbath Valley. Love this older stories, this one is over hundred year old. Interesting the college of then, had the same but different kind of problem as today’s universities, when you send your kid off do they come back changed in their beliefs. The minister was worried about his daughter until he saw her unchanged to her belief in God! These days things are far worse!
Story in short- Lynn and Mark have been friends since childhood but something is tearing them apart and the secret is from Mark.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert
Billy is starting to learn the way of a Christian but he must mend his ways and see that money cannot buy much when it is entangled in a life of grief and regret, so he tries to undo and repent. The trial clears Mark but his past is causing trouble but he repents and finds his love was not lost. Loved it. I loved that Lynn’s effect on Opal!
Story in short- Lynn and Mark have been friends since childhood but something is tearing them apart and the secret is from Mark.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert
Billy is starting to learn the way of a Christian but he must mend his ways and see that money cannot buy much when it is entangled in a life of grief and regret, so he tries to undo and repent. The trial clears Mark but his past is causing trouble but he repents and finds his love was not lost. Loved it. I loved that Lynn’s effect on Opal!
August 11, 2019
A friend introduced me to Grace Livingston Hill (GLH) books when we were in college. I found and read all of the ones GLH had had published many years ago. I am rereading some of them.
WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD (READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION):
****
The story of Billy and Mark could have stood alone. Marilyn seemed to enter into it as an ideal only: Billy is her Sunday School student and admires both her and Mark and doesn't want to let her down. Mark and Marilyn were once thought to be an item but now Mark seems to have changed while Marilyn has remained unspoiled.
There's also the contrast of the worldly (Stafton and Opal) with the God-revering (Marilyn and her family).
The story was written long ago and doesn't conform to today's standards of storytelling in fiction. It was nice to have a story with a moral. A story where people tried to do the right thing for the right reasons.
WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD (READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION):
****
The story of Billy and Mark could have stood alone. Marilyn seemed to enter into it as an ideal only: Billy is her Sunday School student and admires both her and Mark and doesn't want to let her down. Mark and Marilyn were once thought to be an item but now Mark seems to have changed while Marilyn has remained unspoiled.
There's also the contrast of the worldly (Stafton and Opal) with the God-revering (Marilyn and her family).
The story was written long ago and doesn't conform to today's standards of storytelling in fiction. It was nice to have a story with a moral. A story where people tried to do the right thing for the right reasons.
April 23, 2020
In this gentle Christian novel, Mark is accused of murder, and his childhood friend, Lynn, stands by him, while his young friend, Billy, has the proof to show Mark innocent, if only he will be unselfish enough to do so. The plot is surprisingly engrossing, containing an adventure story in addition to the mild romance. There were parts that would have been better more fleshed out, but overall, it's an enjoyable, light novel -- more substantial than a fluff-novel, but still a nice escape read.
December 7, 2022
Don't let this cover (girl in hot pink dress) prejudice you. It doesn't match the feeling of the book at ALL. The characters in the story were great. They were unpredictable, charming, and inspiring. The plot was unique for GLH as well. There was an interesting inclusion on the topic of moral failure and how it had affected some of the characters. Overall, it's full of adventure, daring, humor, heroism, and some sweet forgiveness.
December 31, 2025
I keep reading Livingston Hill's books because they are fascinating to me. They are by no means great or even particularly good literature - they have too much bash-you-over-the-head moralism, too clear an agenda for that - but they are such specific products of a particular time and place that I keep wondering what she will do next time. And as an example of early American evangelicalism they are pricless.
did-not-finish
September 25, 2024I know I read this book years ago, but I started into it this week (September 2024) and decided to put it down. It felt dark for a GLH novel and honestly a bit bizarre. Maybe I'll finish this book another time and see what I think of it as a whole not that I'm an adult, but at the moment, it was more then I wanted to handle.
October 16, 2024
I love G.L.H, but this one was not my favorite. It tried too hard to be a drama, required the reader to just assume the two main characters were meant to be together (since they barely interacted), was super moralizing, and just unbelievable overall. It didn't have the sweetness of most of her other books. But, it's still GLH, and Billy was adorable, so... 🤷♀️
December 24, 2020
Wonderful!*...
Grace Livingston Hill never ceases to lift my heart and soul...Each one of her books are an adventure in joy and light...What a delight to look forward to the next*...
Grace Livingston Hill never ceases to lift my heart and soul...Each one of her books are an adventure in joy and light...What a delight to look forward to the next*...
June 6, 2021
Good book
I liked this book a lot. It was a 1950's book where good morals and unacceptable morals were clearly divided. If you can put yourself in the period and accept it as a look a history the it is a great book with several well defined characters.
I liked this book a lot. It was a 1950's book where good morals and unacceptable morals were clearly divided. If you can put yourself in the period and accept it as a look a history the it is a great book with several well defined characters.
October 28, 2022
The story felt a little herky-jerky, and it goes without saying that it was melodramatic, but for once GLH's hero was less than perfect (though her heroine was a little more than perfect), and the character of Billy was fun.
Decent volunteer narrator.
Decent volunteer narrator.
October 11, 2021
Kinda boring. Dragged out.
November 16, 2022
Awesome
I loved this book from the very beginning. I recommend it to everyone who reads. It is an awesome book.
I loved this book from the very beginning. I recommend it to everyone who reads. It is an awesome book.
January 1, 2024
This GLH book has a lot more action and suspense than any of the previous ones I’ve read. I do like her characters.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews