Description

"Silver and Gold! Silver and Gold! I'll Never Marry Until I grow Old." Lois Winthrop is a spoiled darling. Everybody loves her even though she successfully evades life's duties without being discovered for what she is -- a selfish little minx. Then death intervenes and Lois left alone with her brother's child to rear. She continues to dance on her way, lightly shifting the care of the child to other shoulders, until she meets a man who paints her portrait in true colors, and from then on she begins to develop. Dr. John Allison, that gruff woman-hater, finds in Lois the woman of his dreams, while she discovers the real joy of life once she learns to live for someone besides herself. A thoughtful tale written in an intriguing style with a delightful romance.

Notes

This book starts out as a typical trope-laden romance, but turns, fairly quickly, into something else: a story about raising, and advocating for, a special needs child. Alice Ross Colver graduated from Wellesley and I wouldn't be surprised if she'd majored in child development there: she wrote primarily children's book series and some of her other adult books featured children with emotional challenges, etc. The romance element in Dimmest Dream is not particularly strong -- it's very hard to do woman-hater well, and the hero's not at all a sympathetic character. BUT, the book is a really interesting glimpse into how developmental delays and neurodivergence were understood and treated at the time of writing. And Lois's growth arc is believable and satisfying.

Flags: Some insensitive language surrounding ethnicity and a lot of outdated terminology and thinking around disability that can be hurtful (but is not badly-intentioned).

Tags

1920s, American, United States, Northeast, aunt, beautiful/handsome, brave, courageous, doctor, dominant, f/m, family, sibling, death of, famous, female, guardian, hair, blond(e), inherited a child/instakid, modern medicine, miracle of, never love again, personal growth/becoming a better person, redemption, rich, romance, selfish, selfless, single, strong m/f friendship, third-person, womanhater/manhater, young

Flags

insensitive or outdated language (race/ethnicity/disability/sexual orientation)