Betsy-Tacy: A Book Series Highlight

“It was difficult, later, to think of a time when Betsy and Tacy had not been friends.” - from Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace
So begins the coming of age saga Betsy-Tacy. The line is true for the two main characters, but I believe it also echos how many readers, including myself,  feel about the books.

I love skirts and shirtwaists, I love flowers and hills and streams, I love children and their games, I love the laughter that comes rising up from a tight knit group of friends. I love cozy evenings by the fire, and lazy afternoons reading outside. I love cooking and eating, dancing and singing, thinking about God and discussing books.

I have spent the past two or so years of my life catching up on the classics, specifically classics for girls. I have read stacks of books from the past one-hundred and fifty or so years, trying to find girls like me in their pages. I have read almost the entire repertoire of girls books from both Louisa May Alcott and L.M. Montgomery. 

But despite all of these accomplishments and the above mentioned interests, somehow, I hadn’t ever stumbled across the work of Maud Hart Lovelace until late last year.
I first heard about her series Betsy-Tacy through the Mother-Daughter-Book-Club series by Heather Vogel Frederick. 

I found - shockingly - that my local library had some of the books in this series. The Betsy-Tacy books are very famous in the Midwestern United States, but not in the Eastern part, which may be the reason why I had overlooked them all of my life.

​So - in December of 2022, I met Besty Ray and Tacy Kelley - and found that they lived in a world that highlighted all of the things I love. 

 have talked about this series on my blog before, but never in depth - so here’s a little bit about the books. 
There are ten Betsy-Tacy books, two continuing stories, and one spin off novel (though to call it that is rather harsh.)  The books follow friends Betsy and Tacy from the ages of five years old through high school, parts of college, and early married life. Set at the turn of the century, these books are filled with quaint little things that add so much to the story.

Inspired by the author’s childhood in Mankato, Minnesota came a rich cast of characters, and the lovely though fictitious Deep Valley, Minnesota. 

Maud Hart Lovelace didn’t plan to be a writer for children, she and her husband co-wrote historical fiction, but when her own daughter began asking for stories,and Maud began telling about her childhood, she started writing for children and young adults, and never went back.

Books can become old friends. Some you have to get used to, spend a lot of time with before they comfort you. This wasn’t the case for me and the Betsy-Tacy books. They were friends of mine before I even lifted the covers. 

I loved the word they lived in. Deep Valley seems so cozy and homelike, despite me never having seen the mid-west before. 

​The stories aren’t plot heavy. Of course, you care about how fights will be mended, how soon someone will recover from being sick, and who will end up with whom in the end, but the books aren’t about plot - they’re about life. Girls living life, and enjoying life.

One thing many people say about the Betsy-Tacy books is that they are shockingly modern. The girls have concerns very akin to the concerns of girls now. They worry about clothing and boys, and being popular, and going to college, they struggle with being themselves. They crave adventure, and friendship, and they laugh, and eat ice cream and enjoy life. 

Although the books are about  Betsy AND Tacy, we spend all of our time with Betsy. Betsy was modeled after Maud herself, and almost all of the major events in Betsy’s life have truth to them.

You grow with Betsy. She goes through many challenges, from trying to change the kind of person she is, to realizing she’s neglected vital parts of her identity by doing so. You see her mindset change as she goes through high school - from just wanting to have fun, to valuing her education. 

I think the thing I love most about these books is the atmosphere, Maud Hart Lovelace has the inexplicable gift of showing you something without using many words. She only has to mention the warmth of the fireplace and the cheery sounds of young people talking, for you to feel like you are having Sunday lunch with the Ray family. 

​I love the vivid imagery of L.M. Montgomery’s work, but she uses loads of words to get you to see what she wants you to see. Lovelace doesn’t have to do that.

Maud’s books aren’t especially profound, but yet they feel profound. The reason? She shows you yourself. In her characters you see your struggles as an adolescent finding yourself. The emotions they feel are the emotions you have felt so many times, the prayers they pray are the same kind that come from your lips in hard times. 

This quiet profoundness is best exemplified in Maud’s standalone novel  (the aforementioned spin off), set in the world of Betsy-Tacy - Emily of Deep Valley. 

I read this book for the first time in January and it very quickly became one of my favorite books of all time. It’s unassuming, a book about a girl who’s friends have all gone off to college, leaving her alone in Deep Valley to take care of her grandfather. But there is a rawness and a reality in Emily - her longing for a life she can’t have, and a determination to make the life she has as good as she can. Emily, in the midst of feeling sorry for herself, “musters her wits,” and begins making her life full in the way she wants. It ends up leading her down better paths than college ever could have - I won’t spoil the whole book for you!

You see, in Emily, I saw myself. The girl who was wishing so deeply for friendships, who wondered what it would be like to live a life different than the one I led. The girl who felt like she was called to do something more, but couldn’t figure out how to do it. 

Emily inspired me to muster up my wits and do the hard work I needed to do in my own life. 

Such is the power of the writing of Maud Hart Lovelace, beauty and entertainment, and yet also, this little story that seems to know you so well, this little lesson that pushes you to be bolder and be who you were made to be.

​Welcome to the world of Betsy-Tacy, and if you’ve visited before, welcome back dear friend!

Belle Thomas

 ​Belle is the writer behind An Old Fashioned Girl. She is passionate about Jesus, good books, and living a beautiful life