"I never grow tired of cheering for Emily, and neither will a new generation of readers."—Mitali Perkins, author of You Bring the Distant Near, finalist for the National Book Award

Read by Mara Wilson

Emily Webster, an orphan living with her grandfather, is not like the other girls her age in Deep Valley, Minnesota. After high school graduation, she longs to join her Crowd and go off to college – but she can’t leave her grandfather at home alone. Resigning herself to a “lost winter,” Emily nonetheless throws herself into a new program of study and a growing interest in the local Syrian community, and when she meets a handsome new teacher at the high school, Emily gains more than she ever dreamed possible.

Maud Hart Lovelace’s only young adult standalone novel, Emily of Deep Valley is considered by fans of her beloved Betsy-Tacy series to be one of the author’s finest works.

Featuring a foreword by author Mitali Perkins, this edition also includes archival material and photos of Maud Hart Lovelace, as well as Marguerite Marsh, the basis for Emily Webster. Also included is a biography of Lovelace illustrator Vera Neville, as well as Neville’s original cover art for the 1949 publication of Carney’s House Party along with interior illustrations by Neville.

Many of places and homes from the Betsy-Tacy and Deep Valley series can still be seen in Mankato (the basis for Deep Valley), MN, today, including Betsy’s and Tacy’s childhood homes, which are available to tour thanks to the Betsy-Tacy Society.

Read all the books in the classic Betsy-Tacy series, which follows aspiring writer Betsy Ray and her friends from the age of five through to Betsy’s post-high school travel in pre-WWI Europe and her wedding, spanning the first decade of the 1900s and beyond. These iconic stories, based in large part on Maud Hart Lovelace’s own childhood, teenage years and young adulthood in Mankato (Deep Valley), MN have been beloved by generations of readers and authors alike:

The Betsy-Tacy Books
Betsy-Tacy
Betsy, Tacy and Tib
Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill
Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown
Also available in the four-volume omnibus The Betsy-Tacy Treasury
Heaven to Betsy/Betsy in Spite of Herself (two-volume omnibus)
Betsy Was a Junior/Betsy and Joe (two-volume omnibus)
Betsy and the Great World/Betsy’s Wedding (two-volume omnibus)

The Deep Valley Books (books about other characters in Betsy’s Crowd and town):
Carney’s House Party/Winona’s Pony Cart (two-volume omnibus)
Emily of Deep Valley