Collect Crimson Roses Translated By Grace Livingston Hill Issued As Textbook

read this when I wasand loved every minute of it, Recently a good friend reminded me about it and that I shared it with her and how much she loved it, Its a classic poor girl is saved by a rich man kind of love story but this girl is not desperate, She is not searching and feeling sorry for herself, she is living life to the fullest as she is able and someone sees the vitality in her and seeks her out.
Crimson Roseswas the first Grace Livingston Hill I ever read and it is my favorite, I borrowed an old edition from our church library, Years later I found a paperback copyand I bought it out of nostalgia with plans to reread it, Then I found a first edition with dust jacket that I just had to make mine, This year I decided to finally revisit the book and see if it still held up as my favorite,

The story centers on a Cinderellastyle heroine, Marion Warren, who has spent the last two years of her life nursing her sick father.
This was a labor of lovebecause she and her father were very close, But when her father passes away no will can be found and her brother who uses his force of personality to make decisions regarding their now jointlyowned property.
Despite knowing their father's wishes that Marion stay in the city and complete her education, Tom wants to sell the city house and move to a farm in the country where his wife will be happy and his children will have plenty of room.
Unknown to them both, his wife has hidden the will that would have given Marion the house she grew up in as well as enough money for her education.
The wife, although not as cruel as the stepmother in the fairy tale, also expects that Marion will come along and help her with the housework and the children.


Marion decides that she can't bear to do that and to follow her father's wishes and, truth be told, her own dream and finds herself a job in a department store and a small apartment.
The life is hard and she has to really manage her money, but she saves up enough to purchase season tickets to the symphony.
. . and that's when the magic happens, No fairy godmother this time, but a single crimson rose each night in her seat, And roses delivered when she's sick, And a mystery person who shelters her with an umbrella one stormy night after the symphony, Little does she know that she has caught the eye of the wealthy Jefferson Lyman who longs for a real womana woman who shares his interests music, knowledge, and culture and not one of the flighty socialites who have set their caps for him.


When it becomes obvious where Jeff's interests lie though Marion can scarcely believe it, one of those socialites, Isabel Cresson, makes troubleaccosting Marion at her ribbon counter in the department store and then arrange for an embarrassing social event.
But Marion has her championsher fellow workers know what kind of woman she is and stand up for her and Jeff manages to rescue her from the event before her reputation can be ruined.
And like the fairy tale, there is a happy ending in store,

To modern sensibilities it may seem like Marion is a meek little doormatbut she is actually a very strong young woman who sticks to her beliefs and convictions and also shows determination to make the life she wants long before the "wealthy savior" comes along to take her out of poverty.
She defies her brother and her sisterinlawwho are quite convinced that she'll come crawling back to them for shelter once she's had enough of hard work and little money.
The scene at the end when Marion and Jeff stop by unexpectedly is quite delightful, And, through it all, Marion remains sweet and kind and true to herself and her beliefs,

Crimson Roses is a lovely romance from early last century and should definitely be read with that in mind, I enjoyed it every bit as much now as I did nearlyyears ago,

First posted on my blog sitelinkMy Reader's Block, Please request permission before reposting, Thanks. This is a sweet, classic romance, with an overriding theme of Christianity, The characters are well written, even if the book is somewhat light on substance, I like that the main character is willing to risk her family's ire to live the life she wants, My alltime favorite Christian romance, This is Hill at her best, It was good light reading, I enjoyed the ending because it wasn't as abrupt as romance books usually are, The love of books, art, music, and rosesof course that the heroine had made the book more appealing to me, However, at times she did and thought things that defied all reason, and that was exasperating, Overall though, it was a pleasant read, This is just a QUICK REVIEW of my thoughts on the book

Got this from the library and flicked through reading pages here and there, but it seemed far too boring to actually read so I sent it right back.
Does anyone today have such a longing, such a desire for the finer things You see, I understand this premise only too well.
When I was a student, I scraped together what funds I could so that I could have season tickets to the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
I sat in the highest seats alone, just so I could enjoy the music, the atmosphere, the culture, Does anyone today do that

And imagine, . . finding a single red rose waiting for you at your seat each time you arrive to hear the music, . . ! blissful sigh

Such is the stage set for a beautiful romance between a girl who works hard for her living, who comes from humble means, and a wealthy man of the world.
Truly this one is one of my favorites! What a darling bit of oldfashioned romance! What a sweetly tender place to rest your heart for a while, a place without a drop of cynicism! Grace Livingston Hill's novels have this way of touching me and inspiring me with their most sincere sweetness and their high ideals.
Standard Grace Livingston Hill fare, Saintly, beautiful heroine is beset by comically villainous foes who seek to destroy her, She bears her troubles with angelic resignation literally angelic no human would react that way and is eventually rewarded for her virtue beyond her wildest imaginings.
These books are like a spoonful of whipped cream, Pleasurable, but need some substance to offset the cloying sweetness, I liked the first half better than the second half, Its a bit more like preJane Austen novels where the good characters are exceptionally good and the one bad character doesnt have many, if any, redeeming qualities.
It makes for easy reading because its obvious who to root for, but its not true to life and a little too picture perfect without a compelling redemptive ending.
That being said, I did like Marion, the main character, a lot, Marion Warren, a shy, lovely woman, tries to adjust to her life after her father dies and her brothers family leaves, She finds work and an apartment to stay in, and saves her pennies to go to the orchestra, There, on her seat, she finds a beautiful red rose, She sets it in the seat beside her, thinking someone must have left it or dropped it and would come back for it.
After the concert is over and no one claims the rose, Marion takes it home with her and loves it, even saving the petals.

Between her work, she attends church and a few church functions, helping wash dishes, Her former schoolmate, Isabel Cresson, despises Marion and her oldfashioned ways, making things difficult for Marion,

At the next concert Marion attends, there is another red rose in her seat! As roses continue to appear, Marion wonders who could be giving them to her, and why.


Marion meets a charming young man at her work, and later is introduced to him at a church gettogether, She realizes he is a rich man, but she doubts that he knows her low social standing, or he would not associate so much with her.


As things progress and she is captivated by the rich young man Jefferson Lyman, she knows it is an impossible thing to even dream of marrying him, so she doesnt.
Invited by Jefferson to a wonderful concert, she decides she must tell him of her poor and lowly standing, But she is eager to go to the concert, so she waits until after it is over,

This is a cute, though predictable, story, and was easy and fun to read, as are most of Mrs, Hills books. One

thing that is common to most of her books is that the heroine/hero are almost perfectgoodlooking, polite, conscientious, etc, and almost never say or do anything wrong, While these are good examples to follow, it is unrealistic to find anyone so good all the time and sometimes makes me a bit annoyed.
I guess Marion does say something unkind once, but mostly she is the meekest and most perfect person in the world! But it is an interesting book and I like the dress and hat descriptions.

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