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The Rose-Garden Husband #1
The Rose-Garden Husband
A message of good cheer, of happiness, of love, is carried to the reader in this delightful story of Phyllis, who is the cheery "Liberry teacher" and Allan, a sad invalid whom she marries after a rather curious proposal to escape her life of drudgery. What follows is a humorous and heartwarming tale of two lives.
Splendidly written, Miss Widdemer's sentences dance and sparkle with the very rose-garden sunbeams—a fascinating and wholesome plot—this is a book to read and pass along to your friend who needs a reawakening, a good laugh, a day full of glad thoughts and surprises. Made into the 1917 film "A Wife on Trial".
Splendidly written, Miss Widdemer's sentences dance and sparkle with the very rose-garden sunbeams—a fascinating and wholesome plot—this is a book to read and pass along to your friend who needs a reawakening, a good laugh, a day full of glad thoughts and surprises. Made into the 1917 film "A Wife on Trial".
208 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1915
11 people are currently reading
346 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Widdemer
119 books15 followersMargaret Widdemer (1884-1978) was an American author who won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (known then as the Columbia University Prize) in 1919 for her collection The Old Road to Paradise (1918). She shared the prize with Carl Sandburg, who won for his collection Corn Huskers (1916). Margaret Widdemer was born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She grew up in Asbury Park, New Jersey. She graduated from the Drexel Institute Library School in 1909. She came to public attention with her poem The Factories (1917), which treated the subject of child labor. In 1919 she married Robert Haven Schauffler (1879-1964), a widower five years her senior. Schauffler was an author and cellist who published widely on poetry, travel, culture, and music. Widdemer's memoir Golden Friends I Had (1964) recounts her friendships with eminent authors such as Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, T. S. Eliot, Thornton Wilder, and Edna St. Vincent Millay.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
October 16, 2018
Need to decide what to say here; maybe a nap would help. Or some chocolate.
A few hours later:
Okay, I've had my chocolate and I think I'm ready to go.
I added this book to my lists a few years ago when I made up a personal challenge with titles using names of flowers. Before I finally started reading I did something I very rarely do: skimmed over a few of the glowing reviews of the book; so I was prepared for a cute, fluffy little story, just what my overworked little pea brain needs these days.
And it was a cute, fluffy little story. A young woman who entered the world of work at age 18, 7 years before we meet her. She has worked in a library all those years, moving through the various departments until for the past year she has been in the basement children's reading room, which was a "badly ventilated, badly lighted room full of damp little unwashed foreign children".
There was the first hint that I would not really care for the main character.
Our 'Liberry Teacher', as the children call her, is tired and cranky this afternoon; all in a funk over the fact that she has to work for a living and is losing her youth in the process. She happened to see someone she used to know, an ex-neighbor who grew up to be a lovely, rich woman, well-dressed and with two darling clean children. This does not help Liberry Teacher's mood one little bit. Here is what happens next:
"Eva never was as pretty as I was!" her rebellious thoughts went on. You think things, you know, that you'd never say aloud. "I'm sick of elevating the public! I'm sick of working hard fifty-one weeks out of fifty-two for board and lodging and carfare and shirtwaists and the occasional society of a few girls who don't get any more out of life than I do! I'm sick of libraries, and of being efficient! I want to be a real girl! Oh, I wish—I wish I had a lot of money, and a rose-garden, and a husband!"
The Liberry Teacher was aghast at herself. She hadn't meant to wish such a very unmaidenly thing so hard. She jumped up and dashed across the room and began frantically to shelf-read books, explaining meanwhile with most violent emphasis to the listening Destinies:
"I didn't—oh, I didn't mean a real husband. It isn't that I yearn to be married to some good man, like an old maid or a Duchess novel. I—I just want all the lovely things Eva has, or any girl that marries them, without any trouble but taking care of a man. One man couldn't but be easier than a whole roomful of library babies. I want to be looked after, and have time to keep pretty, and a chance to make friends, and lovely frocks with lots of lace on them, and just months and months and months when I never had to do anything by a clock—and—and a rose-garden!"
That was the second hint that I would not be able to connect with Miss Liberry Teacher.
Destiny takes a hand in things, as usual, and our mercenary little creature is whisked off to live her dream. She agrees to marry an invalid man who supposedly may only live a few years, and whose mother is definitely going to die in a few months and wants sonny boy to be taken care of properly after she is gone. Mutual friends introduced Mommy and LT, and the pact was made. But of course sonny boy agreed to it, mostly because he didn't care one way or another and wanted his mother to simply shut up about everything.
So why did this cutesy foo-foo story mostly turn my stomach instead of charm me the way it seemed to charm so many others? Well, the constant references to the dirty foreign children, for one thing:
Dinner with those mutual friends here ~~
She felt happily running though everything the general, easy taking-for-granted of all the old, gentle, inflexible standards of breeding that she had nearly forgotten, down in the heart of the city among her obstreperous, affectionate little foreigners.
After learning of their plan here ~~
They seemed so certain she was what they wanted—was there anything in this wild scheme that would make her life better than it was as the tired, ill-paid, light-hearted keeper of a roomful of turbulent little foreigners?
Etcetera, etcetera.
The first copyright date on this book is 1914, so of course that must be considered, and since I do read many very old books, I am used to seeing such attitudes, and can mostly overlook them but maybe exactly because this story was so fluffy on the surface, the racism leaped out at me worse than usual. Here we have a description of new servants for the country house:
"a fat Virginia cook, a slim young Tuskegee chambermaid of a pale saddle-color, and a shiny brown outdoor man who came from nowhere in particular, but was very useful now he was here.
I must admit Liberry Teacher throws herself into her new role with gusto, and even though she gets for herself anything and everything she has ever wanted during those seven years of drudgery, she also tends most properly to her invalid husband, like any devoted wife would do. She is a natural caretaker, pretty much a cheerful Pollyanna type of person, even with her inner prejudices, and she certainly fits the role she has assumed.
Maybe that is something else that tripped my triggers with this 'fluffy' story: she gives herself up to her role and revels in the material things she gets in return, as well as the satisfaction of one-upping sonny boy's mother, who never seemed to be able to make him happy after the accident:
"Doing well for a man what another woman has done badly has a perennial joy for a certain type of woman".
Snort. Ah, the joys of an Ego Trip!!
Well, at the risk of going on forever, let's just call it quits, shall we? Excuse me while I go guffaw some more about her idea that one husband would be easier to care for than a room full of children.
A few hours later:
Okay, I've had my chocolate and I think I'm ready to go.
I added this book to my lists a few years ago when I made up a personal challenge with titles using names of flowers. Before I finally started reading I did something I very rarely do: skimmed over a few of the glowing reviews of the book; so I was prepared for a cute, fluffy little story, just what my overworked little pea brain needs these days.
And it was a cute, fluffy little story. A young woman who entered the world of work at age 18, 7 years before we meet her. She has worked in a library all those years, moving through the various departments until for the past year she has been in the basement children's reading room, which was a "badly ventilated, badly lighted room full of damp little unwashed foreign children".
There was the first hint that I would not really care for the main character.
Our 'Liberry Teacher', as the children call her, is tired and cranky this afternoon; all in a funk over the fact that she has to work for a living and is losing her youth in the process. She happened to see someone she used to know, an ex-neighbor who grew up to be a lovely, rich woman, well-dressed and with two darling clean children. This does not help Liberry Teacher's mood one little bit. Here is what happens next:
"Eva never was as pretty as I was!" her rebellious thoughts went on. You think things, you know, that you'd never say aloud. "I'm sick of elevating the public! I'm sick of working hard fifty-one weeks out of fifty-two for board and lodging and carfare and shirtwaists and the occasional society of a few girls who don't get any more out of life than I do! I'm sick of libraries, and of being efficient! I want to be a real girl! Oh, I wish—I wish I had a lot of money, and a rose-garden, and a husband!"
The Liberry Teacher was aghast at herself. She hadn't meant to wish such a very unmaidenly thing so hard. She jumped up and dashed across the room and began frantically to shelf-read books, explaining meanwhile with most violent emphasis to the listening Destinies:
"I didn't—oh, I didn't mean a real husband. It isn't that I yearn to be married to some good man, like an old maid or a Duchess novel. I—I just want all the lovely things Eva has, or any girl that marries them, without any trouble but taking care of a man. One man couldn't but be easier than a whole roomful of library babies. I want to be looked after, and have time to keep pretty, and a chance to make friends, and lovely frocks with lots of lace on them, and just months and months and months when I never had to do anything by a clock—and—and a rose-garden!"
That was the second hint that I would not be able to connect with Miss Liberry Teacher.
Destiny takes a hand in things, as usual, and our mercenary little creature is whisked off to live her dream. She agrees to marry an invalid man who supposedly may only live a few years, and whose mother is definitely going to die in a few months and wants sonny boy to be taken care of properly after she is gone. Mutual friends introduced Mommy and LT, and the pact was made. But of course sonny boy agreed to it, mostly because he didn't care one way or another and wanted his mother to simply shut up about everything.
So why did this cutesy foo-foo story mostly turn my stomach instead of charm me the way it seemed to charm so many others? Well, the constant references to the dirty foreign children, for one thing:
Dinner with those mutual friends here ~~
She felt happily running though everything the general, easy taking-for-granted of all the old, gentle, inflexible standards of breeding that she had nearly forgotten, down in the heart of the city among her obstreperous, affectionate little foreigners.
After learning of their plan here ~~
They seemed so certain she was what they wanted—was there anything in this wild scheme that would make her life better than it was as the tired, ill-paid, light-hearted keeper of a roomful of turbulent little foreigners?
Etcetera, etcetera.
The first copyright date on this book is 1914, so of course that must be considered, and since I do read many very old books, I am used to seeing such attitudes, and can mostly overlook them but maybe exactly because this story was so fluffy on the surface, the racism leaped out at me worse than usual. Here we have a description of new servants for the country house:
"a fat Virginia cook, a slim young Tuskegee chambermaid of a pale saddle-color, and a shiny brown outdoor man who came from nowhere in particular, but was very useful now he was here.
I must admit Liberry Teacher throws herself into her new role with gusto, and even though she gets for herself anything and everything she has ever wanted during those seven years of drudgery, she also tends most properly to her invalid husband, like any devoted wife would do. She is a natural caretaker, pretty much a cheerful Pollyanna type of person, even with her inner prejudices, and she certainly fits the role she has assumed.
Maybe that is something else that tripped my triggers with this 'fluffy' story: she gives herself up to her role and revels in the material things she gets in return, as well as the satisfaction of one-upping sonny boy's mother, who never seemed to be able to make him happy after the accident:
"Doing well for a man what another woman has done badly has a perennial joy for a certain type of woman".
Snort. Ah, the joys of an Ego Trip!!
Well, at the risk of going on forever, let's just call it quits, shall we? Excuse me while I go guffaw some more about her idea that one husband would be easier to care for than a room full of children.
January 17, 2018
Oh, I'm having such a good time with these romances from the early part of the 20th century. Project Gutenberg, I love you! This was my first Margaret Widdemer and I determined it wouldn't be my last. I've since learned that she won the Pulitzer for poetry! No wonder this story has such beautiful descriptions. Swoon! Yet it isn't just lovely descriptions of rose gardens and sunsets that won me over. The characterization is excellent; Widdemer proves herself a keen observer of humanity and one with a generous enough heart to find the good in it. I loved Phyllis! She is good and kind, hard-working and generally uncomplaining, yet she's also very much a "real girl" with little foibles and daydreams and yearnings for more-and-better. It's not hard to see how the story will end up, but I was pleasantly surprised that Phyllis was able to hold onto a bit of her old life (the best bits of being a "liberry lady") in the midst of her happily ever after.
February 13, 2025
2025: just as lovely as it was a decade ago when I first read it!
2013: Oh, this is pure delight! It's a lighthearted little romance, very clean, very fun...others have described the story, so I will only add how much I enjoyed it! In three hours I found a new favorite and reread the ending three times...
2013: Oh, this is pure delight! It's a lighthearted little romance, very clean, very fun...others have described the story, so I will only add how much I enjoyed it! In three hours I found a new favorite and reread the ending three times...
December 13, 2015
A novel about a young librarian who, dreaming one day of a husband and a rose garden, soon finds herself with both in store–but reality is always more complicated than the dream. 1915.
Full review (and other recommendations!) at Another Look Book
Oops, forgot to mark this one as read, let alone review it! It was a short book, so I was through it quickly. But I kept seeing it on my shelf and thinking, "I really should review that..." It's a quaint little book, not very full of surprises, but there you go. I enjoyed it quite a lot, over the span of a few sittings. It's also interesting to note that it was the first book in a very long and prolific career (Widdemer's last books published were in the late 1960s). In my research on the author I also learned that The Rose-Garden Husband was made into the 1917 film "A Wife on Trial," which apparently cannot be found (online) today. Considering that the book reads like a period romantic film, I wish I could see how this genre was interpreted in 1917!
March 16, 2012
Perfectly, sublimely sweet love story from 1915. So very much up my alley it's unreal. I think I will try to find a hard copy of it. I loved it. (Is that clear yet?)
A young woman named Phyllis, who is quite on her own, works in a library. She's grateful for the job, and it's a pretty decent job, but she still feels the daily grind and regrets that her future seems to stretch, unending, with no change or rest in sight. In a moment of dissatisfaction, she wishes for a rose-garden, a husband, and enough money. It's not so much that she's thinking about being in love, it's just that in her world, a husband seems the only way for a poor working class girl to get the rose-garden and the money.
And, voila! All of the above are suddenly within reach, and what happens from there on out makes for a splendid, touching story. She's a great character, and so are the DeGuenthers (the agents of her sudden good fortune), and so is Allan. You can guess who Allan is.
A young woman named Phyllis, who is quite on her own, works in a library. She's grateful for the job, and it's a pretty decent job, but she still feels the daily grind and regrets that her future seems to stretch, unending, with no change or rest in sight. In a moment of dissatisfaction, she wishes for a rose-garden, a husband, and enough money. It's not so much that she's thinking about being in love, it's just that in her world, a husband seems the only way for a poor working class girl to get the rose-garden and the money.
And, voila! All of the above are suddenly within reach, and what happens from there on out makes for a splendid, touching story. She's a great character, and so are the DeGuenthers (the agents of her sudden good fortune), and so is Allan. You can guess who Allan is.
February 7, 2017
A very sweet tale of romance. A librarian who has no prospects , nothing to look forward to yearns for money, leisure a Rose Garden and maybe a husband. She is granted all these and much more by a funny twist of fate. I listened to it from Librivox and it certainly was a good impetus to take my morning walks regularly. Liked the sunny character of Phyllis and her musings . The last chapters but were so predictable. .
August 26, 2013
Oh, what a lovely, old-fashioned romance.
Phyllis was alone in the world. She had a good job, as a librarian, and she rented a single room in a boarding house, but it was difficult to makes ends meet. Fortunately, Phyllis was a ‘glass half full’ kind of girl. She enjoyed her work as the children’s librarian, and she was very good at it. Phyllis was what my mother would call ‘a people person,’ and when she was at work I saw many things that I know would strike a chord with the librarians of today.
One day Phyllis spotted a girl from her home town, walking with two young children, and that made her realise how constrained her life was, how little hope she had of anything ever changing. She wished for a husband, enough money to be able to have nice things, and a husband. She had no great wish for romance love, and marriage; she just saw a husband as her only hope of ever having the things she wished for.
It seemed that someone, somewhere, was listening. I knew that they would be – this is that sort of book!
The next day Phyllis had been invited to dinner by Mr and Mrs De Guenther, a wealthy elderly couple she had met at the library. They had a very interesting proposal for her. They explained that their friend, Mrs Harrington, was dying; that her son, Allan, had been an invalid since the car accident that killed his fiancée seven years earlier; and that Mrs Harrington wanted to be sure that someone would care for her son as she did after she was gone.
Mrs Harrington was looking for a wife for her son. Someone who would feel a the greatest responsibility to him, and who would be rewarded with a comfortable life, a liberal income, and a substantial inheritance on when Allen died, probably not more than a few years after his mother. The De Guenthers had known Phyllis for some years; they knew her circumstances, they admired her qualities, and they had suggested to Mrs Harrington that she was the woman for the job.
Phyllis understood, and she took the job. And she did it well, but now quite as Mrs Harrington – or anyone else – had expected.
And that’s as much as I’m going to say. The way that the story played out was utterly predictable, but it was terribly touching and it read beautifully.
It worked because Phyllis was such a lovely character: thoughtful, compassionate, practical, and more than ready to take charge of the situation. The De Guenthers were wonderful, Wallis – Allen’s manservant – was a star, and Allen himself proved to be a very interesting character.
And it worked because Margaret Widdemer wrote beautifully, she kept the story moving along, and steered clear of gratuitous sentimentality. It’s little dated in places, it’s highly improbable, but emotionally it rings true.
If you’d like to be captivated, if you have an uncynical heart that needs lifting, if you enjoy seeing stories that play out exactly as you expect and want, this is the book for you.
I loved it, I’ve just discovered that there’s a sequel, and I’ve already downloaded it …
Phyllis was alone in the world. She had a good job, as a librarian, and she rented a single room in a boarding house, but it was difficult to makes ends meet. Fortunately, Phyllis was a ‘glass half full’ kind of girl. She enjoyed her work as the children’s librarian, and she was very good at it. Phyllis was what my mother would call ‘a people person,’ and when she was at work I saw many things that I know would strike a chord with the librarians of today.
One day Phyllis spotted a girl from her home town, walking with two young children, and that made her realise how constrained her life was, how little hope she had of anything ever changing. She wished for a husband, enough money to be able to have nice things, and a husband. She had no great wish for romance love, and marriage; she just saw a husband as her only hope of ever having the things she wished for.
It seemed that someone, somewhere, was listening. I knew that they would be – this is that sort of book!
The next day Phyllis had been invited to dinner by Mr and Mrs De Guenther, a wealthy elderly couple she had met at the library. They had a very interesting proposal for her. They explained that their friend, Mrs Harrington, was dying; that her son, Allan, had been an invalid since the car accident that killed his fiancée seven years earlier; and that Mrs Harrington wanted to be sure that someone would care for her son as she did after she was gone.
Mrs Harrington was looking for a wife for her son. Someone who would feel a the greatest responsibility to him, and who would be rewarded with a comfortable life, a liberal income, and a substantial inheritance on when Allen died, probably not more than a few years after his mother. The De Guenthers had known Phyllis for some years; they knew her circumstances, they admired her qualities, and they had suggested to Mrs Harrington that she was the woman for the job.
Phyllis understood, and she took the job. And she did it well, but now quite as Mrs Harrington – or anyone else – had expected.
And that’s as much as I’m going to say. The way that the story played out was utterly predictable, but it was terribly touching and it read beautifully.
It worked because Phyllis was such a lovely character: thoughtful, compassionate, practical, and more than ready to take charge of the situation. The De Guenthers were wonderful, Wallis – Allen’s manservant – was a star, and Allen himself proved to be a very interesting character.
And it worked because Margaret Widdemer wrote beautifully, she kept the story moving along, and steered clear of gratuitous sentimentality. It’s little dated in places, it’s highly improbable, but emotionally it rings true.
If you’d like to be captivated, if you have an uncynical heart that needs lifting, if you enjoy seeing stories that play out exactly as you expect and want, this is the book for you.
I loved it, I’ve just discovered that there’s a sequel, and I’ve already downloaded it …
June 14, 2017
So this popped up in my Goodreads feed three different times over the past week, so I thought I might as well read it. It's a one-sitting read and will appeal to readers of Daddy Long Legs and Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Making of a Marchioness and the Blue Castle.
The language is archaic to the point of racist at times which can be distracting but also enlightening as it comes to painting the limitations of 1915 (the year the book was published) vernacular and scope.
The ending is ridiculous, of course. But, ridiculous in the easy happy-ever-after we expect of these little excursions.
what highlighted most for me was the Edwardian understanding of medicine (it was farther along in terms of mental illness and nervous dispositions here than I would have thought) as well as painting the restrictions afforded a woman of no family means who was making her own way in the world.
A humorous and lovely little read with comical moments working best as a snapshot of what would be considered popular romantic fiction during the years of the Great War.
The language is archaic to the point of racist at times which can be distracting but also enlightening as it comes to painting the limitations of 1915 (the year the book was published) vernacular and scope.
The ending is ridiculous, of course. But, ridiculous in the easy happy-ever-after we expect of these little excursions.
what highlighted most for me was the Edwardian understanding of medicine (it was farther along in terms of mental illness and nervous dispositions here than I would have thought) as well as painting the restrictions afforded a woman of no family means who was making her own way in the world.
A humorous and lovely little read with comical moments working best as a snapshot of what would be considered popular romantic fiction during the years of the Great War.
February 12, 2015
I downloaded this book from The Gutenberg Project and read it on my iPad. It is a charming, old-fashioned book (beginning withe the premise that the heroine is a washed-up old maid because she is unmarried at the age of 25). She enters into an arranged marriage to care for a young man who is an invalid, and the romance unfolds. It's always pleasant to visit a simpler time, and this book is a very gentle trip into the past.
June 25, 2018
If you're a fan of "The Blue Castle" by L.M. Montgomery, you will probably love "The Rose-Garden Husband". :)
This is the story of Phyllis, a librarian who works six days a week and lives in a city boarding-house. Her life is filled to the brim with reading stories to sticky, adorable children who gather around her in the library's basement, leaving no time for her own reading or dreaming or sunshine or roses.
One day, she realizes that all she really wants is a rose garden and a husband who has enough money to make the rose garden possible. And that's exactly what she gets...in the most lovely possible way.
This is the story of Phyllis, a librarian who works six days a week and lives in a city boarding-house. Her life is filled to the brim with reading stories to sticky, adorable children who gather around her in the library's basement, leaving no time for her own reading or dreaming or sunshine or roses.
One day, she realizes that all she really wants is a rose garden and a husband who has enough money to make the rose garden possible. And that's exactly what she gets...in the most lovely possible way.
July 4, 2023
Such a sweet Frances Hodgson Burnett vibe here. Shades of The Secret Garden and A Little Princess, but also very much its own book. Sometimes one just wants a happy story about good things happening to good people—a wish the book amply fulfills.
—————
Content note: Written in 1915, the book includes some some ethnic stereotypes as well as caricatured Black servants. These are very brief but still startling to modern sensibilities, especially when voiced by otherwise kind characters.
—————
Content note: Written in 1915, the book includes some some ethnic stereotypes as well as caricatured Black servants. These are very brief but still startling to modern sensibilities, especially when voiced by otherwise kind characters.
November 16, 2023
When I want a quick, clean read, I usually grab a vintage novel that is free on Kindle. The Rose-Garden Husband had its humor, sweet moments, a hint of melodrama, and, most of all, the requisite happy ending. I read it in one sitting.
Older books contain racial slurs that were acceptable at the time, but are cringe-worthy now. The funny thing is that the heroine really liked the immigrant children ("those dirty little foreigners of hers") with whom she worked at the library. Nevertheless, they were often described unpleasantly.
Older books contain racial slurs that were acceptable at the time, but are cringe-worthy now. The funny thing is that the heroine really liked the immigrant children ("those dirty little foreigners of hers") with whom she worked at the library. Nevertheless, they were often described unpleasantly.
October 8, 2025
Deft storytelling and a lightness of touch are the only redeeming qualities of this piece of romantic fluff that's deeply marred by the author's xenophobia, racism and antisemitism.
August 18, 2022
Third time reading. Aug, 2022:
There are so many things I love about this book.
First, it’s a marriage of convenience story!
Second, I rather like Phyllis’ honest desires for money and comfort after years of a dreary work-and-necessities centered life. When a chance to attain comfort comes she takes it, while still working hard to care for the new responsibilities that accompany the opportunity.
Third, at the length of a modern novella, this story still somehow manages to create a more believable and satisfying romance between the main characters than many full-length novels do.
Fourth, the ending is just lovely!
However, something that stood out to me much more this read through is the ‘causal’ prejudice and racism. This takes the form of stereotypes, and a condescending attitude towards immigrants and blacks. Phyllis seems like the type of person that would never be mean to someone because of their race or nationality, rather she would show kindness. But, it’s accompanied with the aforementioned condescension of someone who unconsciously views themself as better than others based on things like education or nationality.
While I wish the author’s mindset had been different, it does serve as a reminder to me of how subtlety racist or prejudice thinking can develop.
There are so many things I love about this book.
First, it’s a marriage of convenience story!
Second, I rather like Phyllis’ honest desires for money and comfort after years of a dreary work-and-necessities centered life. When a chance to attain comfort comes she takes it, while still working hard to care for the new responsibilities that accompany the opportunity.
Third, at the length of a modern novella, this story still somehow manages to create a more believable and satisfying romance between the main characters than many full-length novels do.
Fourth, the ending is just lovely!
However, something that stood out to me much more this read through is the ‘causal’ prejudice and racism. This takes the form of stereotypes, and a condescending attitude towards immigrants and blacks. Phyllis seems like the type of person that would never be mean to someone because of their race or nationality, rather she would show kindness. But, it’s accompanied with the aforementioned condescension of someone who unconsciously views themself as better than others based on things like education or nationality.
While I wish the author’s mindset had been different, it does serve as a reminder to me of how subtlety racist or prejudice thinking can develop.
June 13, 2017
A cute little romance! I would love to recreate this plot in one of my own stories someday! But delicate and conservative readers should be warned, it was quite jarring to read all the racial stereotypes and slurs that were sadly commonplace when this book was written a century ago.
June 2, 2012
Rating: I loved, loved, loved it! (4.5 stars*)
(*4.5 stars because I only give 5 stars to very, very special books)
A mere 106 pages – but worth it! I read it in just over 2 hours, staying up far later than I should have to do so. I meant to just read for 15 minutes before going to sleep but the story pulled me in and I kept on telling myself 'Just the next chapter'... It was refreshing to find a book where the author matched the page-count to the scope of the story; she knew what she wanted to accomplish and went right ahead and did it without putting in lots of unnecessary conflict just to make it look fatter on the shelf.
Very easy to relate to. Starts with the realistic situation of the workaday life of a young woman in a job with an interminable future stretching before her who wishes for something better, something with a Rose-Garden and a husband perhaps…
Similar in tone (not necessarily plot) to Daddy-Longs-Legs by Jean Webster and The Weaver Takes a Wife by Sheri Cobb South, with a little of Georgette Heyer’s style thrown into the mix.
Pet Peeves: None! Well, actually maybe there were a few too many exclamation marks, but that’s common in older books. (They’ve affected me too it seems!)
Is there a Happy Ending?
Content Rating: G
This book was first published in 1915 and there are some (now) politically incorrect references to people of other ethnicities/religions. I didn’t find it offensive and I don’t believe the author meant it to be derogatory in any way; it was just the way things were back then. An example would be when new servants are hired for the house: “Mrs. Clancy’s choice had been cheerful to a degree, and black, all of it; a fat Virginia cook, a slim young Tuskegee chambermaid of a pale saddle-color, and a shiny brown outdoor man who came from nowhere in particular, but was very useful now he was here. Phyllis had seen them all this morning, and found them everything servants should be.”
There is no sexual content and only a few chaste kisses. No violence or swearing that I can recall.
Romance Rating: The Perfect Mix
An honest, genuine love story without any cheese or sleaze: no flowery passages of poetic love declarations and no excessive amounts of sexual tension oozing out all over the pages. Straight from the heart to the heart.
(*4.5 stars because I only give 5 stars to very, very special books)
A mere 106 pages – but worth it! I read it in just over 2 hours, staying up far later than I should have to do so. I meant to just read for 15 minutes before going to sleep but the story pulled me in and I kept on telling myself 'Just the next chapter'... It was refreshing to find a book where the author matched the page-count to the scope of the story; she knew what she wanted to accomplish and went right ahead and did it without putting in lots of unnecessary conflict just to make it look fatter on the shelf.
Very easy to relate to. Starts with the realistic situation of the workaday life of a young woman in a job with an interminable future stretching before her who wishes for something better, something with a Rose-Garden and a husband perhaps…
Similar in tone (not necessarily plot) to Daddy-Longs-Legs by Jean Webster and The Weaver Takes a Wife by Sheri Cobb South, with a little of Georgette Heyer’s style thrown into the mix.
Pet Peeves: None! Well, actually maybe there were a few too many exclamation marks, but that’s common in older books. (They’ve affected me too it seems!)
Is there a Happy Ending?
Content Rating: G
This book was first published in 1915 and there are some (now) politically incorrect references to people of other ethnicities/religions. I didn’t find it offensive and I don’t believe the author meant it to be derogatory in any way; it was just the way things were back then. An example would be when new servants are hired for the house: “Mrs. Clancy’s choice had been cheerful to a degree, and black, all of it; a fat Virginia cook, a slim young Tuskegee chambermaid of a pale saddle-color, and a shiny brown outdoor man who came from nowhere in particular, but was very useful now he was here. Phyllis had seen them all this morning, and found them everything servants should be.”
There is no sexual content and only a few chaste kisses. No violence or swearing that I can recall.
Romance Rating: The Perfect Mix
An honest, genuine love story without any cheese or sleaze: no flowery passages of poetic love declarations and no excessive amounts of sexual tension oozing out all over the pages. Straight from the heart to the heart.
May 1, 2012
A proposal is made...
What can I say about this book? First I'm surprised so very few people have read it considering the fact that a movie at one point has been made of it (in 1917, called "A wife on trial" ). Not to mention the fact that it was penned by a Pulitzer prize winning author (admittedly though for poetry).
The novel has lots of charm and whimsy. The heroine this time is inspiring and cheerful, much to the chagrin of Mr. Allan Harrington! :P I found it a quick and humorous read and I did enjoy it. You can pick this ebook free on barnes and noble or on manybooks.net... as I'm sure many other places as it is nearly 100 years old!
Despite it's short length the book did deliver a stark and clear picture of a lower-middle class single girl's life in 1915... working constantly and barely having enough money to rent a room in a boarding house! The book also shows the evolution in society as for example there's talk of annulments (too scandalous for the Victorians!) as well as a growing awareness of minorities, foreigners and the working classes.
My one reservation about this book was that at times the language of the time did not keep up with the openness of character. Phyllis is cheerful and tolerant girl, yet she does at times refer to the immigrant children in her care at the library where she works as "dirty foreigners", meaning that they were sticky and unclean. This is of course most likely true as the children were thrust into the care of the librarian by low income, lower-class parents struggling to provide the bare minimum for their families. Phyllis was a single woman, with no husband or children to care for AND she was in a somewhat respectable profession, even if she could barely keep ends meet. However, immigrant parents, who most likely didn't speak English all too well (as reflected in the strange English of her pupils) probably struggled more than Phyllis did. Such was the life back then. Nonetheless it is a little jarring to see that turn of phrase used... at least for me.
February 11, 2012
Miss Braithwaite, or Liberry Teacher has the children call her, is a public library employee who loves her kids and books, but finds that living in the city and working leaves very little time (and even less money) for herself. One particular trying day she exclaims to herself, “I’m sick of working hard fifty-one weeks out of fifty-two for board and lodging and carfare and shirtwaists and the occasional society of a few girls who don’t get any more out of life than I do! I’m sick of libraries, and of being efficient! I want to be a real girl! Oh, I wish – I wish I had a lot of money, and a rose-garden, and a husband!”
Well, watch out what you wish for because you just might get it. That same day an elderly couple that had befriended Miss Braithwaite during their interactions at the library approach her with a unusual proposition. A proposition that includes a lot of money, the potential for a rose-garden or two and even a husband.
There’s nothing scandalous about the proposition, it is merely an arrangement to ease the fears of a dying woman and provide a faithful companion to an invalid. Liberry Teacher is a sweet, patient, conscientious girl with a dash of stereotypical librarianness who takes her job very seriously.
I loved this book. It’s so much fun and written in such a different style than what is common today. The story is sweet, it’s a clean marriage of convenience/arranged marriage story and it’s about a librarian. What’s not to love? :-)
http://rinasreading.blogspot.com/2012...
Well, watch out what you wish for because you just might get it. That same day an elderly couple that had befriended Miss Braithwaite during their interactions at the library approach her with a unusual proposition. A proposition that includes a lot of money, the potential for a rose-garden or two and even a husband.
There’s nothing scandalous about the proposition, it is merely an arrangement to ease the fears of a dying woman and provide a faithful companion to an invalid. Liberry Teacher is a sweet, patient, conscientious girl with a dash of stereotypical librarianness who takes her job very seriously.
I loved this book. It’s so much fun and written in such a different style than what is common today. The story is sweet, it’s a clean marriage of convenience/arranged marriage story and it’s about a librarian. What’s not to love? :-)
http://rinasreading.blogspot.com/2012...
January 7, 2015
Phyllis Braithwaite doesn't exactly mind being a hard-working librarian, but she still hopes for something better. On the day the story opens she catches a quick glimpse of a girl she used to out shine from her old village, stepping from a car with two adorable looking children and looking very pretty and well looked after. She can't deny her envy:
"Oh, I wish—I wish I had a lot of money, and a rose-garden, and a husband!"
As luck would have it (or 'the Destinies', as the author would have it) she is about to be granted her wish, curtesy of the kind of unbelievably contrived premise you might expect to find in a Hollywood rom-com, but not necessarily from the pen of a Pulitzer prize-winning poetess.
An elderly couple she knows from the library have a 'Very Different Line of Work' in mind for her, namely to become the wife of a crippled, melancholic millionaire in order to look after him once his ailing mother passes on.
See what I mean? Pure corn.
You can rest assured that the upbeat Miss Braithwaite - now Mrs. Harrington - soon cures her downbeat husband of all his ailments, both mental and physical, though there are one or two dramatically lame pit stops along the way to a happy ending.
Having read Widdemer's prize-winning poetry collection and now this, her first novel, I still remain baffled about her success (this simple-minded nonsense went through seven reprints in its first year of publication alone!)
At least she avoids smothering the thing in melodrama, writing instead in a breezy, chatty tone.
But it's still nonsense.
"Oh, I wish—I wish I had a lot of money, and a rose-garden, and a husband!"
As luck would have it (or 'the Destinies', as the author would have it) she is about to be granted her wish, curtesy of the kind of unbelievably contrived premise you might expect to find in a Hollywood rom-com, but not necessarily from the pen of a Pulitzer prize-winning poetess.
An elderly couple she knows from the library have a 'Very Different Line of Work' in mind for her, namely to become the wife of a crippled, melancholic millionaire in order to look after him once his ailing mother passes on.
See what I mean? Pure corn.
You can rest assured that the upbeat Miss Braithwaite - now Mrs. Harrington - soon cures her downbeat husband of all his ailments, both mental and physical, though there are one or two dramatically lame pit stops along the way to a happy ending.
Having read Widdemer's prize-winning poetry collection and now this, her first novel, I still remain baffled about her success (this simple-minded nonsense went through seven reprints in its first year of publication alone!)
At least she avoids smothering the thing in melodrama, writing instead in a breezy, chatty tone.
But it's still nonsense.
August 27, 2012
I only wish I could give it six stars! Margaret Widdemer has an unusual and winsome writing style that won me over instantly. For example, she writes of the heroine, "But indeed there was something very gay and sweet and honest-minded about the girl, a something which gave people the feeling that they were very wise in liking her." (Interesting, that very description suits Widdemer as well...) It makes me wonder how I graduated with an English degree without hearing of this author, who regularly rubbed shoulders with F. Scott Fitzgerald, T.S. Eliot, and other such giants. Can hardly wait to get my hands on her other works.
This utterly charming book (written in 1915) tells the story of a young career woman who finds herself in an unusual marriage arrangement that turns out quite differently than she planned. If you're the scowl-ish, cynical type who thinks all books should be dark and painfully "realistic", you aren't going to like this book. If you have a soft spot for happy endings, open this book RIGHT NOW!
This utterly charming book (written in 1915) tells the story of a young career woman who finds herself in an unusual marriage arrangement that turns out quite differently than she planned. If you're the scowl-ish, cynical type who thinks all books should be dark and painfully "realistic", you aren't going to like this book. If you have a soft spot for happy endings, open this book RIGHT NOW!
June 18, 2017
This is a sweet, very old-fashioned romance about a poor librarian and a paralyzed young man. It's one of those idealized tales where everything turns out perfect in the end. The story itself was quite short and I thought the ending was a bit abrupt. Like many old books it has some ethnic terms and stereotypes that aren't acceptable to today's readers, but they were few and brief.
I read it on openlibrary but the last couple of pages were missing and that's when I discovered projectgutenberg has it available for Kindle download so I finished it there.
Widdemer won a Pulitzer for her poetry collection The Old Road to Paradise which I'd like to read also.. Readers who enjoy this type of story but wish for a more modern style and setting should try Betty Neels. While reading this I couldn't help but think how similar it was to many of Neels' books.
I read it on openlibrary but the last couple of pages were missing and that's when I discovered projectgutenberg has it available for Kindle download so I finished it there.
Widdemer won a Pulitzer for her poetry collection The Old Road to Paradise which I'd like to read also.. Readers who enjoy this type of story but wish for a more modern style and setting should try Betty Neels. While reading this I couldn't help but think how similar it was to many of Neels' books.
February 28, 2019
I like books like this: little frothy reads that were actually written 100 years ago, rather than books that are written in modern times and set 100 years ago. I feel like I'm getting a real look at that time period, instead of just a modern author's interpretation of how things were.
One thing I've noticed is that there was no such thing as "politically correct" back then. Both in this book and others I've read that were written in the same era, there are comments that are shocking to our modern sensibilities. But I suppose that, too, gives us a true picture of the time.
One thing I've noticed is that there was no such thing as "politically correct" back then. Both in this book and others I've read that were written in the same era, there are comments that are shocking to our modern sensibilities. But I suppose that, too, gives us a true picture of the time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 2, 2012
This was a very sweet, clean not to long not to short arranged marriage romance. That takes place around the 1910 in New England. It was very well written and reminded me of a Mary Stewart or LL Montgomery book. I couldn't believe this was free for my kindle. It was such a cute sweet story that had good characters and flowed well. This will be one I take out and read again. 16 and up.
March 1, 2015
Not for me. I should leave it at that. I will say this - the hook was a good one - a woman agrees to marry a stranger/invalid who is expected to die soon. I can think of 5 different ways off the top of my head that the author could have made the rest of the story very interesting. But she didn't. Not to my taste, that's all. Others loved it.
November 21, 2016
A nice love story. I have had a pleasant afternoon.
But, I admit it isn't a masterpiece (and it is much predictable). But still, sometimes I need a short, nice story with happy ending. This novella was a good choice for my mood ;-)
Available in public domain on gutenberg.org.
But, I admit it isn't a masterpiece (and it is much predictable). But still, sometimes I need a short, nice story with happy ending. This novella was a good choice for my mood ;-)
Available in public domain on gutenberg.org.
March 1, 2017
Lovely story. I really like reading about people who manage to keep a positive outlook through trials.
April 30, 2016
A 1915 romance about a weary librarian who gets a chance at a life of wealth and fulfillment.
January 22, 2019
I loved this sweet, simple story. When I finish a story like this, I feel satisfied, happy, and complete. This was my kind of book.
Read online at Project Gutenberg.
Read online at Project Gutenberg.
August 11, 2020
I have mixed feelings about this book. Overall I enjoyed the story. I felt invested in the character’s relationship and enjoyed seeing their development. In fact, one of the things I disliked is the feeling the story ended at the climax. I would like to have read more about the relationship between Phylis and Allen growing. Noticing that this is book 1, I assume following books will continue the story. But I can’t help but feel left hanging. Even just one more chapter would help to give the ending a more complete feel. That being said, the desire to want to know more is indicative of good character and plot development. There is just the right amount of romance and drama. My one major complaint is, reading this with the social awareness of today, I found the amount of racial stereotypes and even racial slurs to be off putting. However that is mostly in the first couple of chapters and once the story gets moving the focus is more on the main characters getting to know each other. I hope to find the following books, perhaps reading those will help me enjoy this one more.
June 12, 2023
This sweet romance was recommended to me by a friend and I absolutely loved it! It's a darling marriage of convenience story. It was written in the same period as the Anne of Green Gables series and has very similar vibes.
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