If, for whatever reason (“lady farmer” or no), Courting Miss Hattie doesn’t appeal to you, grad anything else of hers–anything at all–and eventually you’ll read Courting Miss Hattie as well. It’s because of this that I would recommend any and all (okay, I haven’t read all, but darn near) of Morsi’s books. Morsi, who, in a few words, manages to hone in on those characteristics that define a person, so even minor characters jump to life: “Millie Jessup always referred to her husband as ‘the reverend,’ even though everyone else in the country called him Preacher Able.” It leaves me appreciating the complexities of people and our relationships. A rare switch in perspective and suddenly I’m sympathizing with the “bad guy.” In fact, this is something at which Pamela Morsi is deft, and there aren’t many authors who can do this.
Even the antagonists become sympathetic by the story’s end. It’s filled with colorful characters and complex relationships nothing is two-dimensional. What’s not romantic about a good-looking, well-built man discovering his employer is also a woman…and then doing something about it?Ĭourting Miss Hattie is why I love romance as a genre. If a little more about her strapping young sharecropper had made its way onto the copy material on the back of the book, I might have read Hattie’s story sooner. I’ve rarely been happier for another heroine.Ĭan you tell that it’s hard for me to remember that Hattie isn’t real? That she isn’t sitting on her front porch swing with handsome, young Reed Tyler teaching her how to kiss: “There’s the peck, the peach, and the malvalva.” I know–it was an education for me, too. Which makes it all the more wonderful that her story is one of the most romantic and passionate I’ve ever read. She hasn’t received much (or any) romantic attention. She grew up fast with too much responsibility to waste on youthful fun. Which is fitting because Hattie Colfax isn’t very romantic–at least, she hasn’t been until now.
I always like a spinster story, but it was something about the “lady farmer” description that just didn’t appeal to me. At this point, her best hope of a husband and children of her own is to marry a widower. Miss Hattie Colfax owns and runs her own farm and at 29, she’s missed the first round of marriages. I originally put off reading this book because the description didn’t capture my imagination. Courting Miss Hattie Pamela Morsi Genre: Historical – Early 20th century American Publication Info.: Bantam Books, 1998, ISBN: 9780553761955
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