Diligence In Love

Kendal Trilogy #1

by Daisy Newman

A simply told, beautifully characterized novel about a sophisticated woman, who found much to learn and admire among the Quakers-and saved her marriage from disaster.

Genres: Fiction, Romance

252 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

Daisy Newman, a novelist and Quaker historian, was born in Southport, England, of American parents. She attended Radcliffe College, Barnard College and Oxford University. An active member of the Friends Meeting in Cambridge, Mass., she frequently wrote about Quaker life and history.

She was the author of many novels, including "Now That April's Here," "Diligence in Love," "The Autumn's Brightness" and "I Take Thee, Serenity." She also wrote a history of American Quakers, "A Procession of Friends." She died in 1994.

Reviews

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vaughn Hill is a woman whose main concerns and motivations are ambition. She spends most of her energy on being successful at her job in an advertising agency, and being seen as the right-sort, wearing the right clothes, having the right look in her NYC apartment. Though she loves her husband and two children they have become disconnected, and seem to be little more than additional responsibilities to manage. What's so surprising is that this book was published in 1951.

Gathering information for a new advertising layout takes Vaughn to rural Rhode Island, where the quiet, friendly community of Quakers welcome her in. And suddenly everything she thinks she knows, about herself and life, is challenged in her own heart and mind.

This unassuming, beautiful novel is about a woman finding what she never knew was lost, and her struggle to hang on to it.

Insightful and deeply spiritual. Highly recommended.
5 stars

[Samantha Glasser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vaughn Hill is a New York City advertising copy writer who goes to Kendal, Rhode Island to investigate a stop on the Underground Railroad for use in an ad for the railroads. While there she is embraced by Quakers and begins looking inward and discovers uneasiness in her own life and a pull to the simplicity and kindness of these strangers.

This is a moving, instantly relatable novel with an important message. It is not heavy handed on religion the way many Christian novels can be. Instead, it shows Vaughn how to find integrity and acceptance within herself and the way that discovery can change her interactions with the world.

“Vaughn could feel the bitter surge of aloneness that used to strangle her in her dormitory cot. The queer thing was, once she got over her homesickness, she didn’t want to go home anymore.”

“…and she wondered how she could have chosen that big peony pattern for the drapes. The room looked smart and new, the way she’d intended it when she furnished, but it lacked the kindliness of Philip Ludlow’s rather shabby little parlor.”

[Vicki B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is 4 stars for the moving-ness of it. I am drawn to the simple spiritual life.

[Rainbowgardener · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe 3.5 , but it took me a long time to get into it. It could have ended up a DNF. Published in 1951, it reads as very unsophisticated now. The characters don't read as characters, but just roles. There's Ambitious Advertising Woman, who only cares about money and getting ahead, fancy clothes and makeup. There's Saintly Old Quaker who displays everything that Quakerism is about. There is Christ like Young (Quaker) Conscientious Objector, who spends his life helping teenaged juvenile delinquents ("hoodlums"). There is Widowed Grandmother, the Domestic Goddess. And ultimately there is Husband, though he is pretty much a non entity early in the book and only comes in to focus later on . He is a WWII vet, was at the Battle of the Bulge. Remember in 1951, WWII wasn't history, it had only been over a few years.

She does a good job of telling what Quakers believe, what Meeting for Worship and Meeting for Business are like, but much of it is straight telling. Either she idealizes Quakers a lot or we have diminished since then. Eventually, the book started moving me some, especially about the start of the Korean War, seeing how discouraging and depressing it was in this pacifist community to watch US gearing up for war again.

The plot, to the extent there is one, is completely predictable. I only found out at the end that this is Kendal #1, the beginning of a trilogy. Im not motivated to read more of it. I can predict the next volume:. Hill family moves from their NYC apt to rural Kendal to live a life of Quaker simplicity and find out it isn't as easy as it looks. They struggle some to fit in and sometimes miss the money and city life they left behind . Humorous incidents ensue as they attempt to milk a cow/ cook on a coal fired kitchen stove/ grow a garden. Perhaps Husband has some struggle about whether he should re enlist to serve in Korea . Ultimately they all find peace and joy living as Quakers .

Recommended if you want a relatively painless way to find out about Quakers and Quakerism.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting about the Quakers, but relatively dull with the story and the characters.