I LOVED this book! I loved that through Violet’s grandmother and three aunts, we saw very different aspects of Chicago, the Word’s Fair, and women’s roles in 1893. Readers are swept into the suggragette movement, the gilded fancy-pants world (complete with the benefits and pitfalls of wealth) and into the charity work in Jane Addams’ settlement house and the rallies of D.L. Moody. Violet’s way of looking at and interacting with the world is so unique. This book had me laughing out loud in several places. I listened to the Audible version and highly recommend it. The voices were all done so well and added to the depth and hilarity.
I was entertained, educated, and moved by this book. Worth another read.
Author
paulashreckhise
3 years ago
This book was so much fun! An entirely different view of the 1893 Chicago Fair than several that I have recently read. But I expected characters from those books to bump into Violet!
Violet is a true romantic with wild scenarios scrambling in her head. “ My imagination is a gift, but I had to live in the real world.” She does learn to grow up. “ Everything would change. That was the lesson I had learned this summer. Life was all about change.”
Her life is a study in contrasts: What she has been told her life should look like and new possibilities that present themselves when she visits her grandmother and three aunts in Chicago. Her grandmother the widow of a minister, one aunt is an avowed Suffragette, another a rich society wife and my favorite, Aunt Birdie who lost her husband in the Civil War. Although her mind tells her he is still fighting that war, she gives wisdom to Violet. She urges her to seek love in a marriage partner. Thus Violet is faced with conflicting opinions on which of four suitors she should accept.
Her grandmother’s advice: “Don’t make choices in life to please somebody else. The only One you ever need to please is God.”
One of the funniest quotes is about the symptoms of wearing a corset: “ heart palpitations, difficulty breathing and light headedness. The symptoms sounded suspiciously like a romance novels description of love. Could it be that thousands of women had married their husbands in the mistaken belief that they were in love, when all along their corsets had been too tight? How disappointing to watch their love mysteriously vanish once their corsets were unlaced.”
Lynn Austin is fast becoming my go-to author for a lighthearted story with real substance and life and spiritual lessons.
* I borrowed this ebook from Prime Reading. All opinions are my own.*
Author
tami1
3 years ago
This was one of my favorite books of the year.
Author
jenniferpurcell
3 years ago
Violet was such a funny character! I loved seeing her mature throughout the story and seeing things from a different perspective. My favorite thing about her was the questions she asked and her vivid imagination. But I was happy to see her learn that there was a time and place for imagination but you also have to accept reality. Wonderful story.
Author
delmard
3 years ago
When I want to read a sweet and inspiring story I turn to Lynn Austin. She is wonderful. I have read most of her books and have loved every one.
Author
bettymcmath
3 years ago
Loved this book!
Author
vicki
3 years ago
I was disappointed in this book. After reading others by this author, this one just doesn’t measure up.
Author
suzymoffatt
3 years ago
I’ve read several other of this author’s books. This one started out a little differently. At first I wasn’t sure that I would like it, but before long, I just couldn’t put it down and enjoyed it tremendously! It’s humorous, but not silly! So good!
Author
maryrandall
3 years ago
The heroine learns a great deal about herself and her family as she visits the “Big City”. Well written characters move a carefully conceived plot. Love anything by this author.
By Lynn Austin
I LOVED this book! I loved that through Violet’s grandmother and three aunts, we saw very different aspects of Chicago, the Word’s Fair, and women’s roles in 1893. Readers are swept into the suggragette movement, the gilded fancy-pants world (complete with the benefits and pitfalls of wealth) and into the charity work in Jane Addams’ settlement house and the rallies of D.L. Moody. Violet’s way of looking at and interacting with the world is so unique. This book had me laughing out loud in several places. I listened to the Audible version and highly recommend it. The voices were all done so well and added to the depth and hilarity.
I was entertained, educated, and moved by this book. Worth another read.
This book was so much fun! An entirely different view of the 1893 Chicago Fair than several that I have recently read. But I expected characters from those books to bump into Violet!
Violet is a true romantic with wild scenarios scrambling in her head. “ My imagination is a gift, but I had to live in the real world.” She does learn to grow up. “ Everything would change. That was the lesson I had learned this summer. Life was all about change.”
Her life is a study in contrasts: What she has been told her life should look like and new possibilities that present themselves when she visits her grandmother and three aunts in Chicago. Her grandmother the widow of a minister, one aunt is an avowed Suffragette, another a rich society wife and my favorite, Aunt Birdie who lost her husband in the Civil War. Although her mind tells her he is still fighting that war, she gives wisdom to Violet. She urges her to seek love in a marriage partner. Thus Violet is faced with conflicting opinions on which of four suitors she should accept.
Her grandmother’s advice: “Don’t make choices in life to please somebody else. The only One you ever need to please is God.”
One of the funniest quotes is about the symptoms of wearing a corset: “ heart palpitations, difficulty breathing and light headedness. The symptoms sounded suspiciously like a romance novels description of love. Could it be that thousands of women had married their husbands in the mistaken belief that they were in love, when all along their corsets had been too tight? How disappointing to watch their love mysteriously vanish once their corsets were unlaced.”
Lynn Austin is fast becoming my go-to author for a lighthearted story with real substance and life and spiritual lessons.
* I borrowed this ebook from Prime Reading. All opinions are my own.*
This was one of my favorite books of the year.
Violet was such a funny character! I loved seeing her mature throughout the story and seeing things from a different perspective. My favorite thing about her was the questions she asked and her vivid imagination. But I was happy to see her learn that there was a time and place for imagination but you also have to accept reality. Wonderful story.
When I want to read a sweet and inspiring story I turn to Lynn Austin. She is wonderful. I have read most of her books and have loved every one.
Loved this book!
I was disappointed in this book. After reading others by this author, this one just doesn’t measure up.
I’ve read several other of this author’s books. This one started out a little differently. At first I wasn’t sure that I would like it, but before long, I just couldn’t put it down and enjoyed it tremendously! It’s humorous, but not silly! So good!
The heroine learns a great deal about herself and her family as she visits the “Big City”. Well written characters move a carefully conceived plot. Love anything by this author.