An interesting passage from this book, especially in light of the allegations of Johnston "borrowing" from MHL:
***
"But- I didn't copy anything. It's my own story," Betony said blankly.
"You didn't have to, not deliberately. And it's not the story, but the structure. You listened to Celia read her columns aloud as she finished them, didn't you? We all did. Without knowing it, you picked up patterning of sentences. Paragraphing. Punctuation. See, here... and here. We've all done it, unconscious plagiarism. When I do an intensive study of an artist's work, I always find myself for a few weeks painting in his style."
"I, too. Anytime I start reading Thackery and Dickens." Celia took a deep breath. "It's not your fault, my love..."
***

As with the other book featuring the Vandevers, it struck me that there was a lot held in common with The Keeping Days. The most striking one for me was the baby born in the blizzard, helped into the world by the dowager who disapproves. but there are other, minor ones. It almost feels like there is a real family history which Johnston mined more than once, and the plot points in common may be from there. Idle speculation, of course.

I liked this better than the first one though I also think it's more overwrought. The grandmother is my favorite character by a mile. The whole Vandever family is fun to spend time with. ( )