Kelly Whittington

This was my favorite book to read at my grandma's house when I was a young teen while trying to hide from my little sisters and cousins. I just reread it again for the umpteenth time, now that I am 60. I did not know whether it would hold it's appeal for me, not having read it for at least 20 years when I first inherited the book after my grandmother's passing. Indeed it has. I find historical fiction fascinating and now with the internet at our fingertips, I was able to find out that the Limberlost was a real place long ago. Made the book more exciting for me! Gene Stratton-Porter was a great story teller and I was able to visualize her vivid descriptions of the great swampy forest with little trouble. I always had trouble as a youngster trying to read the dialect of the Irish and Scotch brogues, but it works well and helps give you the feeling of the different cultures being depicted here. Romance novels in the early 1900's was indeed more pure than romance (ha!) today, which I found totally sweet and refreshing. There is nature, loss, sweet young love, villains and redemption in this novel and if you give it a real read, you will love it.