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A review by mgeryk
All This, and Heaven Too by Rachel Field
4.0
A sentimental favorite. I can't remember exactly how I came to own a copy of this book, but I think I picked it up in a thrift shop many years ago, and recognized it as the source material for the Bette Davis film of the same name.
Field is better known as the Newbery-winning author of Hitty: Her First Hundred Years. It's been a long time since I read All This, and Heaven Too; I didn't remember that Field was writing about her own relative (by marriage) and her own famous family in the novel. Field fails to win any points for style--to me, it's very obvious that this is a novel of its time in a way that isn't necessarily positive. It is, however, a well-imagined retelling of historic events and an interesting inside look into one of those incredible New England families that seem so characteristic of the 19th century.
Field is better known as the Newbery-winning author of Hitty: Her First Hundred Years. It's been a long time since I read All This, and Heaven Too; I didn't remember that Field was writing about her own relative (by marriage) and her own famous family in the novel. Field fails to win any points for style--to me, it's very obvious that this is a novel of its time in a way that isn't necessarily positive. It is, however, a well-imagined retelling of historic events and an interesting inside look into one of those incredible New England families that seem so characteristic of the 19th century.