Queen Hildegarde: A Story For Girls

Hildegarde #1

by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards

Spoiled New York City girl Hildegarde Graham is sent to stay with her mother's old nurse in the country, when her parents must take a trip to California, and learns the value of simplicity, kindness, and a more democratic sensibility.

Genres: School, 19th Century

124 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1889

About the author

Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards (27 February, 1850 – 14 January, 1943) was an American writer. She often published as Laura E. Richards & wrote more than 90 books including biographies, poetry, and several for children.

Her father was Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, an abolitionist and the founder of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind. She was named after his famous deaf-blind pupil Laura Bridgman. Her mother Julia Ward Howe wrote the words to "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fifteen-year-old Hildegarde Graham, the much-indulged only daughter of a wealthy New York family, was truly fortunate in almost every respect: beautiful, stylish and popular - her adoring friends considered her the "queen" of their social set - she was also very much loved by her parents. It was only natural that, with all these blessings, she should become a little complacent, and that, with all the admiration she received, she was rather vain and thoughtless. Mrs. Graham, the 'commander in chief' of the Graham home, as her loving husband was wont to call her, and a true lady in every respect, was disturbed by the unkind habits of word and thought into which her daughter was being led, by some of her sophisticated city friends, and decided that something needed to be done. When she and Mr. Graham were required to travel to California on family business, she saw the perfect opportunity to introduce Hildegarde to the beauty of country life, and sent her to the farm-home of her former nurse, now Mrs. Lucy Hartley.

Thus Hildegarde, reluctant and resentful, found herself in rural Glenfield for the summer, amongst the uncouth "savages" of a farming community. But an overheard conversation between Farmer and Dame Hartley, and the realization that even her own parents found her a little wanting, soon set Hildegarde on the path to finding her better self - that nobility of nature lurking underneath the spoiled society girl exterior. Befriending local farm-boy Bubble (Zerubbabel) Chirk and helping him with his studies, and becoming acquainted with his sister Pink, a wheelchair bound cripple, Hildegarde was soon a different girl...

I enjoyed this first entry in Laura E. Richards' five-book Hildegarde series immensely, and plan to read the sequels as soon as possible. Hildegarde is an engaging heroine, and if her transformation is a little too quick and convenient, well, it was quite satisfactory to witness, all the same. The "angelic invalid" is alive and well in Pink Chirk, but knowing that she is a 'type' (like all the characters, really) in no way detracts from her appeal. Heartwarming and fun, with a little excitement thrown in (a missing puppy! a moonlit night!) Queen Hildegarde is a book I would have enjoyed reading, as a girl, and one I am glad to discover, today. Highly recommended to those readers who enjoy vintage girls' fare, ala L.M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, or Maud Hart Lovelace.

[Jill Hobgood · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was suggested to me by Goodreads friends, and I really appreciate the thought. It's a decent example of the country/city genre I was looking for. Also, I've liked some of Richards' other books. Honestly, it's not really a *great* example. I suppose my main problem was that the spoiled wealthy city girl reforms and embraces the farm life and people in the blink of an eye, more or less. And very near the beginning of the story! Part of the reason I kept on was to see how on earth the author would manage to fill the rest of the book! Basically, it was okay, not great. I was glad Richards addressed the fact that Pink Chirk was SO much more well-spoken than the rest of her family. That was weird. I'm going to try at least one more book in the series, since there are free digital versions of all of them, just to see where Richards goes with the characters.

As far as the "country folk reform spoiled city girl" genre goes, I would be more inclined to recommend Deland's Country Cousins or Marion's Vacation by Nina Rhoades. The latter is a particularly interesting and different take on that type of story.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Gutenberg for this Belle Epoque classic. I thought I had read it years back, but I must have picked up a later book in the series. This one contains just about all the stories for girls tropes of the time!

--a crippled girl who has spent most of her life in a wheel chair and is a natural born lady, though poverty stricken from birth.
--a snobbish 14 yr old rich girl who is "queen of her set" and is shuffled off to the country sans parents to learn about the rewards of honest toil and unfashionable clothing. She is still a total Mary Sue who can do anything she sets her hand to first try, from making butter to teaching kids. At first she despises the country folk, until she sees what good antiques and porcelain they have as normal kitchen and bedroom furnishings.
--an overnight transformation for said girl. Literally, in her case.
--the threat of foreclosure on the farm.
--saving the day in an impossible way to close the story with suitable éclat.
--the bad guy is apparently bad because his father was lazy and married for money.

Suddenly in the middle of the story, there is a purple prose description of the glories of nature surrounding Ye Olde Homesteade, which I skimmed through. I can't imagine places I've never been, and there was certainly no need to go on about it at such length.
Having praised the book with faint damns, I will say it made an excellent bedtime read.

[Dianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book I've read by Laura Elizabeth Richards, and I've loved them both. I'm happy to have found a new candidate for my list of favorites, and I look forward to reading more of her work!

[Noah Kramer · Rating 1 out of 5]

still waiting for the half star update :)

[Kaelyn Talmage · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. It was fun and there was cute little plot twist. It was a cute adventure and I loved how she got used to the country. It isn’t rlly my style but it was a cute read.

[Danada · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweet story for girls from the late 1800s. Queen Hildegarde transforms herself into sweet, helpful, generous, kind, just lovely Hilda while visiting the country after realizing what a boor she had become in the City. Wonderful references to literature and ballads and a surprisingly exciting ending with a true Villain! :D

[Mellanie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweet, old-fashioned story about a spoiled rich girl whose parents send her to the country to get her away from her equally spoiled friends. I'm going to be looking for the other books in this series.

[Kendra FairyKind · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

The first point I’d like to make is on the writing style. Whilst it is rich and fluid, I will say it was kind of easy to lose track of what was happening, simply due to the amount of description added to one sentence–or multiple depending on the example–I enjoyed the amount of description it helped be immersed in the story, at times, but again it was very long.

Also for an example some people would really like to have more and more description and less voice. But I suppose it differs depending on the audience. I would be someone who prefers speech over an entire twenty minute chapter of just description. Believe me I was falling asleep slightly sometimes…

Another thing I'd like to discuss is the ending. I hate when endings are rushed and just abruptly ended because the writer didn’t really care about it. This one in some ways had that. Just the last chapter was very fast and sometimes that can really let down the overall story. Like practically everything building up to the conclusion was quite good and fairly alright paced. But then there comes the ending.

Although whilst I am writing this I know that some people will disagree with me and think the ending was quite well put and clear. But I am among the few, unfortunately, that are not a fan of these types of endings.

I would also like to point out that the change between all high and mighty Queen Hildergaurde was so sudden I literally didn’t realize that it had happened. Like I was reading and then suddenly she was thinking about not being the old her as she liked to put it.

Again maybe I’m wrong and am just thinking so unlike what is supposed to be thought. Maybe I even missed the change. I definitely prefer when books do nice slow changes in character, not a circumstance where they just change character in a matter of seconds. But I suppose it differs from person to person.

[Oliver · Rating 1 out of 5]

For school I read the book Queen Hildegarde By Laura E. Richards, it is about a bratty spoiled rich kid, who gets sent to a farm in the middle nowhere, the end. This is one of my least favorite books that I have ever read. This book did not hold my interest at all.


Why this book didn’t keep my interest is because it was very boring, and nothing happened. For example she finds a poor farm boy and Boom, their friends. The only exciting part is when they found treasure, and that was at the end. So this is why, this book was frankly boring


The last chapter was especially stupid because it was about an extra bratty spoiled rich kid that is NEVER mentioned in the book. Also all the girl did in the beginning was complain and whine. The texts did not make sense because they had bad grammar, like what is sympathetic cherubs? Now that I think about it, this is a horrible book and makes no sense at all.



These are the reasons I think this book is boring and horrible. In conclusion, I hope you never have to read this book. THE END

[Bish Denham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though the writing, by today's standards, is flowery and filled with those dreaded adverbs the writing is also beautifully descriptive (she signed longingly). Yes, it's a bit pedantic and the moral of the story is a bit too obvious. Also I doubt there's a 15 year-old today who could relate to Hilde. Still, I liked Hilde and her character transformation.

It's the perfect book to be listened to, which I did. And the narrator did a most excellent job.

Overall, charming, in that late 19th way. The author, by the way, is no slouch. She won the Pulitzer Prize for writing a biography about her mother, Julia Ward Howe, the woman who wrote the words for "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."

[Dawn Brinks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful narrator! Listened to as an audio book.

[Stephanie VanAlmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read with my daughter. Cute little story for girls. Like that there was a lesson of loving the little things in life. You don’t always have to have the best, fanciest, etc.

[E. Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet story, if slightly moralistic. I enjoyed Hildegarde's growth, and experiencing her life on Hartly's Farm.

[Elijah Doroff · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly one of the worst books I’ve ever read really good for the girls remember the reason I don’t like it is cause I’m a boy.

[Liam Rusert · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK book.

[CLM · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hildegarde is rich and spoiled until she is sent to the country to stay with her mother's old nurse, and as she recovers her health she is shamed into becoming a genuinely nice person.

Note that Laura E. Richards was the daughter of Dr. Samuel Howe (famous teacher to the deaf) and Julia Ward Howe, who wrote The Battle Hymn of the Republic.

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very formulaic Victorian novel for girls. 2 1/2 stars.

[rayken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful

[Lucy’s reading corner (bring boba tea 🧋) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful description! Amazing morals! Incredible story!