The Happiest Time of Their Lives

by Alice Duer Miller

Excerpt from The Happiest Time of Their Lives
...and then he added in a lets satisfied tone: "Bat friendship is so uncertain. You don't make any announcement to your friends or vows to each other, unless you're at an age when you cut your initials in the bark of a tree. That's what I'd like to do."
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Genres: Classics

393 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1918

About the author

Alice Duer Miller (July 28, 1874 – August 22, 1942) was an American writer whose poetry actively influenced political opinion. Her feminist verses impacted on the suffrage issue, while her verse-play The White Cliffs encouraged US entry into World War II. She also wrote novels and screenplays.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Kathleen Vincenz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've reviewed other Alice Duer Miller novels before, and always say how they appear to be mere romances but then offer so much more. Well, The Happiest Time of Their Lives, did it again. It opens with the budding romance of an eighteen-year old girl and the suitor she met at a dance

Little Miss Severance sat with her hands as cold as ice.

Isn't that a great opening?

It then moves to her mother's and her grandfather's romances. Through these romances it, "thinks" thoughts about why you love someone, rich versus poor, who you should take authority from, and old versus young love. Her mother's romance with her second husband interested me the most. Miller used it to investigate why an intelligent, ambitious woman should love a man who is weak or needs to be taken care of.

More than her other novels, it dragged a bit but that could be because I read four of her novels in a row--way too much for any writer. I decided to take a break from her. I'm reading A Damsel in Distress by P.G. Wodehouse, which the Fred Astaire/Joan Fontaine is based on. We'll see how that goes.

[Susan Molloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

🖊 My review: This is a positive, intimate look at family life during the turn of the century. I enjoyed reading this.
🔥 Dénouement: Positive and hopeful.
🔻 Genre: Romance fiction.
✔️Published in 1918.
💠 Setting: Turn of the century New York City.
👁 Point of view: Third person.
🖋 The writing style: Smooth.
🗝 What I learned: Romance novels are generally not in my wheelhouse, but see that I enjoy the older romance books so much better than contemporary ones. I believe that is because the writing is clean and respectful to the reader. Alice Duer Miller was a talented writer.
💫 What I like best: The intelligent and clean language.
📌 Would I read this again? Maybe.
🤔 My rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
◼️ Fun fact: Alice Duer Miller dedicated this book to Clarence Day Jr..
🟣 Media form: Kindle version.
🟢 Media form: Project Gutenberg.
🔲 Excerpts :

🔸 Her diamond bracelet had slipped down her wrist and lay upon the blotting-paper; he slowly and carefully pushed it up her slim, round arm until it once more clung in place.

🔸 This was what lay behind the shrinking of her soul as she watched her mother dress for the visit to Mrs. Wayne. For the first time in her life Mathilde wished that her mother was not so elaborate. Hitherto she had always gloried in Adelaide's elegance as a part of her beauty; but now, as she watched the ritual of ribbons and laces and perfumes and jewels, she felt vaguely that there was in it all a covert insult to Pete's mother, who, she knew, would not be a bit like that.

🔸 She wondered what he would have given her as a commandment, and remembered suddenly the apocryphal last words which Vincent was fond of attributing to George Washington, "Never trust a nigger with a gun."

🔸 He was actually moving to the door when she sprang up and put her arms about him. "Weren't you even going to kiss me, Pete?" He stooped, and touched her cheek with his lips. "Do you call that a kiss?" "O Mathilde, do you think any kiss will change the facts?" he answered, and was gone.

🔸 "My daughter came to me the other day," he went on to Mrs. Baxter, "and said, 'Father, don't you think women ought to have the vote some day?' and I said, 'Yes, my dear, just as soon as men have the babies.'"

[Amy Beck · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really thought I would love this author since she penned the fashion-house novel that the film Roberta was based on which starred the love of my life, Fred Astaire, and Ginger Rogers. I've been trying to obtain a copy of that book, Gowns by Roberta, for quite a while but it's either unavailable or so outrageously expensive, I keep waiting.

I especially love old-fashioned, classic books but this one is so disappointing, I'm putting it on hold. It makes me wonder if Gowns by Roberta will be worth the wait. I'm finding the cast to be cliche to the point of somewhat ridiculous--ultra-rich drawing room characters minus the anticipated wit and comedy, versus poor, struggling opposites yet the leads met once and are now madly in love and engaged prior to even knowing each other's names. This setup feels like an absurd farce.