“The world is full of happy people, but no one ever hears of them.”

There’s a certain genre of books for young girls that all follow the same formula. The protagonist has a childhood marked by deprivation, poverty, and hardships, but somehow still maintains an upbeat disposition and inner strength. She grows up (these girls are usually plain growing up, but later blossom into great beauties), finds incredible success in her chosen field, and eventually reaches a point where she no longer has to worry about money, or much of anything really. Her success may be partially attributed to some innate, god-given talent, but mostly it’s because girlfriend worked her ass off, never complained, and did it all with poise and determination. Sometimes there’s an antagonist who gets his or her comeuppance and ends up being not so bad, after all, and there’s always a lot of attention paid to which material goods the main character can or can’t afford.

A Girl of the Limberlost follows this formula to a T. I first read it when I was a kid, and I have incredibly fond memories of it. The story follows Elnora Comstock, growing up in the Limberlost Swamp in northern Indiana. Elnora’s mother is too busy mourning her husband’s death 15 years earlier to pay her any attention, and Elnora is left to her own devices. Besides being a fantastic student and friend to the downtrodden (there are literally starving children in this book), she’s also a budding naturalist, and it’s this love of nature that sets the tone for the book.

A Girl of the Limberlost, honestly, is a pretty silly book. The story is exactly what I outlined in the first paragraph. But somehow, it is still completely enchanting. It was written by Gene Stratton Porter, a naturalist who lived in the real Limberlost Swamp in the early 1900s and wrote several novels that take place there. Porter’s descriptions of the swamp and what life was like there are so evocative. I want to live in a cabin in the Limberlost and collect pawpaws, hear the rose-breasted grosbeaks, watch the Cecropia moths emerge from their cocoons. This book is worth it for the setting alone. The story, as I mentioned, is not great, but Elnora, despite being perfect at everything she tries (did I mention she’s a violin prodigy, good at math, and has shining chestnut hair?) is still a likeable character. She’s easy to root for. Nothing big happens in the book–the first half is almost entirely focused on whether she’ll be able to afford the books and clothes she needs for high school while still saving for college. But it’s a happy book. Everyone ends up in a better place than where they started. This is a book that will make you feel good.