Morning Glory is easily one of the top five romances LaVyrle Spencer wrote. It spans two years from 1941-1943. Small town America is still recovering from the Great Depression. America is holding neutrality while helping the Allies in the Second World War by supplying them material aid. It’s about five or six months before Pearl Harbor is attacked officially drawing America into the war.

Will Parker is an ex-convict drifter. He’s skinny, starving, and down on his luck. When he is fired unfairly from a job at Whitney, Georgia’s local sawmill, Will obtains a local paper and sees in the classified ads a woman advertising for a husband. (This is quite the reverse of most romances, because it is usually the man who advertises for a wife.) On a whim he decides to answer it.

When he meets Crazy Elly Dinsmore, will is not sure what to expect. She’s several months pregnant, has two young children, and looks tired and haggard. Her place is falling apart around her ears and she looks like she could do the same. It is obvious that she is desperate, but then so is he, and both are looking for a change in their fortunes.

They both agree to a trial period where they will see how they get along. Will is determined to prove his worth. Elly is hoping to prove she’s not crazy, though a woman taking on an ex-convict who was in prison for killing a woman (whore or not) is more than a bit crazy not to ask for more information than, “did you have a good reason?”

Three side characters are wonderfully written and created with just a few scenes and phrases. First there is Miss Beasley, the spinster librarian, who reads to be between her forties and fifties. She’s brilliant but fussy. Lula Peak, the town slut, is itching all the time for a man. Anyone will do so long as he can supply her with some of the finer things in life. Will Parker is her wet dream, but he’ll have none of her. Harley Overmire, the superintendent at the local sawmill, is a vain and cowardly man. When the draft starts, he is the first to run his trigger finger through the saw.

Spencer really gets you inside the heads of the characters. The low self esteem of both Will and Elly keep them from each other when they desperately desire to be closer. War is hard on them and changes Will so much. His trauma is handled well, but before the two can become solid lovers and partners again the sheriff rolls up and arrests Will for the murder of Lula Peak. Is a HEA possible for two people who never seem to catch a break?

Rating: 4.5-5 Stars

Buy: Morning Glory

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Categories:

4.5 Stars, 5 Stars, Book Review, Convict, Cooking, Foster/Orphan, Historic America, Marriage of Convenience, Pregnant, S-U, Soldier, Survival, Travel, United States of America, Wartime, Widow or Widower

Tags:

depression america, Elly Dinsmore, ex convict, fifties, finer things in life, forties, fortunes, great depression, LaVyrle Spencer, miss beasley, neutrality, pearl harbor, romances, sawmill, second world war, trial period, wet dream, whim, Whitney Georgia, Will Parker