To get through these oh so cold weeks of winter, I signed up for the Mid-Continent Public Library’s winter reading challenge. This year’s theme? “Literary Love.”
I belong to the “MCPL” because of their Midwest Genealogy Center. It’s an amazing library, not only for its in-house collection but also for access to their extensive, external database collection. This is a Missouri public library, but luckily, I live in one of the adjacent Kansas counties that is eligible for membership.
Their challenge sounds like a lark: Read any five romance books by March 15th and get this fun mug as a reward.
I’m adapting the challenge by looking for the current or recent author whose books are most like Emilie Loring’s. I read a lot of books published in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, so I’m feeling bold about exploring the 21st! I am also completely without ideas, so help me out:
We shared our “other favorite authors” one time, but this is a different question. Without Emilie Loring, who would we read for a similar experience?
To set my standards firmly in mind, the first book I’ll read for the library challenge will be Uncharted Seas by Emilie Loring. I’m in the mood for it, and it’s also the book that I chose for an upcoming interview on the podcast “Lost Ladies of Lit.”
This is the podcast home for discussing “lost classics by women writers,” and I’m really looking forward to it! (I’ll let you know when we have a broadcast date.)
It wasn’t easy to choose a single “Emilie” for this talk! I very nearly chose Fair Tomorrow, Hilltops Clear, We Ride the Gale! or… It was very difficult to choose, but I did choose, and I’m going to do a “new” reading of Uncharted Seas, pretending I haven’t read it before. When I do this, I like to read from the original hardback, since my eye is already trained to the arrangement of words in the paperback editions. I don’t want to skip over anything.
Hosts Amy Helmes and Kim Askew also have copies of Happy Landings: Emilie Loring’s Life, Writing, and Wisdom. I have no idea where our discussion will go, but I encourage you to get to know their podcast and then listen in when it’s Emilie Loring’s turn. Find them here: Lost Ladies of Lit.
It’s warming to the tolerable thirties this week in Kansas, so I’m heading back to the swimming pool for laps and then I’ll find a cozy armchair and start reading your suggestions. Join me?
The Emilie Loring Collection 
You have inspired me to re-read the “Rather” books in order. I discovered them, and thus read them, out of order. The story will be coherent to me now in order. Also, the first novel starts with Penny working for a movie production company. There is language belonging to that set that will not permeate the books going forward. The fact that I was surprised by the language is an indication that it does not dominate the books. The series is not crass, although some characters may be. (What’s a novel without an outlier character?)
Happy Landings!
LikeLiked by 1 person
A modern author who’s like Emilie Loring? That’s really a challenge, but the one I thought of right away was Rosamunde Pilcher, an author who lived in Scotland. Sadly she is no longer with us, but I loved her books, especially the last four she wrote later in her life. They’re wonderful. And then I thought of romance writers who were contemporaries of Emilie. Faith Baldwin and D.E. Stevenson come to mind, although their books are so much more than romances. Faith Baldwin certainly wrote snappy dialogue, and her books are more modern in tone than Emilie’s, even though they wrote in the same era. D.E. Stevenson was also a Scottish author. Her books could be classified as “gentle romances,” but they are still very good and funny. I laughed out loud several times when I read “Miss Buncle’s Book!”
LikeLike
I tried D E Stevenson and Miss Buncle back when we shared the other authors we read, and I just could not finish a book. I tried several times. BUT I tried on Audible, and that’s not ideal for trying a new author. My imagination has a way of making scenes more pleasant than another’s voice might. I’ll look for Rosamunde Pilcher!
LikeLike
I urge you to try other books by D. E. Stevenson than the Miss Buncle series. I love those but that is not the best of Stevenson’s writings in my opinion.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m happy to try. Make a suggestion!
LikeLike
Look for any of her “house’ books, such as Amberwell, Celia’s House, Sarah’s Cottage. Not so silly as Miss Buncle which was a bit of a departure for her work.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! I’ll report back!
LikeLike
I spent an afternoon in that library last month when I visited my sister in Kansas City. Wonderful genealogy experience, but a single afternoon was not enough.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agreed! I try to go there with a game plan that I can attack, so I can have a mini sense of completion. I wish I were more free to plan days there. I’d suggest meeting up for a spot of tea and a conversation the next time you come that way.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds like a fun endeavor! My mind was blank at first. Then I remembered the”Rather” series by C.A. Belmond. The setting is contemporary time ~(early 2000s). The series covers the same heroine for the 4 books. There is a mystery in each book, tied to some local history. (I suspect the history is largely fictional but could have some basis in real history.) The books are set in Europe, so they are great travel logs. They are not steamy romances. The mystery is the primary story.
https://www.fictiondb.com/series/rather-ca-belmond~14726.htm
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Peggy. They sound like just the thing! I’ll take a look.
LikeLike
You’re welcome. I found one of the books by chance. Then tracked down the others. I was able to share them with my mother. She enjoyed them also. Lots of fun!
Enjoy! and good luck on the endeavor.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I see that they are available on Audible, too.
LikeLike
I’m learning so much here. C. A. Belmond is “Camille Aubray” (Belmond) and has stand alone “Cooking for Picasso” and “The Girl from the Grand Hotel” coming in April.
LikeLike
Oh good. I have not read her stand-alone books. I am glad to hear a new book is coming out. I really liked the Rather series and was disappointed when I finished it with no new avenues to pursue. She’s one of the few modern writers I really enjoyed right off the bat. (I have enjoyed Mary Higgins Clark, but who doesn’t!) (I tried out popular romance author Debby Macomber. That was vacuous stuff with little character/plot development. All about the steam and melodrama. No clear story. Really terrible writing. Nothing to invest you in characters/story. Little description of the setting. I could go on. It’s insulting to women not to write a better story.)
I’m glad to see you find her interesting as I did. Let me know how you enjoy the books after you read them.
LikeLike
Finding a “modern” author like Emilie is a tall task! The first book that comes to mind isn’t newly written, but newer than Emilie. It is The Book of Hours by T. Davis Bunn. Lots of mystery without there being a crime, marvelous setting in an English manor and lots of lovely supporting characters! I will let you know if I think of any others.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Heide. I’ll take a look at The Book of Hours. The title reminds me of Ann Swinfen’s Medieval series that begins with The Bookseller’s Tale. Philip Battley narrates it on Audible—wonderful.
LikeLike
Oh, I will have took look it up!
I also have been enjoying Janette Rallison. Some of her stories have a mystery and some don’t. I am thinking of Her Ex-crush Bodyguard, which was very good with a mystery. I also had fun reading What the Doctor Ordered. It was a hoot! But no mystery there, just quirky family and an opposites attract story.
LikeLike
I am anxious to hear “whose books are most like Emilie Loring’s.” When I think of them, I always think of Elisabeth Seifert and Grace Livingston Hill, too, but I’m sure the differences between them are vast. It’s been years since I’ve read any of them, but they certainly established a firm bar for the voices I’ve read since.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! Elisabeth Seifert is new to me. I’ll take a look!
LikeLike
I haven’t thought of Elisabeth Seifert in years! I need to renew my acquaintance. Grace is an old friend. My grandmother owned all her books and left them to me. They are treasures.
LikeLike