I recently recorded an episode for the entertaining podcast “Lost Ladies of Lit” with Amy Helmes and Kim Askew. You can listen to the episode here. It was great to give Emilie Loring some time in the spotlight, and I hope you will give it a listen.
It still seems odd to think of Emilie Loring as a “lost” author. In 1975, Bantam Books’ all-time best-selling authors were Louis L’amour (westerns), John Steinbeck (social novels), and Emilie Loring in romance.
That means she beat out fellow romance writers Grace Livingston Hill, Georgette Heyer, and Barbara Cartland, all republished by Bantam. But time marches on, and along came Harlequin Romances, Danielle Steele, and Nora Roberts to transform the genre, and the favorites of our youth became “lost ladies.”
Amy, Kim, and I discussed Uncharted Seas on the podcast episode, and preparing for that gave me an opportunity to read with more eye to detail than I have for awhile. I read Emilie Loring’s books for years without noticing the craft in her writing, but that craft is what makes her stories worth reading over and over. It also helps to explain the appeal she has for smart women.
“A Thoroughly Satisfying, Pleasant Story”
On the surface, Emilie Loring’s appeal comes from likable characters, intriguing plots, desirable settings, and lively dialogue.
“Take a good romance, a mystery, excellent characterization, plenty of action, and–just for good measure–a plentiful sprinkling of turf life–and you have Emilie Loring’s latest…”
“…no dullness from the time the elevator operator says ‘step quick, lady!’ and Sandra Duval walks out of the elevator into a new world.” (Atlanta Constitution)
“Miss Loring has written many popular novels, but none quite as breath-taking with life and romance as this.” (Nashville Banner)
There is no need to look further or to analyze what she wrote. Emilie Loring’s purpose was to entertain, and if you are entertained, that’s all she wanted. But she put a lot of thought into her writing, and we can appreciate her more, if we take time to see the elements she used and the way she combined them.
Writing Craft: Theme
When she sat down to write, Emilie Loring began with a theme in mind–loyalty, integrity, adventure, faith… Uncharted Seas is about uncertainty, which Emilie both announces:
“… she had a curious presentiment that after today she never would be quite the same person again, that the old pattern would be torn to shreds and a new pattern substituted.”
and subtly reinforces:
“Doors were curious things. One never knew what one might find behind them.”
“Against the now limpid blue heavens a golden weathercock on its barn glinted and spun indecisively as if considering whether to broadcast a cloudy or a fair tomorrow…”
Confidence transforms uncertainty into adventure:
“’Already my imagination is pulling on its seven league boots.’”
“She was glad that she had come… if only to feel this sense of a beckoning future.”
And at some point in the story, she makes clear her view:
“Dreams are the source of much of the new thinking, new convictions, new power in the world. They send the adventurous out on uncharted seas, dangerous seas, and it is danger, not security, which develops strength in mind and spirit.
Uncharted Seas
What’s intriguing about Emilie’s themes is that they could go another way; one could make another choice. Stick to tradition, don’t stray from home, find pleasure in the known, “bloom where you are planted.” It’s something to think about, something to square within oneself. Do I have what it takes to face uncertainty with a brave spirit, with humor, with creativity?
“Had she an unconquerable soul? Time alone would tell.“
Writing Craft: Vocabulary
I’ve lost count of the number of times someone has commented that their vocabulary grew as they read Emilie Loring. It’s sure true for me.
Most of an Emilie Loring novel is written in language understood at the middle-school or high school level, but there are also college- and graduate-level words that the younger reader interprets through context and the advanced reader knows from experience.
In the following description, malines is graduate-level and roseate is college-level. Maline, n., a fine, stiff net often used for veils. Roseate, adj., rose colored.
“Dusk was stealing forward trailing an amethyst veil, delicate as malines, across a faintly primrose sky. Pinnacles of cloud, roseate now, were stabbing at the darkening dome; the once silver river rippled like molten ebony, setting a-quiver the birch leaves reflected on its surface.”
Aquarelles is also graduate-level vocabulary, but its meaning is so well supported by the surrounding description that I didn’t look it up until last week. Aquarelle, n., a style of painting using thin, typically transparent, watercolors. What a nice term; I’m glad to know it!
“In the perennial borders [the rain] had brought out boltonia, fluffy clouds of it; monkshood, pale as aquamarine, purple as Persian amethysts; marigolds, running the scale of topaz tints; giant zinnias in melting aquarelles; helenium, rusty as the red of carnelian; cosmos, all mother-of-pearl or tourmaline pink…”
Writing Craft: Figurative language
Figurative language adds depth to Emilie’s narratives, invoking images beyond the moment, as the description of flowers as jewels did in the preceding quote.
“The words flashed between them like a shining blade.”
When I first read this, my pre-teen self envisioned a sword and understood the sense of sharp words slicing through a conversation. As I grew familiar with nineteenth-century Romance literature–the same that Emilie grew up reading– the association of a sword with defense of honor deepened the sense of clashing wills between Sandra and Nicholas.
I like this one, too:
“His eyes burned as he approached, but his voice pelted like icy hail.”
Writing Craft: Phraseology
“Not entirely because it imperiled her tenure of the position she so much needed and desired was she sorry that she had assumed that the youthful man was her employer’s son; she was sorry to have hurt the woman, and her voice had shown that she was hurt.”
A modern editor would strike through this sentence and replace it with something like:
She was sorry to have assumed that Curtis was Mrs. Newsome’s son. She didn’t want to be fired, and she was sorry to have hurt her employer.
The message would be clear, but it loses something, don’t you think? Emilie’s sentence is more nuanced, carries a greater emotional impact, and it does so with the sense of formality suited to her character’s social station.
Writing Craft: Cultural references
“…the old stone house which seemed near enough to Seven Chimneys to suggest a dower-house.”
A reference to the landed gentry, a dower house is provided for the widow of an estate’s previous owner. Presumably, Pat Newsome, as Mark Hoyt’s widow, belongs in a dower house, not in the principal estate, Seven Chimneys. It’s a hint that things aren’t quite right yet in the distribution of Mark Hoyt’s estate.
Arts, Literature, Current Events
I read both Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karamazov for a Russian history course at college. That same semester, I saw the movie “Love and Death,” and I was amazed to recognize reference after reference to the same Russian novels. I felt smart to be “in on” the meanings, but I wondered how someone who hadn’t read the novels could appreciate the humor. The answer was, of course, that the movie worked on two levels–one that required extra knowledge and another that did not. The same is true for Emilie Loring’s books. She makes liberal reference to music, writing, and art, and those references can trigger little sparks of recognition, if we know them. We are none the worse for it, if we do not.
- “He was playing Puccini’s Cavaradossi. The lachrymose aria sobbed through the scented stillness. Poor boy. There was no doubt but he was quite mad about Estelle…”
With no knowledge of opera, we can tell that Curtis Newsome is playing sad music, presumably thinking about the predicament he is in, married to Pat but in love with Estelle. But if we know that this Puccini aria is sung by a man awaiting execution after spending an evening with his true love, then the scene becomes foreshadowing–not necessary to know but an extra layer of meaning for those who recognize it.
- “And then to pile Ossa on Pelion by offering to retain Nicholas Hoyt as manager. How had he dared?”
We might have said “and then to pour gasoline on the fire,” but the meaning is clear from context. For the literary minded, the more common phrase is “Pelion on Ossa,” a reference to Homer’s telling of the giants’ attempt to reach and overthrow the gods on Mount Olympus. “Ossa on Pelion” is in Virgil’s account, presumably the text that Emilie studied in school. Ossa and Pelion are mountains, so it doesn’t much matter which is heaped upon the other. Either way, it’s trouble.
- Bud and Buddy, the two dogs, are named for a popular vaudeville duo.
- The gaudy painting of a dancer that hangs at Seven Chimneys is described as a coryphée, one of the dancers in a corps but not the prima ballerina. It is another dig at Pat Newsome’s home being of lower status, not occupied by the proper heir.
Attraction
There is plenty of physical attraction between Sandra Duval and Nicholas Hoyt, but it is their intellectual attraction that fuels the romance. They admire each other’s character, respect each other’s independence, and are curious to know each other better. Despite a social situation that sets them at odds, they see each other’s fine qualities, but neither buckles to the other. When they are on equal ground, attraction turns to liking and then to love.
Smart Women, Smart Romance
The women in Emilie Loring’s novels are smart and independent, with goals of their own to pursue. In my experience, Emilie’s readers are, too. It’s easier to identify with a character who upholds your same standards and finds a romance of mutual respect and attraction. In ways that we notice and others that we don’t, Emilie Loring’s prose creates environments that we would enjoy visiting, if we had the chance, and romances that encourage us to take our brains and our self-respect in with us.
No wonder we keep going back.
Happy Landings!
Remember to listen to the podcast! here
The Emilie Loring Collection 
Thank you for this wonderful post. It was rather synchronistic for me, as I have just been reading Uncharted Seas this week. I have a huge bag of ex library hardcovers my daughter gave me and I just pulled out one at random and started reading it. I have read all of Emilie’s books many times but it has been awhile since I read this one. I, too, feel as if my vocabulary increases as I read her books and anything I don’t recognize, I look up. I couldn’t do that years ago when I first discovered her books.
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Don’t you love synchronicity?! I’m glad when ex library copies find good homes.
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Hello Patti,
When you were preparing for your interview on Lost Ladies of Lit, I told you about C.A. Belmond also known as Camille Aubrey. I re-read the Rather series and read Cooking for Picasso (as Camille Aubrey) since then. Aubrey has an affinity for the Cote d’Azur and French gastronomie. Some comparisons with Emilie Loring’s writing style and themes:
I won’t say Aubrey is a modern-day Emilie Loring. She’s just a good, thoughtful writer, which we need more of. She isn’t about the formula. She write about themes she likes (movie business, Cote d’Azur, French cooking, art, mystery & history).
Happy Landings!
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I’ve been watching FEUD: Capote v the Swans. The Swans were the society women who allowed him entree into their personal lives, to their regret after he wrote about their private scandals. (And they were a bit squishy about that regret. I can’t figure out how they became so attached and loyal to him. He was weasely.)
The connection to Emilie Loring books is that I noticed the women were debutantes/young ladies in the 1920s-30s. I wondered whether Emilie Loring would have seen photos of these ladies in the society pages as she sought to describe the fashion of her characters. And I do believe I heard one of the Swans make a reference to the popularity of turquoise at one time!
Happy Landings!
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Thank you for so many new insights into “Uncharted Seas!” I had no idea the dogs, Bud and Buddy, were named after a vaudeville duo. And your insight into the aria Curtis was playing on the violin only reinforced in my mind what a tragic figure he was. I’ve actually learned a lot from Emilie’s books too. For instance, when she was talking about possibly breeding another Man o’ War, I discovered that he was a great racehorse in the first half of the 20th century.
My vocabulary increased exponentially from her books. I’ve had to look up several of her words, particularly “malines,” because they weren’t in common usage in the early 1970s, which is when I read my first one. Also, my sister and I used to compliment each other jokingly on each other’s “frocks.”
I can well remember the rows of Bantam editions of Emilie’s books in our downtown bookstore. You are right. Harlequins, Danielle Steele, Janet Dailey, and Nora Roberts changed the genre forever, and not for the better in my opinion. I remember when I read my first Harlequin. It was my last!
Emilie Loring is part of who I am. When I was a teenager, my friends accused me of talking like a book. Well, I was! An Emilie Loring book! I tried to stop, but sometimes those books kept slipping back into my conversation. There are times when I don’t feel very comfortable in today’s world. Then I like to slip back into a world that I never knew physically, but know all too well in my soul. As you said, “no wonder we keep going back.”
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I have loved Emilie’s novels since I was in middle school. I can say assuredly that as my education increased so did my involvement and understanding of her novels. Nowadays, if there is something I am unfamiliar with I quickly look it up on the internet so I’ve become the purveyor of lovely pieces of art, heard music both accurate to the era in which she was writing and classical that transcends time that I may never have heard before. I look up fashion and design references. I think one of the first things I loved about Emilie’s novels was that she wrote for the visual sense as well. I lingered for years upon the dining room described with four cabinets, one in each corner of the room. And some of the clothing descriptions…Swoon worthy for a fashion lover (if not wearer, lol) like myself.
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It’s great to hear that someone else looks up these references. There is so much content in her novels, just awaiting someone with the curiosity to discover it.
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Hi Patti!
This was a very thoughtful and well-developed post. It’s hard to offer an adequate and worthy comment. I will focus on one thing that jumped out at me. Under the phraseology where you provide the example of a fairly long sentence that contains lot of information about the characters and their viewpoints (Sandra’s regret in mistaking Curtis Newsome for Pat’s son). You compare that to a short to the point, bland sentence that might be written today.
A good writer knows when a long sentence is appropriate and needed, and offers value to the story. Such a writer also knows when it’s appropriate to get on with it and tell a simple fact. An accomplished writer uses a mix of both. Having a decent vocabulary and sense of nuance in words and their meanings–as well as knowing how to structure a sentence appropriately are required for skillful writing as Emilie Loring had.
As you noted we learn how to write well and use words well by reading. To think of the schlock garbage that kids are reading today–assigned in school, not just chosen for pleasure–because of certain ideologies they espouse, is discouraging. Not only is the ideology destructive, the writing quality is so terrible and shameful in and of itself. Feeding the kids low quality in so many ways.
Thank you for this post and all you have done to celebrate Emilie Loring, her writing and life, and sharing it with us! I hope young women find her writings and pick up a book and see the world a little differently than they do now.
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Thanks, Peggy. In fairness, the example I chose wasn’t her best sentence, but I stand by it being more interesting and nuanced. I admire Emilie’s writing craft, and I grit my teeth when she is lumped in with the hoi polloi of “romance” writers.
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div dir=”ltr”>Hi, Patti. I have tried several times to leave a comment
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Aloha! I truly enjoyed this posting. I agree with your assessments of unique writing style. I can always tell the difference between the ghost writers and Emilie true writing. I well recall when Harlequin novels began. A friend gave me a box that she said I had to try. Disappointing. Trivial and insipid stories. I had been used to reading Leon Uris and adventure stories about that time. I hadn’t discovered Emilie yet. I had transitioned to nonfiction then and was working and raising three teenage girls with a husband who liked to takes family drives in our free time. I was too busy to read more than the newspaper for awhile. That’s the backstory for a time when I quit working and our girls were then in only two schools instead of three, and I used more time for my ministry, so I was busy but less stressed. I had a little time for going to the beach in the afternoon before school let out. (1985ish). I borrowed my first Emilie from the library and got a coffee and scone and my watercolors and beach bag. I was enthralled from the first sentence! It changed my whole schedule. It became important to protect that short hour of time three days a week to do this. That’s was the only time I read her stories as it was a special time for myself. Her words were simple and clear of ideas. Yet, vivid enough to excite my imagination, and I loved the strength and compassion of the main characters, with words like, honor and respect being shown throughout the writing as it reflected back on me, the reader. I became spoiled to other inferior writing that insulted my being. I savored every library book as I checked them off the shelf. Forward to my discovery of you, writing about Emilie Loring. It has been a wonderful journey as I have carried my travel bag plastered with stickers of where I’ve been with you along the way. Thank you again for the journey and giving the same hint and respect for Emilie and your own readership. I applaud you! Just a note, my name is actually Pamela Lee. I was reading an Emilie this week about Pamela Leigh. It was a fun reminder that we can all enjoy special little gems in her writings. Thank you for this interesting history too. Aloha Pam
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Thank you, Pam. Yours is a dear story of reading Emilie in treasured time for yourself. I have often treated myself to some “Emilie time” when I needed a personal oasis, but to have discovered her for the first time that way is really special.
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Aloha. I like wh
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Thank you for yet another pleasurable article!
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