Master of the Vineyard — Myrtle Reed

Myrtle Reed came from a very religious and literary family. She was a freelance writer who published in Munsey's Magazine and The National Magazine. Her first novel was entitled Love Letters to a Musician. It's popularity lead to her wiring more novels. Lavender and Old Lace is her most famous novel. An excerpt from Master of the Vineyard reads, "The gnarled and twisted vines scarcely showed now, upon the grey-brown background of the soil, but in a few places, where the snow had not yet melted, the tangled black threads were visible. Like the frame surrounding a tapestry, great pines bordered the vineyard save on the side nearest the valley, for the first of the Marshs, who had planted the vineyard and built the house, had taken care to protect his vines from the north-east storms."