mountain laurel

by Anne Emery

From personal private collection. 1948 6th Impression edition. Ex Library book. Has no creases or marks on spine & cover, binding is good and tight, pages are clean and intact. Light wear on cover. No DJ.

Genres: Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Anne Emery was born Anne Eleanor McGuigan, in Fargo, North Dakota, and moved to Evanston, Illinois, when she was nine years old. Miss McGuigan attended Evanston Township High School and Northwestern University. Following her graduation from college, her father, a university professor, took the family of five children abroad for a year, where they visited his birthplace in Northern Ireland, as well as the British Isles, France, Switzerland, and Italy. Miss McGuigan spent nine months studying at the University of Grenoble in France. She taught seventh and eighth grades for four years in the Evanston Schools, and fourth and fifth grades for six more years after her marriage to John Emery. She retired from teaching to care for her husband and five children, Mary, Kate, Joan, Robert, and Martha.

Anne Emery wrote books and short stories for teen girls throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Her understanding of the lives of teenaged girls creates believable stories and characters that are readable and re-readable!

Reviews

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it! It was first pulished in 1948. It's about a young girl in Appalachia learning to weave to bring in extra money to support her family. Meanwhile, her father is courting a woman Laurel and her brothers and sisters don't like. Also she is trying to get medical help for a younger brother's disability. it's full of mountain lore and ways.

I read the 1960 Scholastic edition.

[Chantille · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book at a thrift store and read it on an flight from Idaho to Hawaii. By the fun old-school cover, I assumed it was a mystery. I was oddly surprised to find that it is no where near a mystery! Regardless, I enjoyed this simple story. I liked the old fashioned writing style and phrases. I only give it three stars because it even though it was good, it wasn't great. It's just a simple story about a naive girl who learns a life lesson.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This made me count my blessings; I have a lot of them. It shows an apparently good understanding of young people in the Appalachian Mountains in the late 1940s. I felt the heroine learned a lot about life, and about human nature.

[Julie Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book!! It shows a much simpler time, the setting of the story is very unique, Laurie's frustrations and eventual growth felt very relatable to me (not from having been in her exact situation, but with other situations in my life). Great book, with great lessons!