'The Ladies of Missalonghi' by Colleen McCullough

After decades of not giving this book a thought, it popped into my head out of the blue, and I thought I might like to read it, although I had reservations in my teens when it was published for reasons which you'll read below. Just a few weeks later, I discovered a copy in a Little Free Library in a small Yorke Peninsula town named Warooka. I assumed reading it was meant to be, so I'm including it for the Romance category of my 2025 Aussie Reading Challenge. The back cover blurb calls it a 'magical romance' and tale of dreams come true.   

MY THOUGHTS:

The time period is early twentieth century, leading into WW1. The setting is a fictional town named Byron in the stunning Blue Mountains not far from Sydney. Missy Wright, a drab 33-year-old spinster, ekes out a spartan existence with her widowed mother, Drusilla, and invalid aunt, Octavia. They are bottom in the pecking order of their wealthy relatives, the Hurlingfords, who virtually control the whole town.

But something is stirring in Missy's stagnant, routine world. A possible diagnosis of terminal heart disease looms over her, leading her to question the inhibited way she's always done things. Driven by a rebellious instinct to have a little fun before she dies, Missy feels a scandalous attraction to John Smith, an auburn-haired 'cloud of energy' who has just purchased an extensive section of valley land which her own clan hadn't even realized was for sale. His sole purpose is to live alone, answerable to nobody. (Even Missy's wealthy Aunt Aurelia considers his generic name hard to believe. 'One is forever reading about John Smiths, but have you ever actually met one?' It is easy to wonder if he has something to hide.)

If you think all this sounds strikingly similar to Lucy Maud Montgomery's The Blue Castle, you'd be absolutely right. I never read TLOM back in 1987 when it was first published, but I remember the literary furore as McCullough was called out for plagiarism of ideas, and denied the accusation, claiming that she must've read TBC in her youth, and then subliminal memories evidently bubbled to the surface. Back then, as a loyal teenage Montgomery fan, I declined reading TLOM out of principle. The case was eventually dropped as nobody could dispute McCullough's word. 

Fast forward to now. Fan fiction is an extremely popular twenty-first century concept and I love re-imaginings of excellent plots in different settings. Having ripped through this, I consider TLOM to be a great Aussie replica of TBC. Missy's truly gorgeous, but flat-voiced and calculating cousin Alicia is an awesome counterpart to Valancy Stirling's perfect cousin Olive. In fact as a whole, the Hurlingford connection is even easier to hiss and boo than Valancy's Stirling clan, for rather than being merely pompous and annoying, they are corrupt and callous crooks who prey on widows and orphans. 

All these years later, I'd urge anyone to go ahead and read it. Our distinctive Aussie cheekiness along with a few risque innuendoes adds some spice. Although the two plots share the same foundation they don't play out identically in every respect. The twists are quite different but equally surprising. After willingly swallowing the unlikelihood that both Missy Wright and John Smith would choose to step so far out of character as we see here, it becomes easier to suspend disbelief all the way through. I just grinned at the shock supernatural machinations, as it's all in good fun. 

This book has the added appeal of lovely illustrations by Peter Chapman. The wonderful setting along with Missy's eventual triumph in living a simple life on her own terms, free of pecuniary stress, certainly made me feel happy, so grab refreshments of your choice and put your feet up. Morning tea for the Missalonghi ladies has an authentic national vibe, including pikelets with jam and cream, a sponge, some little butterfly cakes, and sour apple tart with cloves. That might be a good place to start.

And just for the record, I was probably wise to wait until now, for I'm not sure this would have been to my liking at the age of 17. 

🌟🌟🌟🌟 

Note: The more I think about this, the sadder I feel that the controversy ever happened, for even if McCullough's critics were correct in accusing her (which wouldn't surprise me since the similarities were spot-on in so many respects), she's done no different than what Barbara Kingsolver did far more recently with Demon Copperhead, which won a Pulitzer Prize.

 I guess the key difference is that while Kingsolver was quite open and aboveboard about her recycling of David Copperfield, McCullough's example was more sneaky and underhanded, if indeed it was intentional at all. And while The Blue Castle is soon to celebrate its publication centenary in 2026, it had just tipped its 60th anniversary back in 1987, which was nowhere close to becoming public domain. I guess it's a lesson to anyone who might take it into their heads to rip off Canada's national treasure with no acknowledgement whatsoever. If the whole thing really was planned, did McCullough honestly think nobody would ever notice?!

Even though it was never hailed as such, I'm going to include The Ladies of Missalonghi in my fan fiction page, because it ticks all the right boxes anyway. (If you're still with me, see my overview here.)

'Before Green Gables' by Budge Wilson

Summary: This is the story of Anne Shirley's very young life before the Green Gables years. 

MY THOUGHTS:

I found this novel in a local secondhand shop. Although I had misgivings about stirring up this part of Anne's life, fanfics of old classics are one of my passions, so of course it came home with me. It turns out this prequel was authorized by the heirs of L.M. Montgomery, and it's instantly clear that Canadian kids' author Budge Wilson took the honor seriously. The events play out according to canon. Wilson draws specifically from what Anne tells Marilla in Chapter Five of Anne of Green Gables, entitled Anne's History, along with Chapter 21 in Anne of the Island, entitled Roses of Yesterday, when Anne, as a college student, visits her parents' little yellow house and their gravesites.

Wilson also attempts to fill in the characters of Anne's earliest guardians, the Thomases and the Hammonds. But the novel begins with poor Bertha and Walter Shirley, who never realized how short their days were numbered, and ends with Anne on her appointment with destiny, where she's soon to meet Matthew Cuthbert at Bright River Station. It took confidence on Budge Wilson's part, to imagine she could replicate the magic of the original, and sadly I don't think she's pulled it off. There are four main reasons why. 

1) The genre is said to be children's fiction, but I consider it too bleak for kids. The starting point, with Bertha and Walter, is heartrending. Who was Wilson's ideal reader? Lots of little girls I know, (including my old self), would have found the subject matter far too harrowing. And I'd bet minutiae about housekeeping gets tedious for young readers. Yet it surely isn't an adult or YA novel either, crammed as it is with Anne's streams of consciousness at the ages of five and six, including long soliloquies to 'Katie Maurice' in the glass. (Dare I admit these get very boring!) 

2) An omniscient narrator frequently pops up to embellish Montgomery's details, shovelling on more injustices. Wilson adds extra layers of rejection and unfairness to Anne's very early life that we never imagined. I can't help making my objections in capitals. SINCE  ANNE'S  BACKSTORY  WAS  ALREADY  SO  BAD,  WHY  MAKE  IT  EVEN  WORSE? And just so nobody misses any injustice, the narrator often ends chapters with remarks that state the obvious, such as, 'Anne had no idea what she (Mrs Thomas) meant, nor would she ever find out.'

3) Anne herself, although lovable and poignant, isn't the same Anne we bond with throughout the rest of the series. Within these pages, tiny Anne Shirley is depicted as preternaturally wise with an uncanny knack of reading into others' deepest motivations. Yet Montgomery's Anne retains a certain vivacious sparkle, whimsy, and innocence that Wilson's Anne lacks. That being the case, this unintentionally misses the goal of staying true to the original character's voice.  

And when it comes to unlikelihoods such as drunken Mr Thomas taking advice from 5-year-old Anne, it loses credibility fast.

4) This story also lacks Montgomery's trademark sense of humor. I'm not claiming Budge Wilson had no sense of humor at all. It's just not the same style, or as refreshing as Montgomery's. Perhaps finding glimmers of humour in Anne's tragic backstory is simply too big an ask.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this to fellow Anne fans. Although I could see that Wilson tried very hard, the canvas she starts with swings between too horrific or too mundane. I'm sure Montgomery intended it as mere backstory for an excellent reason.

🌟½

'Small Bomb at Dimperley' by Lissa Evans

This is a British novel by an author I'd never heard of, but I saw it highly recommended by another book blogger. When I checked it out, I decided to take my chance on a kindle copy, because it sounded right up my alley. Crumbling country manor house compiled of patchwork sections from different eras, post WW2 tale that's hailed as a joyful historical novel, sly digs at Britain's landed gentry, and heartwarming romance. What's not to love?

MY THOUGHTS:

It's 1945, the wake of WW2. As her hodgepodge ancestral home, Dimperley Manor, deteriorates around her ears, snooty elitist, Lady Irene Vere-Thissett mourns the diminishing adulation she considers her due, along with the death of her eldest son, Felix, who was everything a young baronet should be; handsome, polished, and suitably imperious.

 Lady Irene's second son, Cedric, can't possibly inherit the family title in Felix's stead, for a childhood bout of encephalitis arrested his mental development. The successor will have to be Valentine, the plain and inept baby of the family, who she's always brushed aside as an embarrassment and disappointment. Most galling of all for her is the fact that despite his aristocratic birth, he considers himself no better than anyone else (shock horror)!

Twenty-three-year-old Corporal Valentine Vere-Thissett baulks at the sudden inevitability of assuming the title of 'Sir.' As third in line, it'd always seemed a safe bet that he'd never have to step up, but now he's inherited the nightmare of a property in dire financial straits, with its dilapidated hazards and skeleton staff. His own estimate of his capability is rock bottom. All written documents have a rebellious habit of spinning and blurring whenever he tries to focus. (We readers recognise undiagnosed dyslexia, but he still believes his school teachers, who simply labelled him a dunce.)  

Meanwhile, others under Dimperley's roof try to move on with their disrupted lives. Felix's disheveled widow, Barbara, chafes under the control of her overbearing mother-in-law, while her teenage daughters, who'd been evacuated to America are now home dealing with tremendous culture shock. Pedantic Uncle Alaric is writing a drawn-out volume of family history which nobody has the heart to tell him is excruciatingly boring. But Alaric's capable secretary, Zena Baxter, turns out to be an unexpected ally for Sir Valentine. 

Zena is a working class girl with a history of being shunted from one foster home to the next. She's the struggling single mother of a precocious three-year-old, and depends on her efficient organizational skills to make ends meet. While the Vere-Thissetts are all too close to the situation to think creatively, Zena just might have an unexpected idea to help save the property. She's fallen under the spell of Dimperley Manor, but her feelings for the young baronet take a surprising turn as well.

Shout out to Zena's daughter, Allison, who deserves a special mention as an authentic, large-as-life three-year-old-character. Such youngsters are notoriously difficult to write authentically, but Evans has a brilliant way of weaving Allison's interruptions and non sequiturs into each scene so they become an integral part of the action.

I'm so glad I took the chance on this book. There are some hilarious laugh-out-loud moments. At it's core is a lovely romance between two great protagonists whose social backgrounds are poles apart, and who have both been emotionally damaged in different ways, yet who complement each other perfectly. The shocking turn of events is exciting too. I wonder if there will be a sequel to this. I guess it's no spoiler to surmise that Zena will be in for some serious mother-in-law friction. 

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟    

Note: It puts me in mind of this novel, which is also a post-WW2 comic family tale of picking up the pieces, starring a young hero with scars and challenges, whose humor sees him through. This must be a 5-star combo for me.