5 h 59 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 5 h 59 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Before she was Grandmamma, she was a child learning the ways of a Virginia home.
In When Grandmamma Was New, Marion Harland looks back at childhood in a Southern household of an earlier day. Parents, relatives and neighbors shape a child's world, and home sets the rhythm of her days. The focus rests on family life: the habits, duties and ties through which a young person learns how to live.
Harland, the pen name of Mary Virginia Terhune, brings her interest in Virginia and home life to this gentle reminiscence. Old household customs invite you to consider what changes between generations. The lessons are small but lasting, rooted in daily life rather than fast action, with family bonds at the heart of the experience.
What you’ll discover
- A child's Virginia world See an earlier Southern household through a child's eyes, where home shapes each day.
- The pull of family Explore the ties between a growing child and the relatives who help shape her life.
- Customs across generations Set the habits of Grandmamma's youth beside your own, and notice the contrasts.
- Lessons in ordinary days Discover how daily duties and family life become part of a child's growing character.
- Room to linger Enjoy a gentle pace that leaves room for household habits, family ties and reflection.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who enjoy warm family memoirs, vivid old Virginia settings, funny childhood mischief, and strong women, and anyone curious how a stubborn child became a writer.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Understanding reaches beneath Molly's anger
- Courage and tenderness belong together
- Make-believe brings grown life closer
- Ritual gives grief a shape
- Some feelings remain unspoken
- Loyalty can pull against honesty
- Quiet work can answer scorn
- School puts pride to the test
- Growing up changes the remembered scene
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When Grandmamma Was New
A five-year-old beats a stolen-feeling doll in a peach tree, and cousin Molly Belle must decide what comes next.
Medium level2–5 hours to readEnglish
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In short
What would you do if a doll you wanted more than anything went to someone else? Five-year-old Molly Burwell hangs that doll from a peach tree and beats it with her father's riding whip.
When Grandmamma Was New at a glance
- Reading time
- About 3 h 20 min2 h 35 min fast, 3 h 55 min slow
- Length
- 47,200 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A jealous child and a ruined doll
Young Molly sits sulking on a doorstep, clutching her battered rag doll, Musidora. Her parents have come home from Richmond with gifts. Her cousin Mary 'Liza gets a beautiful doll with real hair, and Molly gets a dull book and a Noah's Ark.
Mary 'Liza is neat, quiet, and always praised. Molly is thin, wild, and often called a plague. When Mary 'Liza names her doll Rozillah and warns Molly not to wake her, Molly takes the doll outside and hangs it from a peach sapling. Then she fetches her father's riding whip and beats it until sawdust flies. The dinner guests arrive to find her at it.
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Cite this edition
Harland, Marion. When Grandmamma Was New. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/when-grandmamma-was-new.
Harland, M. (2026). When Grandmamma was new. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/when-grandmamma-was-new
Harland, Marion. When Grandmamma Was New. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/when-grandmamma-was-new.
@book{harland2026when,
author = {Harland, Marion},
title = {When Grandmamma Was New},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/when-grandmamma-was-new}
}
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What is When Grandmamma Was New about?
It is a memoir of a girl named Molly growing up on a Virginia plantation in the 1830s and 1840s. Its chapters recount childhood episodes, from jealous anger over a doll to adventures with pets, school in Richmond, and the Christmas journey home.
Who is Molly Belle in the book?
Molly Belle is the child's grown-up cousin and namesake, who affectionately calls Molly Namesake. She is brave, funny, and kind, and she protects and guides the girl through many adventures, both before and after marrying Frank Morton.
Is When Grandmamma Was New a true story?
Marion Harland wrote it in 1899 as true tales from her own childhood, told to her grandsons. Molly in the book is the author herself, and the setting is Powhatan County, Virginia, in the years before the Civil War.
The author
Marion Harland
1830–1922 · American novelist and cookbook writer
Marion Harland was the pen name of Mary Virginia Terhune (1830–1922), an American author born in Virginia. She wrote novels, household guides, and cookbooks. Her novel Alone appeared in 1854, and Common Sense in the Household in 1871. She later lived in New York City, where she died.
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