From "Personals" to "Fashion Notes" to an etiquette column and stories of the most interesting happenings in Carlisle, Our Magazine quickly becomes the most entertaining publication anyone in town has ever read. But seasons pass, nothing is forever--soon it will be time for the Story Girl to leave her good friends on Prince Edward Island, friends with whom she has walked the golden road of youth.
MY THOUGHTS:
The adolescent gang from The Story Girl are back with more of their charming domestic adventures narrated once again by Beverley. Energy keeps the story flowing, as one and all try to be particularly proactive. They start their own newspaper, make solemn New Year's Resolutions around the kitchen table, and attempt to keep the family pride shining by entertaining a daunting visitor while the adults are away. Along with these collective undertakings are personal quests such as Cecily's goal to get sponsors for her missions quilt, the Story Girl's determination to get to the bottom of the Awkward Man's romantic past, and Peter's ongoing attempts to make Felicity fall for him.
The main characters are all so lovable and well-realised, it's easy to imagine it all playing out. Felicity is as smug as ever. Although she makes one cooking mishap, I can't see it as her fault rather than Aunt Janet's. And poor Cecily's dilemma is real - ask any book blogger or reviewer. She resolves to improve her mind by reading good books, but finds it extremely hard to persevere when faced with such tedious tomes as 'History of the Reformation in France.' We've got to question if they really are mind-improving books when we dread every page.
Dan doesn't resolve to brush his teeth more often but truly should. We learn that he brushes them without fail every Sunday, and when his sisters tip him off that Family Guide recommends every day, he scoffs that they must have nothing better to do with their time. Oh Dan!
Poor Sara Ray is still described by Bev as a 'colourless little nonentity' which offends me on her behalf, although I'm convinced Montgomery's heavy-handed aim is always to contrast her with the other Sara; the Story Girl, whose every thought comes to her in vivid colour. Especially since they even have the same name. (The term 'synesthesia' was possibly unknown by Maud, but I believe the Story Girl had it. It's a condition in which cognitive pathways overlap so that the experience of one of the five senses stimulates another. I've known a few people who have it.)
Peg Bowen, the local 'witch' features strongly in this story. While Montgomery deliberately keeps Peg's supernatural powers ambiguous in The Story Girl, she seems to cross a line of no return in this book, as Peg makes some very remarkable prophecies that come to pass.
If I was to describe this book, I might call it, 'The one with the Returning Fathers.' No less than three dads show up out of the blue, to break up the great camaraderie the eight kids have going. The Story Girl's wandering artist father, Uncle Blair, arrives one morning, intending to take his daughter back to Europe with him. I never really gel with this flighty guy, since he ticked off on his own for seven years, presuming on the good nature of his in-laws to care for his daughter so he could be a free spirit. But the kids all love him.
Also, Peter's prodigal father, Newton Craig, gets converted at a tent rally and decides to drop his booze and return to the family he deserted so long ago. I wonder how that will work out. Finally Alan King, Bev and Felix's father, sends a letter announcing that he's moving back from South America to Toronto, and will be coming for them. It all turns out to be very much an 'Auld Lang Syne' sort of story, about cherishing our fleeting fun times while they last.
What's more, there's some sad foreshadowing from the very start that Cecily is ailing and will suffer the same fate of other Montgomery girls cut off in their teens, such as Ruby Gillis and Bets Wilcox. The slow, wasting consumption has got hold of her, and although she doesn't succumb in this book, Bev's hindsight from the future leaves us in no doubt that Cecily's days are numbered. (He also hints that Felicity and Peter will eventually be married, which gives me a buzz.)
I tried using my book sleuth skills to pin an accurate time frame on this story. We're clearly in Queen Victoria's reign, but the Story Girl remarks that Prince Albert is already dead, which sets us somewhere within the broad forty year gap between 1861 and 1901. This book itself was published in 1913 but evidently set way earlier, which makes sense since Montgomery's grown up Beverley King is looking back on his early youth. And he must be at least 55, because his cousin Sara sends him a copy of the Awkward Man's tale 40 years after the events take place (when he was almost 15). Maud is making allowances for that passage of time.
Still, she gets her own wires crossed at times. When Uncle Blair sketches all their portraits, Beverley describes how delightful that was, because 'the days of the camera were just dawning' and none of them had ever had their photographs taken. Oh yeah? How about the family album Cecily drags out to show Great Aunt Eliza earlier in the story, which was supposedly crammed with photos of former generations of Kings from way back? Maud does make occasional continuity glitches. (As we know from Shirley Blythe's fluctuating age in the latter books of the Anne series.) That just makes me laugh.
There are other minor contradictions too. I'm not convinced that Jasper Dale, aka the Awkward Man, would ever ask a local woman in to scrub and clean for him, since he's always super neat and fastidious anyway, and women supposedly make him break out in stress hives. But since the plot hinges on Mrs Griggs' testimony about his secret room dedicated to 'Alice', we have to take this in stride too.
Overall, Montgomery has done another cracking job, and it's easy to overlook her occasional inconsistencies since her power of evoking great fun and bitter sweet nostalgia in the same story is awesome. And although I wasn't Uncle Blair's greatest fan, his comforting quote sums up this book's theme. 'Nothing is really lost to us, as long as we remember it.'
🌟🌟🌟🌟
Lucy Maud Montgomery was synesthetic herself - there's lots of hints of it in the Anne and Emily books too if you know what to look for.
ReplyDeleteI am also writing about synesthetic characters myself in my continuation of "The Rival Courts"
Ah, I was certain she was, she describes it so convincingly.
Delete