Between Deep Valley and the Great World: Maud Hart Lovelace in Minneapolis

by Amy Dolnick, Patricia Hampl (Foreword)

Discover the real people and places behind Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy's Wedding, the final book of the Betsy-Tacy series. Explore Betsy's world in a virtual walking tour of pre-World War I Minneapolis, through photographs and anecdotes from Maud's life. (description from original print edition)

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

63 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1993

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the Betsy Tacy books, so I was looking on Amazon for some background on the author - Maud Hart Lovelace. Unfortunately I didn't do enough research on what was available. This was a good, although slim, book with lots of pictures, however it only talks about her life in Minneapolis - so it was just a sliver of her life. So worth reading and looking at the pictures.

The best part of the book was the original foreward from the first edition of the book written by Patricia Hampl in 1992. It was excellent - it was exactly perfect about how I feel about the series, how I felt as a girl and the hopes and dreams for the future. It made me look up the author and see if I can read some of her books.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The real inspiration of art…is ultimately the comforting silence of creativity that exists just beyond and out of immediate sight of the loneliness, the silent wish is the mother of discipline,” writes Patricia Hampl in her foreword, “Betsy and Tacy…like the precious few of our vivid girlhood heroes, are…about the inner pulse of desire, about the life of feelings and hope, they cannot go out of fashion unless longing itself does.”

“Maud Hart Lovelace…put Mankato, Minnesota, on the literary map with her Betsy-Tacy series.” In Between Deep Valley and the Great World: Maud Hart Lovelace in Minneapolis, Amy Dolnick describes what many readers don’t realize: the fondness with which the beloved author forever immortalized Minneapolis in the series’ grand finale. “Betsy’s Wedding chronicles everyday life in south Minneapolis before and after World War I…The Lovelaces and their friends amused themselves in much the same manner as Minneapolis residents do now…at the lakes in south Minneapolis.”

I discovered this gem in Heather Vogel Frederick’s author’s note at the end of The Mother-Daughter Book Club Home for the Holidays, and I recommend it to all members of the Betsy-Tacy Society and Maud Hart Lovelace fans!

[Catie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slim little volume (which I didn’t realise upon purchasing). I was introduced to the beloved Betsy-Tacy novels a couple of years ago as a buddy read on IG. How I adored those books! My only lament, that I didn’t discover them as a child. Since reading the novels, I’ve been keen to learn more about Maud Hart Lovelace. I had this book saved away on my wish list, and when it came up on sale, I decided to purchase it. I was a bit surprised when it arrived and was only 60 pages long!

This being said, it was an enjoyable, quick read. I do recommend finding a complete biography, since this only focuses on a small portion of her life (when she lived in Minnesota). There are photos throughout, and maps and descriptions which allow the die hard fan to retrace some of the steps and real places that the books were based on.

My favourite part was the very last section of the book. The original foreword for the first edition by the author Patricia Hampl, presented at the Betsy-Tacy Convention on July 11, 1992. She expressed so succinctly how I feel about these wonderful books!

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maud Hart Lovelace - never heard of her until finding this book in the library. She wrote the Betsy-Tacy series of books early in the last century, and now I'll have to read them - all set in Mankato, but the places she describes are largely in South Minneapolis, where I live.

[Kiirsi Hellewell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very slim volume (a little more than a booklet) that doesn't give much information about this period of Maud's life. I'm glad I read it, but it didn't add much to my picture of Maud's life.

[Linda Larsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love all the info

It’s so wonderful to put actual real places in these wonderful books. Using Google Earth you can see what they look like today.

[Deena · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I'm glad I got it, this is only barely a book. Instead it is a list of facts, nicely researched, about addresses in Minneapolis at which lived some of the people in the Betsy-Tacy stories. There are some nice pictures of said people from the nineteen-teens and -twenties, a couple of maps of Minneapolis, and that's about it. It would make a great guide for someone trying to find those addresses in modern Minneapolis, as it also includes the subsequent history of the buildings. Don't expect any actual details about Lovelace's life in Minneapolis, however, because they aren't here (other than what you probably already knew if you're thinking of reading this book).
That being said, if you're a Betsy-Tacy fan, this half hour will be a nice one.