Forgotten Classic: Norma Johnston - The Keeping Days Series

I was musing about books and wondered if anyone remembered this amazing series. It is set in turn of the century Yonkers, New York and follows the Sterling Family in difficult times through the eyes of 14 year old Tish. Described this way it soundsd like standard realistic, historical YA fiction, but its emotional impact is much greater than that. The portrait of a loving and human family weathering a crisis is one of the best I have ever read; the people are well intentioned and loving, but at the same time flawed. They make realistic mistakes and do their best to fix them and redeem themselves and the situation.

It also captures early and mid-adolescence in a way that pierces the heart. I hope somebody else remembers these and for those of you that don't, well, all I can say is that even buying used library copies is worth the investment and the time.

I just found out that there was a final book written after I grew up that I ordered this evening. The series consists of The Keeping Days, Glory in the Flower, The Sanctuary Tree, A Mustard Seed of Magic, A Nice Girl Like You and Myself and I.

I heard about this because someone somewhere recommended it if you liked I Capture the Castle - so I mooched the first book from BM, and really enjoyed it! Haven't read any of the others though.

They are available on amazon used. Don't be shocked at the initial prices you see, if you click around and watch, you can usually get cheaper copies, though they tend to be ex-library. They are out of print and beloved by those who know them and it has driven the price of the books up.

Wasn't the part in the first one when the family fell apart and came back together amazingly well written? I re-read these for the first time in 30 years last year and was stunned that these were as good as I remembered them.

Goodness, I remember reading the first of these, and maybe the second, and liking them. I'd forgotten all about them. Something to revisit...

I had completely forgotten about them but I'm reasonably certain this is the series I drove my high school librarian batty trying to get hold of through inter-library loan, because our library only had the first one and I loved it so much.

I read The Keeping Days recently and reviewed it (beware of spoilers if you read my review, incidentally). I'm definitely looking for the rest of the series! The first one was excellent.

A similar book that I also recently read is Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt. Good stuff.

I remembeer seeing Up a Road Slowly around the same time of life, but never read it - will look it up now and see what I think - thanks wisewoman.