I've been interested but wavering over the Polly Brewster books by Lillian Elizabeth Roy for some time. They were published by Grosset and Dunlap over a ten year period from 1922-1932 and later some titles were reprinted by Whitman. Based on the titles, I believe they feature a lot of exotic locales and possibly a focus on adventure. I thought there was some serious Beverly Gray potential. However, the series doesn't seem to be that popular with collectors, even though it seems that it was pretty popular in its time and many titles are easy/cheap to find. It also has the same cover art for all titles. Finally, I decided to suck it up and look for the first title in a free ebook, to see if I thought it was worth collecting the series.
Marybelle "Polly" Brewster is the fourteen year old daughter of a rancher and his lovely, highly educated wife. They all live on an isolated ranch in Colorado. Polly has one older brother, John, who is away at college in Chicago. In the first chapter, Anne Stewart, a young woman who'd worked as a schoolteacher in their area/is the younger sister of one of John's school chums, writes to ask if she and two wealthy girls she is tutoring can board that summer at the ranch. Mr. Brewster agrees, on the condition that his wife allow him to hire help around the house. Sary, a recent widow, comes to work for them, and Anne soon arrives with the two girls: Barbara "Bob" and Eleanor "Nolla" Maynard.
There are all the expected culture shocks as the two girls adjust to life on the ranch. Bob, the elder sister, is selfish and prissy, while Nolla, whose poor health has motivated the trip, is unspoiled and loves Western life. A lot of the book is centered around what the Brewsters see as a simple, healthy lifestyle, a la Alcott's
Eight Cousins. Anne also subscribes to this, which is oh-so-convenient, as she and John are sweet on each other. Mr. Maynard does as well, which is why these two society misses are put in this sitch to begin with.
There are rattlesnakes, July blizzards, burros, mountain lions, grizzlies, and a lost/found gold mine. It's all so stereotypical and fabulous. Western series books aren't my favorite, but I feel this series has real potential. There's the obvious romance between John (who's about to show up, FINALLY, in the last chapter), plus some good hints at some to come. Finally, in the first chapter is the following line:
"Had the reply been other than it was, would these two girls have met and experienced the interesting schooldays, college years, and business
careers that they enjoyed through becoming acquainted that summer at Pebbly Pit?"
I LOVE ALL THOSE THINGS!
So, I've already ordered what books I can find cheaply, and I had to pry myself away from the second book in the series,
Polly and Eleanor. To be honest, I have to say that I enjoyed the potential books to come maybe more than the actual first title, in that, again, Westerns aren't my favorite, and I prefer an older heroine. Hopefully, they'll live up to my expectations.
- I don't know if it's the rustic location or what (the book hints at the former), but the fashions, language, and morals seem older than the 1920s.
- Polly's ambition is to be an interior designer. I'm reserving an opinion on whether that's utterly random or rather interesting. Possibly both?
- Polly is oblivious to romance and honestly rather opposed to it. WHY is this a requirement of series book heroines? I appreciate the feminist idea of not needing a man, having your own interests, etc., but it seems unrealistic to me that all these girls are clueless about romance and disinterested in boys. Plus it's supposed to relate to the heroine's purity/innocence, which is off-putting to me.
- Bob says that a guy is, "not only handsome, but desirable as well." I assume that "desirable" had less risque connotations in the time period, but still funny coming from proper Bob.
- At one point, they're going along "corduroy roads," which are large logs laid in mud. The mud comes up between the logs and then dries, binding them together. I can picture them looking just like corduroy.
- I almost bailed on this book right at the beginning, because it spells Western speech phonetically. I HATE when books decide to write out dialects/accents like this (I adore Wuthering Heights, but still have never done more than scan any of Joseph's dialogue). It makes it so difficult to understand and takes me out of the story, which I suspect is the opposite of the author's intentions. Luckily, this is confined to Mr. Brewster (to a small extent), Sary, Jeb the hired man, and the occasional neighbor.
- I normally like housekeepers, but Sary is written more like "colored" maid characters of the period. As in, she has the above horrible speech, is very foolish and vain, low class, and so forth. It seems like most authors are unable to write both mother and housekeeper/servant sympathetically--it has to be one or the other.
- There's lots of fashion, although a lot of it isn't actually fashionable. Sary wears another woman's old mourning, a "rusty black alpaca." The girls wear the following to a dance, "dotted swiss . . . with blue sash and hair ribbons," (Polly); "simple flowered silk dress," (Anne); "Eleanor's flounced and furbelowed, but modestly high in the neck as became a girl not yet 'out,'" while Bob's "gown of rose-pink net, trimmed with elaborate gold embroidery, was extremely decollete, with narrow gold bands over the shoulders performing the double duty as sleeves and to hold the lower section of the dress up in place!" The natives are so frightened by Bob's dress that none of them will dance with her. Tee hee. And Sary thinks that part of it's missing and tries to offer her a scarf. Ha.
- Polly wants to go to high school in Denver. Theoretically, Anne is helping her prepare for this, although no tutoring is ever depicted. By the end of the book, Polly wants to go to school in Chicago with Eleanor.
I apologize for the crappy photo. The book has internal illustrations, which I hope to add in once my physical copy arrives. Next up will probably be
Polly and Eleanor. I know I still haven't posted
The Secret Stair, but I have to admit that I didn't like it, which pains me.
