Grace Livingston Hill was born to a Presbyterian minister, Charles Montgomery Livingston, and his wife Marcia Macdonald Livingston, both of whom were writers as was Hill's aunt Isabella Macdonald Alden, in Wellsville, New York. Hill was an early 20th century novelist and wrote both under her own name and the pseudonym 'Marcia Macdonald'. She was immensely popular during her lifetime and wrote over 100 novels and numerous short stories. Her characters were most often young female ingénues, frequently strong Christian women or those who become so within the confines of the story.