Background
Grace Livingston Hill was born in Wellsville, New York to Presbyterian minister Charles Montgomery Livingston and his wife, Marcia Macdonald Livingston - both of them being writers.
Grace Livingston Hill was born in Wellsville, New York to Presbyterian minister Charles Montgomery Livingston and his wife, Marcia Macdonald Livingston - both of them being writers.
So was her aunt Isabella Macdonald Alden, who wrote under her pseudonym Pansy and for whom Grace Livingston Hill later finished her autobiographical last book
She wrote over 100 novels and numerous short stories. Her characters were most often young female Christian women or those who become so within the confines of the story. Grace Livingston Hill had one daughter, Ruth, who also was a writer
Hill"s first novel was written to make enough money for a vacation to Chautauqua in New York while the family was living in Florida.
After the death of Hill"s father, her mother came to live with her. This prompted Hill to write more frequently.
Although they never did get divorced, Grace Livingston Hill stopped using his surname after he left in May 1914. Although many of her earlier novels were specifically intended to proselytize, Hill"s publishers frequently removed overt references to religious themes.
After her publishers realized the popularity of her books, references to religious topics were allowed to remain, although she later modified her writing style to appeal to a more secular audience.
Good and Evil
Hill"s messages are simple in nature: good versus evil. As Hill believed the Bible was very clear about what was good and evil in life, she reflected that design in her own works. She wrote about a variety of different subjects, almost always with a romance worked into the message and often essential to the return to grace on the part of one or several characters.
Redemption
If her clear-cut descriptions of evil in man and woman were Hill’s primary subjects in her novels, a secondary subject would always be God’s ability to restore.
Hill aimed for a happy, or at least satisfactory, ending to any situation, often focusing on characters" new or renewed faith as impetus for resolution.
Married Review; children: Margaret Livingston (Mistress Wendell H. Walker), Ruth Glover (Mistress Gordon Munce).