They Loved to Laugh

TEARS AND LAUGHTER alternate in this novel of a young girl's growth to womanhood in the 1830's. Sixteen-year-old orphan Martitia is taken into the home of Dr. Gardner, a North Carolina Quaker, who has five lively sons as full of merriment as himself. The boys do their best to get Martitia to laugh, but she is at first overwhelmed by their pranks. Little by little she struggles to become a true Gardner daughter. And in so doing, she grows in humor and in love.

"One old, well-thumbed book and seven sisters arguing over whom its lucky owner would be. What book could evoke such devotion in the hearts of its readers? You will discover, as I and my sisters did, that They Loved to Laugh is a never to be forgotten experience. It does a lot more than keep the reader guessing which of the merry-making Gardner brothers Martitia will marry. When the shy orphaned girl comes to stay at the Quaker family's home, she must learn, not only the challenging ways of country life, but also the secrets to laughter and to hope."
ÔÇöClare Marie Curley, Front Royal, VA, 1996