Betsy and the Great World

I have read "Betsy and the Great World" so often that I know much of it by heart. When I travelled to Italy this spring, and stepped into St. Mark's Square, I could hear the Harvard Man yelling at Betsy's "tourist trick" with the pigeons. And when I went on a gondola ride, Betsy and her Marco were in the gondola that floated by on the other side of the Grand Canal. Any author who can make her characters live so completely deserves to be read. It takes a very special young woman to understand the pleasures of a simple life well-lived, but for her, this series will provide richness and memories to last a lifetime.

These and L.M. Montgomery's novels are my favorite books. Betsy and the Great World tells of Betsy's adventures in Europe. This book is a little different from the the others, which only shows that Mrs. Lovelace could be original even after eight previous books about Betsy.

There is something about the Betsy-Tacy series that always fills my heart with warmth. Betsy and the Great World is no exception. At twenty-one, Betsy is on the verge of a great adventure. She embarks on a tour of Europe - when Europe was a new horizon for a young writer to see. Betsy soon discovers that she is growing up (she is courted by a dashing Italian during her trip abroad), but she can not forget her beloved Joe. Read this book and the rest of the series. They will take you back to a time when things were simpler.

A heartwarming book. Betsy's vivid personality holds its own in the Great World, from her leisurely transatlantic crossing (charmed by an Irish purser) to her taste of student life in a Munich pension, a visit to Oberammergau, a romantic month in Venice, a short stay in Paris, and Mrs. Heaton's boardinghouse in London at the very outbreak of war. Joe . . . well, read the book. A masterpiece.

I have never been to Europe, so reading "Betsy and the Great World" was a fun way to experience Europe through someone else's eyes. I read all the Betsy-Tacy books, and though I definitely felt the absence of Tacy and the Crowd in this book, it was interesting to watch Betsy's development and growth during her year abroad. Her independence and spunk even away from home are amazing to behold, yet at times she gets homesick just as anyone would, so her experiences are not unrealistic. I think this book shows a very important time of growth in Betsy's life. If you are a fan of the Betsy-Tacy books, this one is not to be missed. "Down to Gehenna or up to the throne, he travels the fastest who travels alone..."