Fanny Appleton is a lady of privilege. At nineteen years old, she is touring Europe when she meets Henry Longfellow, a recently widowed poet and author. He is drawn to Fanny. While she likes dancing and the social life her father’s accomplishments provides, she also enjoys language and the written word.
Henry is quick to fall in love, but Fanny remains distant. He is ten years older than she is, and from a lower social class. Despite her worries, Henry remains hopeful she will be his. But how long can that hope survive?
I’m kind of middle of the road with this one. I enjoyed reading it, and wanted to know what would happen between Henry and Fanny, but I often found it slow. The novel is based on the real romance between poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Frances Appleton, so the time spanning the novel was necessary to stick to the timeline, but I sometimes felt it could have been just a bit shorter.
Other than that, the novel is enjoyable, and an interesting read. As part of the Proper Romance series, this is a clean, faith-filled story.
1) Overall Plot =3.5
2) Characters = 4
3) Flow/Pace of the story = 3.5
4) Is the story easy to follow? = 5
5) Overall Enjoyability = 3
Average of score 3.8 out of 5
Jess Boudreaux 