Adrienne's review of "Freckles"

This was a book recommended to me by Mom's friend Lee when we were driving to the put-in for Cat. It is written by Gene Stratton-Porter in 1904. Apparently Stratton-Porter was a pretty big author around the turn of the century and has written quite a list of books. She grew up in Indiana next to some woods called the Limberlost (which have long since disappeared) and became a lover of nature and was a pretty influential environmentalist for her day. Many of her books are about nature and most of the fiction books have a very strong nature theme in them as well.

Freckles is about a one-armed orphan who becomes the limber guard for the Limberlost. He is a wonderful character, full of courage and integrity. Because of the kind of person he is, those around him are drawn to him and grow to love him. While guarding the Limberlost he falls in love with a beautiful girl he calls the Swamp Angel.

This book took me a long time to get into, mostly due to the language and writing style that I'm sure was common for the time it was written. The ending didn't seem to really fit with the rest of the book. I found out later it was not the original ending, but her publisher made her change it to appeal more to the audience.

I give it 3 stars. I loved the story, but the style and language are a little difficult for me to get into. Enough so that I can't decide whether or not to start one of the other 2 books of her's that I have sitting on my desk waiting for me to read.