Paula Vince's Blog: The Vince Review, page 19

Trixie Belden Series 13 - 15

13) The Mystery on Cobbett's Island

Time to belt out any old sea shanties we know. The Bob Whites get an opportunity to stay at The Moorings; a quaint beach retreat on Cobbett's Island, four hours from home. Trixie discovers a forgotten letter written by a guy who signs himself simply as 'Ed' with directions to a homemade treasure map. If Ed is for real and a buried fortune exits somewhere in their vicinity, they'll have to crack all the obscure clues on both the letter and map to find it. Meanwhile, a vandal is smashing lifebuoys along the coast. Can Trixie and the others unmask the crook, learn who Ed was, and discover the treasure all within their ten day visit?

* Oh dear, the time compression has started! The dudes are complaining that summer is stretching before them with not much to do, while we readers know they've just returned from back-to-back holidays to the Ozarks and New York. Granted they only spent a short time at each destination, but surely it's enough excitement to satisfy even restless Trixie. At least each incident is short enough to make the compression somewhat feasible. This getaway at Cobbett's Island itself will be only ten days.

* Wealthy chaps like Matthew Wheeler must make frequent sacrifices to maintain their high-flying, globe-trotting lifestyles. He'd planned for a bit of decompression himself at Cobbett's Island with his wife and kids, but it ain't happening. Work demands trump quality family moments, even though he probably hasn't had a fraction the time he'd like to get to know his adopted teenage son better. The quote, 'You can have anything but you can't have everything,' springs to mind. For the first time, I feel a bit sorry for him. Even though he's prosperous enough to book holiday venues at the drop of a hat, his downtime is too scarce to take advantage of them. 

* His wife Madeleine, who does have the option to keep the family commitment on Cobbett's Island with Honey and Jim, decides to opt out because she's never been where her husband is off to before. Curiosity wins out.    

* Brian's medical skills are put to the test the very day of their arrival, when he sets the broken leg of Elmer the caretaker. I'd intended to mention every incident in the series where Brian is on the spot to offer first aid, but soon saw it would get repetitive, for it happens such a lot. It's more remarkable to come across a book in the series where Brian doesn't offer any first aid. This time is worth mentioning however, because he's so chuffed about the praise he receives from the local island doctor. Good ole Brian.

* How the Bob Whites would have appreciated having Google at their fingertips! They have to search the room of their guest house for a physical dictionary to look up 'bunker boats.' If they hadn't found one, they would have been stumped that night. 

* The potential treasure is buried in some obscure spot partly because Ed's father lost his savings when a bank crashed in 1929 and now Ed doesn't trust banks. This hearkens back to an apparently casual conversation Trixie has with her dad, who tells her why banks are far more stable in modern times. It also dates the story. For if Ed had lived, he would have been young enough to have a son in his early twenties. He met his demise only eighteen years earlier. So for Ed's own father to have been around as long ago as the Depression Era, the current time for the Bob Whites might fall around the sixties (which matches the sixties publication date.) 

* I really like their new friend, Peter Kimball. That's one of the great things about this series. I'd be happy to see more of every single person the Bob Whites have befriended so far. It's sad that Peter isn't a recurring character, although I believe his Dad later invests in a ski resort with Matthew Wheeler.

* Oh gosh, we get a taste of Diana Lynch at her most irritating. Why she feels the need to ramble on about Peter Kimball's gorgeous eyes in front of Mart is beyond me. Seriously, what's the good of either a) making yourself appear shallow and superficial, or b) making the guy you've had a long term crush on feel miserable and diminished for no reason at all? Come on Di, you're better than this. Even if Peter's eyes are earth-shattering, keep a lid on it!  

* Holidays consistently turn out to mean loads of hard work for the poor boys. In the Ozarks, Brian, Mart and Jim were required to help raise new chicken sheds and outhouses for Mrs Moore in one day flat. Here on Cobbett's Island they have storm damage to clear up and a dilapidated gazebo to restore. It gets under Brian's skin to the extent that he actually snaps at his best mate Jim, something almost unheard of.  

* We learn a lot about the sport of sailing and the joy of those who make it their passion. Peter remarks that a hundred years wouldn't be enough to learn all the nuances there are about sailing, and it's obvious he's completely sincere about what he's saying.  

* Unbelievably, Mart doesn't know what monogamous means! Di is stumped when Peter Kimball uses the word (as we'd expect from her), and appeals to Dictionary Boy to enlighten her. But Mart, whose bottomless vocabulary extends to obscure foreign words, phrases and concepts, meets his Achilles Heel with this unassuming English word. Ah well, it may be good for the pair of them to learn it together sooner rather than later, especially if Diana feels the need to go around batting her famous eyelashes at guys like Peter.   

* There's another entry idea for a Bob White cook book. Trixie declares Mrs Kimball's coffee cake to be 'even better than Moms' and pleads for the recipe. But Mrs K. declares that black walnuts from her own tree is the secret, in which case the rest of us have no hope to replicate it. 

* There's another guy named Slim. As recently as two books ago in The Mystery at Bob White Cave, we had Slim Sanderson the hillbilly cave guide, and now there's Slim Novarski, the homeless drifter. To add potential confusion, they're both young and uncouth with huge chips on their shoulders. Since it's surely not a common nickname, it may have been more convenient if one of them was called something different. 

* Trixie's way of tracking down Ed's family was such a long shot. It proves to be correct, but pure luck on her part.

* Honey is woken from a beautiful dream in which she's dancing with a tall, handsome man who looks a lot like Brian. Ooh la la.  

* I swear Jim's infatuation for Trixie has almost reached cold shower stage! 

* My quote of the book is from gallant Jim, who quotes Shakespeare. 'He is well paid who is well satisfied.' That sums up the hours I'm devoting to this re-read and recap of the Trixie Belden books. Bring on more. 

14) The Mystery of the Emeralds

 It's Gone with the Wind mode for the Bob Whites, in both time and place. Trixie accidentally uncovers a long forgotten secret in her own attic. Just before the Civil War, a woman named Ruth from an estate called Rosewood Hall down south wrote to her sister Helen about the whereabouts of a valuable emerald necklace. Trixie and the others grasp the opportunity to travel to Williamsburg, Virginia with the Lynches. Maybe if they're able to set foot in Rosewood Hall they can use the vague clues in the letter to track down this heirloom to return to Ruth's descendants. It's just a matter of getting in past the hostile new owner.      

* Talk about instant deja vu! It's the exact same theme as Mystery on Cobbett's Island. The discovery of a tucked-away old letter suggesting the whereabouts of something valuable. I'm not complaining though, since I enjoy the concept of peeling back layers of time to discover what took place. 

* Wow, Crabapple Farm is a really old place. Sure, we've been told that it's been in the Belden family for several generations, but it's just sunk in for me that this encompasses the Civil War, when we find out about Rufus the runaway slave with his canteen and contraband letter, hiding in the hidey hole. The unassuming Crabapple Farm was part of the Underground Railway. Lucky Belden family, to live in a place which could be heritage listed. There is talk about ghosts at other places throughout the series, but it seems to me they more than qualify to have a few of their own. 

* Brian and Mart share a bedroom. That's made clear when Trixie rushes in to wake them up after shouting, 'Rabbit, rabbit!' I wouldn't mind having a floor plan of the house, and I'm sure the various Kathryn Kenny authors might have benefited to pass one along to each other too. 

* Trixie and Honey visit Miss Julie Sunderland, whose father fought in the Civil War. This dates the Trixie Belden series like nothing we've seen so far. For the War ended in 1865, so if Mr Sunderland returned in 1866 and Julie was born some years later (I'll say 1875 to be extra generous, but it could have been even earlier) it'd still have to be around 1965 to bring her to the age of 90. Since this book was said to be published in 1965, that fits perfectly with the author's time concept. But it sure doesn't fit for any of us who prefer to imagine the series taking place a little later, such as the eighties, nineties, or even into the 21st century. All genuine Civil War Baby Boomers are long gone.

* We meet two descendants of Ruth Sunderland Fields, the writer of the old letter. Apart from Miss Julie, her niece, there is Edgar Carver, her wheelchair bound grandson in Virginia, a really nice middle-aged gentleman and new friend.  

* Trixie takes an immediate dislike to Miss Julie's young friend Neil, just as she had to Dan. It seems she hasn't learned her lesson about first impressions. Neil even reminds her of Dan back in those early days, yet she still carries her unaccountable grudge. 

* Neil must be pretty agile, to jump a fence no-handed with milk in one hand and eggs in the other. No spillage or cracks occur either. Maybe that's why Trixie is suspicious of him. Is the guy super-human?

* Since the Lynches plan to incorporate Diana's birthday into their impromptu visit down south, it must make her a few months younger than Trixie, who had her birthday on May 1st. After all that's gone down since, it must be at least July, especially since Trixie just celebrated the turn into a new month by shouting, 'Rabbit, rabbit.' What an intense June it's been.

* Mr Lynch comes across as a different style of millionaire to Mr Wheeler. He's jolly and matey, and his daughter clearly adores him. He calls his wife 'Mother', suggesting the title extends to Diana's friends for the duration of the trip. Not only is Mr Lynch altruistic about the restoration of old buildings, but his money enables him to lend helping hands to those who may need it. What a nice guy. 

* On the road with Mr Lynch, Brian decides to make a classier lunch order than Trixie and Mart's inevitable hamburgers, opting for 'barbecued beef on a soft bun with coleslaw.' Trixie accuses him of breaking their family tradition. Even though Brian might have been a hipster before his time, it doesn't strike me as that radical a lunch.

* All the Bob Whites are sort of reverential about Abraham Lincoln's statue in Washington. The president who would have been in at the time of this book's publication was Lyndon Johnson and it was a few years after JFK's assassination. They were still in the era of hero presidents. Trixie makes a joke about Mart becoming a future president. I'm sure some readers probably think he might have made a better job of it than some of the more recent ones who spring to mind :)

* Jenkins, the current owner of Rosewood Hall, is a nasty piece of work who should surely have been convicted of physical assault after his treatment of at least two people. It amazes me what bullies from years ago could get away with. 

* Oh for heaven's sake, Trixie goes totally bonkers after one of Mart's offhand comments and jumps on him with talons bared and fists flying until Jim forcibly restrains her. I wish someone would tell her to grow up and learn to take a joke. As it is, Jim asks Mart to take back what he said. This pattern irks me a lot. Because she has anger management issues, he is forced to apologise and retract. As John Cleese once said, people who can't control their own emotions have to control other people's behavior.

* Sure, her bossiness is based on kindness and altruism, but it's still damn bossy! 

* If you're wondering about Mart's comment, which sent Trixie off her nut, I might as well make it the quote of the book. He says, 'We know what you're getting at. You just don't want any of us stealing your thunder. You want to find the emeralds all by yourself, don't you?' And we're even told that he said it in a good natured spirit. I think perhaps she gets so mad because he strikes a little too close to home.  

15) Mystery on the Mississippi

Trixie becomes involved with a suspected espionage case in Tom Sawyer country. Mr Wheeler has business with some local aircraft manufacturers and treats the Bob Whites to a trip to St Louis. Trixie and Honey discover some papers covered with strange, scribbled hieroglyphics in the rubbish bin of their motel room. It brings a dangerous crook on their trail, desperate to get his documents back. He follows the gang on a steamboat pleasure cruise; through Hannibal, the home of Mark Twain and back to home base, culminating in a terrifying night for the girls.   

* Okay, I've reached the point where I finally throw up my hands and give up keeping track of chronology. It's gone out the window. The dudes are off on another trip; the sixth in succession at this stage. No school break could possibly be elastic enough to fit them all. What's more, Brian and Jim become perpetual seniors at Sleepyside High. Book 10 (The Marshland Mystery) indicates they were intending to progress to college when the others return, but that ain't happening. Poor Brian and Jim. Imagine the horror of Groundhog Day stuck at school! We might as well consider the adventures to be mixed reminiscences of the Bob Whites from here on. It makes more sense than pretending there's any type of timeline. But we lasted until book 15. That's not bad. 

* This time we get Dan but lose Diana (who is off on another family holiday with her folks). There seems to be some tacit agreement between Kathryn Kenny authors to not have all the Bob Whites together in one mystery. Drats!

* I think some of the dialogue must have been updated for my oval edition from the eighties. Mart tells Mr Wheeler how badly he'd love to see one of the space capsules that went to the moon, yet the original publication was said to be 1965, before the moon landing took place.  

* Jim must have his full driver's license, because his adopted dad puts him in charge of the hire car. But hold on, Brian and others were still giving Jim driving lessons as recently as Book 3, little more than a year earlier. If the process used to progress that quickly, it sure doesn't now. (Sorry, I said I'd given up on chronology, but I guess old habits die hard.)

* Dan and Mart seem to have thrown in their lots as best buddies, yet their styles of smartness are poles apart. Dan's is the gritty, street smart intelligence born of former desperation. He hasn't lost his hard edge, or his instinct. Mart's is wordy, nerdy, literary intelligence driven by pure curiosity. There's a place for both, but it's no wonder they sometimes clash. I'd love to see far more dynamics between these two, but I guess the Kathryn Kenny authors will soon start pulling Dan from holidays again. That's such a shame. BTW, it turns out Dan aspires to be a New York City cop.  

* At least we'll never be short of 'almost twin' friction. Trixie and Mart drive each other insane. I think it's because while their priorities tend to be quite different, their approach is identical. Trixie is always single-minded on her mystery of the moment, while Mart is intense about his current interests. They both spout off the second they think of things to say, yet they resent that in each other. I love Brian's eye-rolling management of both of them. He's lived with them all their lives and knows they're essentially the same. 

* Mr and Mrs Aguilera! Juan and Elena. How exotic these two are. So Spanish or Cuban or wherever they hail from. 

* Once again, the setting of this story draws me in to the extent that I looked up Hannibal, Mark Twain country on internet, as if I'd ever get to visit for real. It sounds as if places in the famous Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn stories were based on actual landmarks, a sure draw card for book nerds like Mart Belden. The Bob Whites saw the white picket fence! Ah, I can only wish. 

* Awww, poor Honey's trusting nature takes a severe blow, which I find very sad. Her willingness to think the best of everybody until further notice is one of her most attractive qualities but will it ever be quite the same again? Seriously, I think it's undergone too great a trauma to recover.

* I wouldn't have minded finding out how the boys enjoyed their long-awaited visit to the space station exhibit, but hey, it's totally understandable that got swept aside considering what went down simultaneously. Still, they were hanging out for it so much, especially Mart, that a few words might have been nice.   

* Toward the end, several characters argue about whose fault the whole hair-raising fiasco was, each claiming blame. I think the most culpable person was someone who never gets a mention; the slack motel cleaner who left such large traces of the former occupant behind when Trixie and Honey entered their room. Inexcusable, in their line of work. (I've done a bit of domestic cleaning myself here and there and trust me, that's one of the biggest no-nos in the book, for obvious reasons.)

* Oh, and Mr Pierre Lontard (I can reveal his name since he's clearly bad from the start), if you don't want to lose your precious plans, it might be a wise idea not to toss them in the bin. 

* Quote of the book is from Dan. 'Mart, is there anything you don't know?'

Catch my last thoughts on Books 10 - 12

And join me next time for Books 16 - 18

  

Stories about Insomniacs

No doubt we've all battled this beast occasionally, and tried counting thousands of sheep. Thankfully I've never been a chronic sufferer, but it's caused desperation on random nights, when I've joined the ranks of keyed up mortals googling books with titles such as 'Desperately Seeking Snoozin'. I'm sure many of these purchases are made at 2 or 3 am.

Sleep experts suggest not lying in bed stewing, but getting up to read. So here is a list of famous literary insomniacs for a time when you might need it. Who would've imagined they have their own tradition? Believe me, there's not much around like what I've compiled here. If you google 'insomnia stories' you'll be more likely to find a litany of woeful anecdotes from poor wakeful sufferers, rather than fun lists of literary gems. Consider this the Insomnia Hall of Fame if you like.

I'll start with the wretched and sinister side of insomnia (just to prove that your own bouts of wakefulness might be worse).

1) Shakespeare's Henry IV 
I think this might have been guilt-induced sleeplessness. Henry had Richard II deposed so he could claim the throne, but now the poor wretch trudges the palace passages all night long, groaning because his poorest subjects are that moment enjoying the luxury that's denied to him. 'O sleep, o gentle sleep, nature's soft nurse, how have I frightened thee?'

2) The Yellow Wallpaper
Charlotte Perkins Gilman came out the other side of what she considered a bout of near madness, and wrote this story to help process her experience. The main character, who probably suffered a bout of post natal depression, is ordered to relax and recuperate, but the yellow wallpaper in her bedroom starts sending her around the twist. She lies awake all night to the point where she believes other women may be confined behind it. From there, it's an easy leap to assume that she might even be one of them! No wonder she can't sleep.

3) Stephen King's 'Insomnia'
Ralph Roberts not only has to put up with the frustration of insomnia, but also experiences disturbing visions along with it. He can detect auras around people, and also sees a strange race he dubs the 'little bald doctors', who are engaged in a terrible battle against the Crimson King.

4) Laura Ingalls Wilder
In These Happy Golden Years, Laura describes her tough time teaching far from home, and boarding with the Brewster family. Mrs B used to fly off the handle and swing her carving knife around, making desperate threats of murder or suicide. She was an extremely unhappy lady. So was Laura, when she found herself lying awake, staring into the darkness, ever alert in case she was the unlucky victim.

5) Emily of New Moon
The poor young heroine is staying with her Great Aunt Nancy. The chimney behind the head of her bed is full of sinister sounds, and she's convinced it's haunted. Each night Emily lies awake, frozen with terror, until she finds out the commotion isn't coming from ghosts, but from a flock of nesting birds. Whew! I think I'd still prefer silence, but it did the trick for Emily. (My review is here.)

6) The Moonstone
Here's a favourite of mine. Poor Franklin Blake is addicted to tobacco but gallantly tries to quit cold turkey, because Rachel, the woman he loves, detests the odour in his clothes. As a withdrawal symptom, he suffers successive nights of terrible insomnia until Mr Candy, the doctor, decides to end his misery by sneaking a drop of opium into his nightcap. That unleashes a catastrophe for poor Franklin which takes him months to get to the bottom of. I've reviewed the book here.

And the next lot of stories are about times when insomnia proves to be productive.

7) Tom's Midnight Garden
Poor Tom finds it hard to sleep while staying with his aunt and uncle, so he slips out of bed to wander around once they're asleep. If it hadn't been for his nocturnal exploring, he would never have made his astounding discovery. My review is here.

8) The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Lucy and Susan can't get to sleep one night. They sense something ominous in the air. When the sisters creep out of their tent for a moonlight walk, they stumble upon their beloved Aslan at a crucial moment in his life. The girls are able to offer the great Lion some much needed comfort and support before he bravely sets off to the Stone Table, to meet the White Witch and her minions. (Review is here.)

The final three are straight from the Bible, so if you'd like to think of it this way, perhaps your insomnia could be part of a divine plan.

9) Jacob
He's too uptight about meeting his brother, Esau, to fall asleep. Their meeting is set for the following day, and Jacob has no idea what sort of reception to expect. So he takes a stroll away from the campsite, and ends up spending the rest of the night wrestling with a powerful warrior. When it dawns on Jacob that the man is the Angel of the Lord, he summons his nerve to ask for a blessing. What a missed opportunity it might have been had he managed to fall asleep.

10) Gideon
It's the night before a huge battle against the Midianites. The leader of the Hebrew army understandably can't sleep. He wiles away the hours by creeping off to the enemy's camp, where he overhears two soldiers discussing their terror of the Jews. One of them (who obviously didn't share Gideon's insomnia) describes a prophetic dream that they will certainly lose to Israel. Gideon takes it as an excellent sign and returns to his own camp with his courage restored.

11) King Artaxerxes
This mighty Persian ruler has an inexplicable bout of insomnia one night, and decides to try lulling himself to sleep by reading some dry historical records. Sounds like the right idea. His reading reminds him that a Hebrew named Mordecai had done him a great service long ago, and has never been rewarded. Behind the scenes, the king's wicked advisor, Haman, is plotting Mordecai's downfall. This is nipped in the bud in such a way that the king's insomnia helps save Mordecai's life.

This list is a good start to give us a sense of comradeship during those moments when sleep eludes us. Getting stuck into these books may also help give us the zzzzs, which is what we really want. Please let me know if you can think of any others.

'Till we have Faces' by C.S. Lewis

In this timeless tale of two mortal princesses- one beautiful and one unattractive- C.S. Lewis reworks the classical myth of Cupid and Psyche into an enduring piece of contemporary fiction. This is the story of Orual, Psyche's embittered and ugly older sister, who posessively and harmfully loves Psyche. Much to Orual's frustration, Psyche is loved by Cupid, the god of love himself, setting the troubled Orual on a path of moral development.

Set against the backdrop of Glome, a barbaric, pre-Christian world, the struggles between sacred and profane love are illuminated as Orual learns that we cannot understand the intent of the gods "till we have faces" and sincerity in our souls and selves.

MY THOUGHTS:

I'd seen this C.S. Lewis fantasy for adults highly recommended and discovered my retro copy in a second hand bookshop. I'm so pleased I bought it, because of the spotlight it shines on human nature. This is Lewis' adaptation of the Greek myth of Psyche and Cupid. (Okay, I recommend you stop reading right here and now and google a quick summary of the myth. That might sound like seeking spoilers, but it really isn't. Because Lewis comes from a place of expecting us to know it, and he's about to turn the myth inside out. If we know nothing about it, there's no way we'll be blown away as he intends. And that would be a waste of the book.)

(Are you back? Good.) This story starts in the nation of Glome under the reign of King Trom. Lewis tells his tale from the point of view of Princess Orual, beautiful Psyche's eldest sister, who is born to take on a stressful role in the palace and soon realises she's remarkably ugly to boot. Orual appears in the actual myth as one of the wicked sisters who convince Psyche to unmask her incognito husband, leading to her own terrible downfall. But Lewis' Orual insists that her motives were far more pure than the myth would have us believe, which is what this story is all about. 

 The people all worship at the temple of Aphrodite, who is known throughout Glome as Ungit. The goddess is represented by an ancient, rugged and pocked looking rock that seemingly came from nowhere. The creepy old temple priest exudes what Orual has come to consider a 'holy' smell; pigeon's blood, burned fat, singed hair, wine and stale incense. One day, he demands beautiful young Psyche as a sacrifice. She's being blamed for famine and unrest in the land, for supposedly 'aping the gods' and stealing worship that's due to Ungit alone. And a perfect sacrifice is necessary for the temple of Ungit anyway. 

Orual's desperate measures cannot save Psyche, who is the treasure of her heart. But instead of dying on the mountaintop, Psyche is rescued by an anonymous saviour who takes her as his wife, but refuses to let her see his face. Nonetheless, Psyche thrives in her new lifestyle, until Orual discovers she's survived, and immediately aims to undermine her happiness with doubt about the identity of the supposed deity. Convinced that she has only Psyche's best interest at heart, Orual gets back-up support from her two most trusted advisors, after constructing the story in a carefully biased way to maximise their agreement.

The girls' beloved tutor and mentor, known as the Fox, is a slave captured from Greece, who retains the outlook and wisdom of his homeland, which is impressive but limited. He has a Grecian bent towards explaining everything through science, and ignoring all that doesn't filter through the evidence of his five senses. The unseen realm is brushed aside as inconsequential and non-existent. 

On the other hand, Bardia, the captain of the royal army, has huge respect for all folklore and superstition of the gods. These two advisors scoff at each others' worldviews, but get along with each other well enough to work in sync, and curiously reach the same conclusion that Psyche's unseen 'husband' must be noxious.

This is well-meaning meddling taken to an extreme. The trio convince themselves they've reached an inevitable, Occam's Razor sort of conclusion. They decide that Psyche's husband must be a bestial, foul being at worst, or a tricky crook at best, for else why would he refuse to let Psyche see his face? If the simplest possibility is probably correct, he would surely let Psyche see him if he has nothing sinister to hide. Whenever the possibility that her happy, healthy sister might be speaking total truth crosses Orual's mind, she dismisses it as unfeasible. So her loving interference morphs into intense emotional blackmail with dire consequences. 

The whole of Part One is narrated as Orual's own fervent self defense to shield herself against intolerable guilt. She resents the gods for misrepresenting her and appeals to the reader to agree with her, and judge the gods as capricious, aloof and totally unreasonable. For why make her so incredibly ugly, if they have control over such things? And why remain so silent in response to desperate pleas for answers? How is she supposed to react to their non-response, other than with bitterness and confusion? 

I tell you, it's easy to cheer, 'Yeah, you go, Orual,' and keep turning pages to see if there will be a response to this.

Without divulging plot points, what unfolds is quite jaw dropping. In a nutshell, Orual's own complaint is the gods' answer. It's all to do with humans' successful self-deception. We are adept at pulling the wool over our own eyes to present ourselves in the best possible light. Desperate not to face the truth about our deepest, dodgiest motivations, we make up acceptable sounding jargon that we expect the gods to buy, because we buy it ourselves. Orual discovers one major reason the gods don't seem to answer is that they won't deign to bother replying to insincere babble we think we truly mean. For, 'how can they meet us face to face till we have faces?' Aha, we know when the title of the book springs out to meet us, we've struck gold. 

(I believe Lewis delivers a similar theme in The Magician's Nephew, when he has Digory face Aslan for the first time and face up to his own shady motivation throughout the story, but this book, being written for adults and delivering the culmination of Orual's life story, packs even more of a punch.) 

When it's laid out so starkly, all the pieces slot together. It offers a hallowed moment in the story for readers who pause to contemplate the magnitude of what we've just taken in. All the lead-up in the story, including Orual's reasoning, her twisted thought patterns which seem so seductive and convincing, the half-truths she latches onto that make her life miserable, and the fact that she hasn't considered others' full stories, makes perfect sense. 

It's extremely profound and revelatory, especially because Lewis subtly makes it clear that Orual is a mirror for any one of us. Even folk without her physical ugliness undoubtedly have some mental and spiritual warts and blemishes they take super care to conceal.  

It's a book I'll have to read over again down the track. I've exhausted my store of impressions for now, but I suspect it's the sort of story that will always meet us where we are at with something new. I can't help wondering what I would have thought of it in my twenties, but I'll never know. For now, wow! 

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟   

Trixie Belden Series 10 - 12

10) The Marshland Mystery

Miss Bennett, the Biology teacher, has lost all her herbs. Trixie decides that the Bob Whites, with the benefit of Brian's superior botanical knowledge, will scour the local Martin's Marsh and replenish them. They come across an elderly recluse named Miss Rachel Martin who has a tragic past. Meanwhile the Wheelers are hosting a child prodigy violinist, Gaye Hunya, who is on a concert tour. When Gaye follows the girls to the marsh and disappears, suspicion falls on Miss Rachel. Trixie's foraging for herbs becomes an urgent quest to find Gaye, clear Miss Rachel's name and also help her out when the local council threatens to evict her. 

* This story takes place in spring. It's April and Jim and Brian are planning to finish High School and begin college in the fall. I wonder how the authors will manage cram in all the action of the rest of the series before the awesome duo is supposed to pack up and leave.

* The Bob Whites realise through prickly but poignant little Gaye Hunya that being a famous celebrity isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sure, she draws huge crowds, but her schedule is jam-packed and gruelling. Gaye's stern aunt, Miss Della Crandall, seems to be exploiting her as if she's a little cash cow. I found this little brat growing on me, and wish she could appear in later books. 

* Since Miss Rachel's great grandfather was said to be a friend of the notorious Captain Kidd, it's possible to date this book. Captain Kidd was executed in 1701, which Mr Belden calls (approximately) 250 years ago. More like 320 years ago now, for anyone choosing to read this series as if it's contemporary. His words plus the Martin family tree set this book around the mid-twentieth century. With a bit of a stretch it could still be early to mid eighties, which is when I imagine it.  

* Both Trixie and Mart share the same 'speak-before-they-think' gene. These 'almost twins' stick their feet in their mouths incredibly often, but I'm convinced she does it most yet he gets paid out for it more. In fact, Trixie is downright rude about Gaye's little dog, Mr Poo, but Mart gets the blame from Honey for first stirring Trixie about Reddy's disobedience and prompting her to make a comparison. So even when Trixie is disparaging and offensive, it's Mart's fault. Go figure.

* As for the dialogue between the Bob Whites in general, some of it is pure gold. I love these guys. 

* There are some inconsistencies. Reddy runs up against a copperhead snake and when Trixie yells at him to leave it, we're told he reluctantly lays off because 'training took over!' But hold on, we all know Reddy is completely untrained! That's one of the running Belden family jokes. So I don't buy this at all.

* Trixie is now looking after the chickens, which Books 1-3 indicate was supposed to be Mart's job. However, since their Dad is being very demanding with the boys regarding gardening in this story, perhaps Mart is temporarily let off the hook with the chooks. Sometimes it appears the two older Belden boys shoulder the heaviest work of Crabapple Farm singlehandedly. It's a huge demand from Helen and Peter when you think about it, since Brian and Mart are also expected not to let their schoolwork slip.

* Thanks to the Belden kids, I've learned how to get blueberry stain off a white shirt.  

* We get Sergeant Rooney on the case this time, and not Sergeant Molinson.  

* Trixie mentions asking Regan or Dan about Irish legendary fairy folk, such as leprechauns and pookies. It seems our uncle/nephew duo must have roots in the Emerald Isle, to be sure, to be sure, to be sure. 

* We are introduced to another character who everyone loves to hiss and boo. It's Paul Trent, a young troublemaker who manages to land himself a job as a reporter with the Sleepyside Sun fresh out of school. His misinformed poisonous pen does lots of damage, prompting Peter Belden to tell his kids, 'There seems to be something magical about printer's ink. Once people read a story in a newspaper, most of them believe that story is true, even if it's retracted.' That's good enough to be the quote of the book. 

* In the spirit of her father's wisdom, another good one comes from Trixie. 'I'm glad I'm not gifted. It must be sort of like being in prison.' 

* I've reached the quarter mark in my re-read of the Trixie Belden series. I'm pleased to say that thus far, despite the change of authorship, the time trajectory has been fairly consistent. Book 1 starts in the summer holidays around July when Trixie first meets Honey and Jim, and this book ends on May 1st the following year with Trixie's 14th birthday. She's been 13 for a quarter of the series and I believe she'll be 14 for the three quarters still to come. It remains to be seen how the Kathryn Kenny authors will manage to compress time without banging their heads against the wall of her 15th birthday.    

11) The Mystery at Bob White Cave

The Bob Whites are holidaying with Uncle Andrew at his fishing lodge deep in the heart of the Ozarks. Trixie discovers a current competition in a science journal calling for three white, cave-dwelling 'ghost' fish at different stages of evolution. But her impatient quest to win the $500 prize is interrupted by the antagonism of their young cave guide, the action of other tourists on the same quest and a vicious arson attempt. Will the Bob Whites be able to sort out these other messes and still have a chance to win?

* The timeline running through the series still holds up for now. The previous book ends on May 1st with Trixie's 14th birthday. We are now in early summer again, and Mart is said to be 15, so this story presumably takes place after June 1st, which was his birthday. That could prove to be a bit shortsighted on behalf of the author, who has just thrown away the whole month of May as non-eventful. I would have liked at least one novel when both 'almost twins' are 14.   

* Sadly, neither Di nor Dan can make it this trip. We're pared back to the core 5. 

* Uncle Andrew must be loaded with dough for a Belden. He has a sheep farm in Iowa AND this getaway lodge in the Ozarks. It sounds like he could rival the Wheelers and Lynches for wealth, but I suppose having no wife and kids probably helps. 

* Once again, 'Kathryn Kenny' has nailed the sense of place. We're talking modern times, whether you're imagining 1962, 2022 or anywhere in between, but this Ozark community are genuine hillbillies, driving mules and carts because the mountainous terrain and treacherous roads are still not set up for cars. The caves are magnificent and we learn a bit about cave exploring (or spelunking) in a safe way. 

* To satisfy his concern for the young peoples' safety, Uncle Andrew hires a cave guide, Slim Sanderson, who is only a little older than the Bob Whites. Yet cultural chasms create friction from the outset, even though they're all fellow Americans. It seems every state has its own strong pride and prejudice.  

* Uncle Andrew's widowed housekeeper Mrs Moore and her 14-year-old daughter Linnie feature strongly in this book, with all their Ozark deference for supernatural forces at work behind the scenes. Their superstitious outlook is terrifying on the surface, but ultimately a great source of comfort to them. Although this pair has had fierce struggles and live a spartan lifestyle, there is something enviable about their calm, faithful outlook, and most of all their deep sense of their own roots. When the land on which you live flows in your blood, you surely have fewer identity issues to contend with than fly-by-night city slickers. 

* I remember finding some of Mrs Moore's ghost stories a bit hair-raising back when I was the target audience. They're so vivid and told with such conviction. 

* Honey (in the absence of Diana) is the sole voice of caution and timidity in this book. There are implications that she's cramping everyone's style and her pleas to reconsider reckless schemes are consistently shot down. Yet on two life-threatening occasions, her anxious forebodings turn out to be absolutely grounded. Personally, I'd take Honey's inner compass over Brian's and Jim's any day. 

* Mart quotes Latin in perfect context to fit the occasion. He says, 'Non fatuus persecutis ignem' meaning, 'It is no will-o'-the-wisp that I have followed here.' That's pretty impressive for a 15-year-old, but the girls always brush him off as pompous and showy compared to Brian and Jim's confident air of authority. I don't think there's anything Mart can do about it. I always get the feeling his ostentatious brand of showing off is all to do with reminding the others he's there, but birth order is real. I'm not a middle kid myself, but can see they do it tough.  

* My word, I find Trixie particularly abrasive in this book!! To me she's the spoiled brat of the family on a par with Bobby; spotlight seeking, demanding and manipulative. From Page 1 she's throwing a tantrum because it's raining outside. She insists on forcing her fish chasing plans on the others, and it's too bad if they have different priorities because she knows she'll wear them down. Brian and Jim's interest in geology must cave in to her agenda (pardon the pun). Because she's confident that everyone finds her so earnest and cute. 

* Oh gosh, she just has to take centre stage. It kills her not to. She's already had one crazy plunge into the sinkhole, almost drowned herself and pushed poor Uncle Andrew to the edge of having a nervous breakdown. When he weakens against his better judgement and allows them all back for one last try, Mart says, 'Let me be the one to go down this time. I weigh less than Brian or Jim.' Then instead of rolling with it after the trouble she's caused, Trixie insists that it absolutely has to be her. 'I want to be the one to go. I saw the fish and I want to go after them.' Then, instead of calling her downright spoiled, the adults call her 'spunky' and let her have her way. 

* Trixie is also dismissive and tactless to Mrs Moore, trying to convince her that her husband's ghost doesn't exist, without pausing to consider that the conviction has been a source of comfort and strength to the older woman for a decade; or that belief in spirits is deeply woven into her worldview. But Trixie trivialises everyone whose ideas differ from her own. Even when friends and family express horror at her near escapes from death, she shrugs off their reactions as irrelevant because they don't match her own resilient way of moving straight on. 

* Toward the end of the story, Moms writes to ask her brood to return home early, since she has to go and support Aunt Helen because Uncle Mart is in hospital having tests. Hmm, where do these family connections fit in? I'm guessing they're from her side of the family. She must be Aunt Helen's namesake, and presumably thinks highly enough of Uncle Mart to have named her own second son after him. These relatives never actually appear in the story.

* Trixie announces, 'We've never had one penny given to us for one of our projects.' Ha, she fails to consider that Uncle Andrew has just forked out money to set up all five of them with expensive cave exploring gear, and he's also paying Slim big bucks to be their guide. Their rule of never accepting anything they haven't earned is conveniently overlooked in this instance.  

* I can't pinpoint a standout quote of this book. Uncle Andrew's dramatic, 'My own brother's child almost drowned!' is such tiresome deja vu from The Happy Valley Mystery. Trixie's confident, 'Nothing will happen to one of us when the others are near,' is cringeworthy. She would have been killed within the first few chapters if not for the foresight of an outsider, and there would have been nothing the other Bob Whites could do about it. Another of Uncle Andrew's lines springs to mind as the best, but it reveals too much about the motivation of the villain, so I'd better leave it. Ah well, no stand-out quotes but just a few 'anti-quotes' this time round. 

* Overall, I'm torn about this book. The two main plot twists are extremely far-fetched, and Trixie drove me nuts at times. Overall, it's possibly my most face-palmy so far, yet I can't deny there's something haunting and vivid about the setting and local folk that stands out over some of the others. I still enjoyed it immensely, but dearly hope the author of the next book will tone down Trixie's smugness just a smidgen. 

12) The Mystery of the Blinking Eye

Destination is the Big Apple, New York City itself. The Bob Whites have made plans to meet their friends Ned, Bob and Barbara to show them a great time they won't forget. Trixie helps a foreign lady at the airport, and receives a disturbing prophetic poem in way of thanks, which seems to anticipate everything that unfolds on the trip. This is scary, since some desperate crooks are on their tails the whole time, presumably after a quirky little wooden idol which Trixie bought at an antique shop. Will strength in numbers apply, or are their pursuers just too savage and cutthroat for ten teenagers?    

* It's great to see all the Bob Whites enjoying a trip together for once. Dan has made up his grades to stay abreast of the two brains, Brian and Jim, for now. (He even calls them this himself.) I guess he can make it along only because the destination is close to home and just for a few days. With the addition of their Iowan friends, there are ten young people enjoying time together, and I think it's terrific. 

* Although the sole purpose for the trip is to have fun together in the Big Smoke, Trixie's magnetism for danger and adventure can't be switched off. Their Iowan friends claim to love it, but it is disturbing and disruptive for Miss Trask and Diana, at least. Di openly admits that it's not the sort of lifestyle she'd court, if she had the choice. I've got to say neither would I, but it's fun to read about. 

* Miss Trask is a lady of many hidden talents. She can translate the gypsy lady's poem from Spanish to English for the girls without sacrificing any of the rhyme. That's some feat.  

* A hansom cab driver at Central Park boasts to all the kids that he used to drive Mrs Andrew Carnegie around. This dates the series for sure, even if he was stretching the truth, seeing that Louise Whitfield Carnegie was born in 1847 and died in 1946. 

* I guess it could only happen in New York City. A renowned talent scout overhears Bob and Barbara Hubbell entertaining their own small group of friends with folk songs in a private apartment. He comes knocking on their door to see if they'd like to appear on daytime TV. Would this be feasible anywhere else in the world?

* I like the Hubbells, who are actually real twins, unlike Trixie and Mart. Bubbly Barbara has just one all-purpose adjective for everything (wonderful), while her brother Bob's vocabulary is broad enough to give Mart a run for his money. I don't remember if their guest appearance on TV was a career springboard for these singing siblings, but I hope so. Their friend Ned is very cool too. 

* Here's a possible inconsistency. The Bob Whites and Co are firmly told no extra tickets are available when they front up at the studio, until they explain that Bob and Barbara are expected on set. Then later our little gang discover the crooks got through to the audience auditorium with seemingly no hitches. What's with that? I'll assume the doormen were instructed there was no more room for nine or ten, but maybe two or three could be squeezed in. 

* There really should be a series cookbook. Trixie and Mart give their mother's reputation a run for its money on this trip. She whips up mouthwatering beef stroganoff and he ad-libs French themed mashed potatoes based on a restaurant dish he tasted with many herbs and spices. Plus Diana makes delicious Chinese fried rice.

* Poor underprivileged former street kid Dan. I love how he tells his good friend Mart that he didn't recognise any ingredient he rattled off except for cheese, but the combo is to die for! 

* The Marvelous Mart's magic act! What a laugh.

* Diana has changed her ambition from airline stewardess (in books 6 & 7) to a tour guide at the United Nations Centre like Betsy Tucker, a former student at their school in Sleepyside. 

* Trixie and Honey have a quiet dig at Di for bringing two suitcases of clothes for a three day trip. I see their point, yet I suspect this is Di's way of controlling what she can. Her low self esteem makes her focus on her outer appearance, which is probably the main thing she ever receives praise for. She suffers from vertigo too, and it's extremely brave for her to push on up the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building, rather than losing face. 

* The gang hooks up with Dr Joe Reed, a beloved orthopedic paediatric surgeon who has earned their devotion over the years. He set Diana's brother Terry's broken leg and let keen student Brian Belden watch, to his satisfaction. Brian is still a High School kid and not even a medical student yet, but he's had plenty of hands-on experience already by taking part in his sister's adventures.  

* Mr Moneybags himself, Honey's dad, Matthew Wheeler, puts in a fairly long appearance toward the end. I find this guy formidable, even though the Belden kids seem to be chill with him. He comes across as friendly, yet there's a distinct, 'Don't mess with me' vibe about him.  

* Jim instantly recognises the quirky way Trixie writes the number 4. Okay, everyone chorus with me after one, two, three.  'Awwwww.' 

* Quote of the book goes to Miss Trask. 'Maybe Trixie has learned her her lesson, this time. But we always think so until something else happens.'  

   Catch my last thoughts on Books 7 - 9.

And please join me next time for Books 13 - 15. 

    

'Emily Climbs' by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Emily Starr was born with the desire to write. As an orphan living on New Moon Farm, writing helped her face the difficult, lonely times. But now all her friends are going away to high school in nearby Shrewsbury, and her old-fashioned, tyrannical aunt Elizabeth will only let her go if she promises to stop writing! All the same, this is the first step in Emily's climb to success. Once in town, Emily's activities set the Shrewsbury gossips buzzing. But Emily and her friends are confident—Ilse is a born performer, Teddy's set to be a great artist, and roguish Perry has the makings of a brilliant lawyer. When Emily has her poems published and writes for the town newspaper, success seems to be on its way—and with it the first whispers of romance. Then Emily is offered a fabulous opportunity, and must decide if she wants to change her life forever.

MY THOUGHTS: 

We left our intense young heroine writing a contract to herself, to climb the Alpine Path of literary success and write her humble name on the pinnacle. This installment of Emily's story takes her from the age of 14 to 17, while she attends High School and has a good scramble after her writing dream at the same time. 

Her three best friends are joining her at Shrewsbury High School. Dr Burnley will do anything for Ilse at this stage, Teddy's possessive mother loosens her apron strings the tiniest smidgen, and Perry pays his own way through by doing odd jobs.

Aunt Elizabeth is still stately and proud enough to pull off a lifestyle that would seem ridiculously backward from anyone else. But for Elizabeth Murray, refusal to evolve with the times is merely preserving something precious with great inherent value and class. And all the floor sanding, kerosene lamps, and old-fashioned recipes are great fun to read about. It's set in the earliest years of the 20th century, when a pair of girls might knock on a random door and request a meal and beds for the night. (For this is something Emily and Ilse actually do during this story.) 

Ilse is as vibrant and choleric as ever, and continues to get away with murder. She slaps her landlady and doesn't get evicted. She smashes the principal's office vase and doesn't get expelled. All these rages without consequences make her sound thoroughly spoiled, except for Montgomery's hints that Ilse can't get the one thing she really wants. It's never mentioned outright in this book, but I think clues are abundant enough for any but the most oblivious readers to read between the lines and guess what it is. What's more, her volatile outbursts are no doubt keeping what Ilse craves far from her. She's a very interesting secondary heroine.

Lots of the plot revolves around Emily's friction with overbearing Aunt Ruth, whose house she boards at to be close to school. (Since Shrewsbury is situated only 7 miles or 11 kilometres from New Moon, Emily would surely not need to board with Aunt Ruth had events taken place in modern times.) 

A severe, disapproving manner is Ruth's default. Her motto is to assume a person is shifty and sly until proven otherwise. She's over critical to the point of pushing Emily to be as bad as she thinks she is. And her close-minded prejudices seem set in stone. The narrator calls her, 'a stupid, stubborn little barnyard fowl trying to bring up a skylark.' Yet Montgomery offers glimpses of Aunt Ruth's point of view. Set in her ways for years, she's making a huge sacrifice by opening her house to another person. The question is will these two ever see eye to eye on anything?

There are some further incidents of Emily's second sight in action. Not enough to make it commonplace, but just enough to keep the wow factor flamed. Rather than celebrating it as a rare, distinguishing gift, Emily swings to the opposite extreme and flinches to think of some creepy, anonymous power borrowing her body and mind to work through from time to time. Yet since the incidents always yield positive results, we readers are drawn to conclude it must be a benign power. 

Emily has her fair share of admiring males. The family clan stands behind bland Cousin Andrew, although he doesn't tick Emily's boxes. And dynamic Perry Miller's brilliant ability to clear his own hurdles will never be enough for the Murrays (including Emily) to cancel out his Stovepipe Town origins. Her older friend Dean Priest lurks around with amorous intentions that Emily never picks up on, despite her uncanny knack for penetrating the hidden motivations of others. Her own favourite contender is unfortunately Teddy Kent, whose jealous and domineering mother probably puts up the most roadblocks of all.  

Emily's profoundly spiritual nature stands out to me this time round. Being out of doors is a reliable tonic for her, and she confesses that she loves things just as much as people. (I'm a bit like that too.) But the consolation she imbibes from the natural elements, considering herself one with the wind, trees and flowers, makes her a thorough nature mystic as well as just a budding writer.  

Emily faces many ups and downs in her ambition to be a published author. Aunt Elizabeth bans fiction writing for the duration of the Shrewsbury High years, with Mr Carpenter's approval. There's a nice bit of writing craft advice within these pages, courtesy of Mr Carpenter. He counsel that she's too lavish with words, and that she should never risk losing her Canadian tang. And Emily takes to heart his opinion that any writer should always aim to heal and never hurt with their pen. 

Finally, Cousin Jimmy deserves a shout-out as possibly the most tactful and perceptive person in the whole book. Although most people in his life dismiss him as a simple man-child, he is the person whose opinions ring most true to me, with the possible exception of Mr Carpenter. But since Jimmy is far less cranky than Mr C, he carries my vote as best mentor character. I sometimes start humming the Beatles' 'Fool on the Hill' when I think about him, because that's Cousin Jimmy Murray to a tee.  

These books are a joy to read, so let's bring on the conclusion, Emily's Quest. 

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 

'A Wrinkle in Time' by Madeleine L'Engle

It was a dark and stormy night.

Out of this wild night, a strange visitor comes to the Murry house and beckons Meg, her brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O'Keefe on a most dangerous and extraordinary adventure—one that will threaten their lives and our universe.

Winner of the 1963 Newbery Medal, A Wrinkle in Time is the first book in Madeleine L'Engle's classic Time Quintet.

MY THOUGHTS:

Wow, this book is off this planet in more ways than one! L'Engle has incorporated science, philosophy and theology  in thisYA fantasy novel which was initially rejected by several publishers who thought that complex content and kid characters were too big a clash. But she persevered and it became a Newbery medalist and famous classic. She even borrowed, 'It was a dark and stormy night' as her opening line, which turned out to be an excellent move. Although Madeleine L'Engle didn't make up that line, it wouldn't surprise me if several readers throughout the years assume she did. 

So here's how it all goes down. 

Meg Murry feels like a loser in every way. She's unpopular at school, considers herself plain looking, relies on glasses for her near-sightedness, and struggles in several subjects. She is actually quite a brilliant maths nerd, yet because she's so awkward, the teachers seem to have overlooked this. Her beloved little brother is being picked on, and her father is missing. Mr Murry is a physicist doing top secret government work, but nobody has heard from him for several years. 

A weird trio of ladies squatting in a local derelict house seem to know what's going on with the children's dad. Chatty Mrs Whatsit is a shapeshifter with weird dress sense; bespectacled Mrs Who speaks in famous quotes because she finds it way easier than coming up with her own words to use; and Mrs Which, the most ancient of all, is hazy and ethereal. 

It turns out Mr Murry is stranded on a planet named Camozotz, where he's been helping fight an evil black shadowy force which is also closing in on earth. Meg, along with two boys are enlisted to help rescue him, without getting themselves embroiled in inescapable danger in the process.  

One of the boys is her precocious 5-year-old brother, Charles Wallace. He's rumoured to be slow on the uptake but knows full well he's a genius with an uncanny knack for intuition. Charles Wallace's intellect is probably way too vast for such a young head, which is his biggest weakness. How can a pre-schooler arm himself against a superiority complex when he understands stuff like quantum physics?

 The other boy is 14-year-old Calvin O'Keefe, who knows he's admired at school for the most unimportant reasons, such as athletic prowess and good grades. But Calvin's home life is a train wreck, which keeps him wistful and envious of those with solid, loving families. When Meg and Calvin realise their home and school personas are complete reversals of each other, it gives them a sort of bonding of opposites.

The sci/fi nature of the story begins when they travel via tesseract. If you compress a long piece of paper to look like a folded fan and then leap across the creases, that's similar to what our little gang do through space and time. There's no actual time travel though. I think the book is more of a 'space' story than a 'time' story, despite what the title may suggest.  

Meg begins the adventures very skittish and easily frightened. I stopped counting the number of times she needs to clutch another person's hand for security, but I honestly find this a refreshing blast from the past in our modern era of brave and bold heroines whose authors fear backlash from our reactive feminist culture if they give them a moment of weakness. With female main characters now being typecast as consistently kickass, timid readers have fewer literary counterparts to draw from.  That's truly sad, and I find Meg Murry's cowardice under the circumstances completely understandable. I'm sure if I were in her shoes, I'd be clutching Calvin's hand until it turned to pulp. 

Her faint-heartedness early on makes her later courage more impressive, especially when she reaches for Calvin's hand for about the hundredth time, then decides she needs to stop relying on others to help her through. Her final big challenge will have to be done alone. (I'm sure many girls hope that any future hand holding with Calvin will be for an entirely different reason.)  

Camazotz turns out to have a brainwashed population who are totally conformed by the ruling power (IT) to be completely uniform. Readers of the sixties assumed that was L'Engle's dig at Communism, but her intent is also to help Meg embrace her own differences rather than wishing to be like others. I've been reading a few books about the drawbacks of our western individualistic culture, so coming on the heels of them, this story is a reminder not to swing too far the other way. 

Okay, I can't deny Madeleine L'Engle's themes are unsubtle and her heavy-handedness sometimes becomes almost cartoonish. Take for example the adventurers' quick mishap on the 2D dimensions plus their interactions with the 'Happy Medium' who is just as she's described. Yet I still have a compulsion to keep reading on despite these corny moments. I think it's because the unlikely main trio are all interesting enough to keep their interactions fun. (I'm talking about the three kids, and not the Mrs Ws.)

I want to keep on reading more of L'Engle's time series, but I've heard they're not easy to find, so it will depend on whether or not I can get my hands on them. Now that it comes down to it, I hope I can. 

🌟🌟🌟🌟  

Trixie Belden Series 7 - 9

7) The Mysterious Code

Oh oh, the future of the Bob White appears to be in jeopardy. There has been a spate of minor vandalism and burglaries, and the school board wants to stamp out clubs for fear of gang like behaviour. Principal Stratton says they'll really have to prove their worth if they're allowed to continue out in the open. Trixie has the grand idea of setting up an antique show to raise money for UNICEF, but it soon becomes clear that serious crooks are after their exhibits. And some of the valuables are only on loan from generous townsfolk. Can the Bob Whites protect the precious loot, save their own reputations and put on a breathtaking show?   

* This is the first of the many 'Kathryn Kenny' titles written by ghost authors, so I was alert for changeover glitches. The start feels a bit awkward. This author opts to 'show' story background through conversation rather than 'tell' it in information dumps. That sounds great in theory, but doesn't work brilliantly when we have the teenagers referring among themselves to, 'your chauffeur Tom' or 'our gamekeeper Mr Maypenny.' They all know very well who everyone is by now! Once those hurdles are clear, we're off.  

* I got tired of Trixie consistently calling Bobby, 'Lamb.' She never has before, and I hope she stops in future books. 

* The previous book ends at Christmas time, and this one takes us in to the new year, culminating around mid-February, as Di Lynch decides to throw a casual Valentine's Day party at her house, probably to atone for that dismal, formal Halloween gig the October before with her fake Uncle Monty.

* We find out about the challenging family dynamics of Spider Webster, the young Sleepyside cop. His parents are both dead and he's the sole guardian of his 14-year-old brother Tad, who tends to be a bit of a handful. 

* We also meet a couple of charming elderly Dutch neighbours; Mrs Vanderpoel and her whiskered friend Brom. Recurring character alert.

* The author clearly had great fun describing the wonderful antiques, some dating back to the Civil War era and some exported from overseas. It was enough to make me wish I could step into the pages and visit their antique fair myself. 

* There is some slight inconsistency with the recovery of an old music box that previously belonged to the Frayne family. Apparently Jim's bad stepfather, Jonesy, was falsely accused of stealing it. Yet the scenario is set up in such a manner that the box disappeared several years before Jonesy ever entered the scene. This incident doesn't matter really, since it's not integral to the plot. I guess the author just wanted to highlight Jim's generosity in wishing he could tell Jonesy that he's off the hook.  

* I really applaud Mr and Mrs Belden for being such fun, hands-on parents. Chapter 15, in which they both take part in the fun and games night with all the kids, is excellent. In fact, I should call them Peter and Helen from now on, since they are such well-rounded characters, and not the bland, faceless suits and house dresses often found in juvenile literature from this era. They are a wholesome family too, as Peter gets all the kids and their guests to bow their heads for grace. 

* Helen Belden is a fantastic example of a happy, fulfilled stay-at-home mum. Bobby and the male Lynch twins are unanimous in agreeing that her homemade hamburgers are superior to those at Wimpy's. She even describes her methods for any eager beavers willing to put them to the test. And she adds marshmallows to her Waldorf salad with the apples and celery. I've never heard that idea before, but I like it. There really should be a series cookbook.

* Great news for romance fans, this first Kathryn Kenny author seems super keen to promote the Jim/Trixie attraction angle. She's practically shoving the baton into the hands of writers to come, but from my memory, I don't think they all run with quite the same speed. Perhaps she was warned to slow down and remember this is first and foremost a mystery-adventure series for young teens. 

* There are a few lovely little nuggets for Mart/Diana shippers to jump on too, such as that cute, nervous public kiss. However any Honey/Brian threads are virtually non-existent thus far.

* At one stage, Helen Belden gets exasperated and snaps at Bobby to give her a break. I'd come across one reviewer who remarked that the little imp doesn't get so much as a scolding throughout the entire series. Well, that's not quite true. He might be a trifle spoiled but she is only human herself.

* Trixie's bossiness is as plain as ever, but she gets called up on it from surprise sources a few times. As long as the authors are all aware that she tends to be dominating at times, it's all good. What's more, all the Bob Whites get a wake-up call for being a bit inclusive and giving Tad Webster the cold shoulder treatment. That's interesting, since I was going along with their point of view from the start, and considering him a pain in the neck. But there are always two sides. The fairness factor is what makes these books a great read. I notice they haven't invited Tad to join the Bob Whites though. Perhaps he still thinks they're a bit corny.

* It's lucky that Jim aims to open a school for boys rather than working with Trixie and Honey's detective agency. When it comes to picking up on a desperate clue, he's absolutely terrible! It would take a brick to drop on his head.

* I'll award the quote of the book to Mrs Belden. 'I don't want you to grow up too soon but I would like to be able to tell the difference between you and your brothers without straining my sight.'  

8) The Black Jacket Mystery

The Bob Whites are organising an ice carnival to help raise funds for a Mexican village struck by an earthquake. Meanwhile, Regan is concealing a ponderous secret that appears to make him very anxious and grumpy. And a sulky boy named Dan Mangan who has had brushes with the law is now living with Mr Maypenny. Is Dan Mr Maypenny's grandson? And is he behind some thefts and break-ins that have been happening? 

* Trixie and Honey have acquired Mexican penpals, Dolores and Lupe, whose school library was decimated by an earthquake. Donations of new books is what the Bob Whites' ice carnival is all in aid of. No sooner have they finished the antique fair from the last book when they're pumped again, working on a new project. These guys don't let grass grow under their feet, but to squeeze all the coming adventures within one year, the stories will need to be back to back like this. 

* Mart is apparently a very speedy skater. I wonder if he surpasses Brian and Jim, but get the feeling he never manages to trump the Mr Perfect duo as often as he'd like to.

* I don't remember if the Beldens' elusive Aunt Alicia ever makes an actual appearance, but her gifts to her nephews and niece tend to bite the dust. In this book, a spotted china cat is smashed and a chunky woolly sweater is unravelled. 

* It seems the Beldens are a family of faith after all, for it appears Mart has recently outgrown his Sunday suit and needs a new one. Perhaps Trixie goes to pick up the newspapers from Lytell's General Store (See Book 1) after they get home from church. 

* I wonder if Bobby ends up getting the kitten that many people promise him. I don't remember, but I feel sorry for it if he does, having to live with both Bobby and Reddy.

* Regan somehow manages to come up with a decrepit old horse named Spartan from the Wheelers' stable for the use of Dan Mangan. How come we've never heard of Spartan before? He's a handy plot device horse if ever there was one.

* (Sigh) it had to happen some time, I guess. The awesome Regan goes down a notch or two in my estimation. His attitude toward Dan stinks. Basically, Regan places job security way above his family duties. He's so scared that acknowledging his delinquent nephew will tick off his rich employers that he prefers to keep it hushed up. He'll hide Dan with Mr Maypenny rather than admit that he even has a nephew. What sort of message is that supposed to give poor Dan?  

* The whole secret experiment thread is abysmally handled by the adults. For a start, it encourages others to imagine things are worse than they actually are. Trixie wonders if Regan himself has committed a crime, such as a hit-and-run. Little does she know he's just too churlish to own his own flesh and blood. 

* Trixie's antagonistic reaction to Dan from the moment she sets eyes on him is nothing to be proud of. She sums him up as a troublemaker the second he steps on the bus, and treats him accordingly. Snap judgement might be natural, but that doesn't make it right. Then when Mart points out that Trixie has had it in for Dan since Day One, she flounces off in a huff, although every word is true. 

* This is probably the point where readers with opinions about Trixie's romantic life may begin to diverge. Until now, Jim has monopolised the floor, but from here on he may have competition, if not in Trixie's eyes, in the readers' at least. The canon undoubtedly points toward Jim, but there is something sort of cool in Trixie's progression from haughtily putting Dan in his place to humbly requesting, 'Please don't go, I'm scared.' So is it Team Jim or Team Dan, girls?

* Haha, now for the inconsistencies! Sorry to be a spoilsport but being pedantic can be fun. Firstly, let's talk about Tom and Celia wanting to buy the Robin; the red trailer formerly from the Lynches which they're living in on the Wheelers' property. The implication is that Tom dreams of paying Mr Lynch the $5000 for it. But hey, hang on, doesn't that trailer now belong to Trixie and Mart?! Mr Lynch gifted it to the young brother/sister duo for their valiant success at stopping the fake Uncle Monty in his tracks. This new anonymous author needs to go back and read The Mysterious Visitor. Trixie and Mart should be the ones rolling in dough, with $2500 apiece if the sale ever comes off! 

* Secondly, how did the Bob White clubhouse even get broken into at this stage? In the previous book, The Mysterious Code, a burglar alarm was connected to the clubhouse which Regan would instantly hear from the stables and his apartment up at the Manor House. Surely this wouldn't be inactivated so soon. It's only a matter of a few weeks since they needed it for the antique show. 

* Finally, this author contradicts herself within this one book. At one point we're told that Regan has been sending money to his only sister, (Dan's mother) to help her make ends meet. Then a little later the story changes. Mr Maypenny informs Trixie that Regan totally lost track of his sister until he recently heard that she was dead. Come on author, get your facts straight. Proofreader, you should have been onto that one too. 

* If I'm to award a quote of the book, it'll have to go to Dan. 'But you know all the answers, don't you, Freckles.' 

* Hooray, now our seven Bob Whites are complete, so bring on more.   

9) The Happy Valley Mystery  

The Bob Whites are off to spend a week at a sheep farm in Iowa owned by the Beldens' Uncle Andrew. While he's away in Scotland, he asks his managers, Hank and Mary Gorman, to give the teenagers some hands-on experience and a good time. Yet there is some funny business going on in the background. Andrew Belden's sheep are steadily disappearing without a trace. It's surely the work of some elusive sheep thieves, and the cops and sheriff have no leads. Trixie makes up her mind that before they depart she will solve the mystery for Uncle Andrew as her way of thanking him for having them there.   

* This book doesn't divulge whether the bachelor uncle Andrew Belden is older or younger than his brother Peter, but my guess is older. Those two have sure diverged in different directions. Being a sheep farmer is a far cry from working in a bank. 

* On the flight across, Honey remarks that she's not even sure she'd know a sheep if she saw one. Then a bit later, Di asks whether huge jackrabbits are just grown-up cottontails. Yikes, as the Bob Whites themselves might say! We seem to be living in the time period when dumb speeches were consistently put in the mouths of girls. At least some should be given to the boys if we need any at all. But our Bob White boys are consistently portrayed as quite brainy.

* Poor Dan misses out on the trip, which we soon see becomes a recurring pattern. In this case, he wants to study hard to stay in Jim and Brian's class. This suggests that he's closer to their age than Mart's, but I have a feeling this fluctuates. The Black Jacket Mystery seems to suggest somewhere in between, but since Jim has skipped a year, Dan would have to be extra-academic, which we know he's not. Hmmm. 

* The Trixie Belden series is quite educational as well as fun. We learn a lot about sheep farming, meet several different breeds, discover why shearers have soft hands, and see that well known proverbs about dumb sheep were thought of for a very good reason. There are some lovely descriptive passages and a good sense of place. 

* Trixie gets a bit nettled and snaps at Diana, 'I like Jim of course! Just the way you like Mart and Honey likes Brian.' Whoa okay, I thought these were subtleties for readers to pick up over time, but this author has chosen to lay all the cards right out on the table already. 

* The three Sleepyside boys blitz the basketball court! You show 'em, boys! I wish there was a way to spell a wolf whistle! 

* Di reveals that her parents knew they were going to marry each other since they were ten years old. Trixie often gets impatient with Diana and calls her a baby to her face, but has to admit that Di has a social poise and grace around boys that she lacks. 

* But Trixie learns some feminine wiles from observing Diana and Honey in action. The other two make no attempt to buzz off the swarming guys who are trying to help them tie their skates. The helpless act is part of their arsenal. Thanks heavens times have changed. 

* Trixie gets jealous when Jim's attention is monopolised by a gorgeous blond girl, Dot Murray, and she's not above flirting with Ned Schulz to get back at him. It sort of backfires since Ned is a straightforward sort of guy who likes girls to be natural and unadorned. Yay, at least someone has some sense. I doubt Jim would expect such behavior from Trixie anyhow. 

* Trixie's aptitude for her ambition shines through in this book. She truly has the grit to be a detective. She's a very driven person, considering time wasted unless she's on the case. She's forced to put up with lots of flak and teasing from adults, and loss of face after false leads. But nothing deters her for long. Perhaps my favourite quote of the book comes from Ned. 'Trixie, you knock me dead. You make up your mind to something and nothing can change it. Right?' 

* No, I think my ultimate favourite is this exchange between the almost-twins. Trixie: 'I just can't remember what our lives were like without Jim.' Mart: 'Your life especially.' 

Please catch my last thoughts on Books 4 - 6

And stay in touch for more next month, when I review Books 10 - 12.  

        

Guys with crazy, genetic diseases involving time

Time is perhaps the most fascinating and relentless force of all. It steadily changes each of us and eventually removes us from the picture entirely. Nobody can speed it up or slow it down. The most we can do is create the illusion that we can, with skin products, hair dye, cosmetic surgery and so-called super foods. But it ticks steadily away, eroding us into faded, frail images of our former selves. Maybe that's why speculative stories about fellows like these intrigue us, because they encourage us to ask, 'What if time behaved differently for us? What would be the ramifications of that?' It's interesting and fun that several authors have grappled with the same questions, and the conditions they inflict on their poor heroes could be likened to medical prognoses, enabling us to ponder some possible answers. Here goes. 

Tom Hazard (from How to Stop Time)
He has a condition that causes him to age incredibly slowly, at the rate of one year for every 15. He's seen a lot of history in his life, meeting celebrities such as Shakespeare, Captain Cook and F. Scott Fitzgerald. This gives him plenty of insight for his current job as a High School History teacher, but Tom finds it hard to deal with the downside, which is outliving everyone he grows to care about. (My review is here.)

Benjamin Button (from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
I love the concept of poor Benjamin's tale. His life trajectory is the opposite to other people's. He's born as a haggard, grey-haired man and ages backward until his death from old age, as a new born baby. The image of how he and the love of his life face their final moments together is haunting; an elderly woman holding a helpless infant. I believe the movie starring Brad Pitt surpassed the novella by F. Scott Fitzgerald, on which it was based. 

Henry de Tamble (from The Time Traveler's Wife)
His condition once saved his life as a 5-year-old, but he senses it will also be the death of him. Henry zips back and forth to different stages of his own future and past, with the inability to control when it will happen. His genetic clock randomly resets itself, often at extremely awkward moments. He always vanishes without a trace, leaving a pile of clothes behind on the floor, to appear entirely naked in another time frame. But he has the consolation of some interesting conversations with himself at different ages. To a certain extent, this gives him comforting insight into what lies ahead for him, but how terrifying for Henry when his future self no longer visits. What is that supposed to signify? (My review is here.)


Dorian Gray (from The Picture of Dorian Gray)
You could say that his time condition didn't develop until his late teens or early twenties. This young man longed to trade places with his own portrait, because it would be so wonderful to stay gorgeous and young. Suddenly that's just what happens. The canvas bears the brunt of his hard living and bad choices, so Dorian hides it away in his attic. Meanwhile, everyone wonders how he manages to stay so ravishingly attractive. It's bound to catch up with him some time though, because that's the nature of time, and we know it'll hit hard when it does. (Here is my review.)

Jesse Tuck (from Tuck Everlasting) 
This teenager and his whole family could be said to have caught their condition from contaminated water. There was evidently some sort of supernatural bug in the stream they drank from, which preserved them from the ravages of aging from then on. Furthermore, it fortified each of them so they were impossible to kill. So when Jesse visits the grave of his childhood sweetheart Winnie long after she's grown old and passed away, he's still the same handsome young man he was in the 1920s. Only his fashion sense has changed. His is perhaps the most tragic tale of all. For who would really choose that sort of indestructible immortality?

What a wild ride it would be to get hold of all these stories and read them back to back. If you're like me, they might help reconcile you with your rapidly aging self. Perhaps ours is the best case scenario after all, because these guys' lives were fraught with too much difficulty and heartache. Would you trade places with any one of them? Perhaps I'll finish off with the legendary figure who represents the condition each of us must bear.

Father Time
He's not actually a mortal, but a personified picture of the passage of time in our lives. He's elderly and bearded because he's been around literally forever. His scythe and hour glass represent the one-way movement we all must cope with. The young will grow old, but the old cannot rejuvenate themselves to start over again. Presenting him in a human form like the rest of us is apt, because it could be argued we all have a genetic condition regarding time, the same as the guys on my list. It starts ticking away the moment we're born. We know it's chronic and will turn out to be terminal, but compared to them, we wouldn't have it any other way.


You might enjoy my related list of Evergreen Children, those storybook kids who never grow up. It turns out there's a lot they can teach us.

There's also this reflection on the passage of time, featuring a wise and happy bunch named The Graveyard School. 

'Emily of New Moon' by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Emily Starr never knew what it was to be lonely—until her beloved father died. Now Emily's an orphan, and her mother's snobbish relatives are taking her to live with them at New Moon Farm. She's sure she won't be happy. Emily deals with stiff, stern Aunt Elizabeth and her malicious classmates by holding her head high and using her quick wit. Things begin to change when she makes friends: with Teddy, who does marvelous drawings; with Perry, who's sailed all over the world with his father yet has never been to school; and above all, with Ilse, a tomboy with a blazing temper. Amazingly, Emily finds New Moon beautiful and fascinating. With new friends and adventures, Emily might someday think of herself as Emily of New Moon.

MY THOUGHTS:

This is the first book in a trilogy Lucy Maud Montgomery was anxious to start work on, partly so she could move on from the Anne series she felt herself cornered in for so long. Her new heroine is Emily Byrd Starr, whose beloved father dies of consumption early on, leaving her at the mercy of intimidating relatives from her mother's side of the family. The proud and haughty Murray aunts and uncles disowned their younger sister (Emily's mother), when she eloped with a penniless guy they spurned (Emily's father). They all baulk at the thought of taking on Emily now, and decide to settle the matter by drawing lots. Poor Emily herself is the person forced to draw the slip of paper! 

She ends up heading off to New Moon Farm, the ancestral family hub, with spinster aunts Elizabeth and Laura, and disarming cousin Jimmy, who's said to be intellectually compromised after a childhood accident, although we readers are left wondering whether he simply thinks fresher, more original thoughts than the average person. (More about Jimmy here.) Laura is sweet and easy-going but Elizabeth, who rules the roost, is grim and set in her ways, making her one of Emily's biggest trials. 

There are strong similarities to the relationship between Anne and Marilla in Anne of Green Gables, yet it's really quite the opposite. While Anne and Marilla come to terms with each other being so essentially different, Emily and Aunt Elizabeth lock horns because they're so similar! They are both stubborn, single-minded, strong-willed individuals who are perceived by others as sharing the same fierce family pride and carrying themselves with the same haughty carriage. In both cases, their eventual warming to each other is very touching.  

Emily's main tool to help her cope with change is a rich inner life that atones for the loss of many other things. Her 'flash' is a fascinating phenomenon. It's her name for those sensual moments that provide sudden glimpses of a wider, more wonderful spiritual plane far beyond our own. Her history of everyday triggers is one we can all practice taking on board. It includes 'a high, wild note of wind, a grey bird lighting on her window sill, the singing of "Holy, holy, holy" in church' and her first sudden glimpse of a dormer window in the early evening sky at New Moon. That sort of rich and simple pleasure is available for us all.

Montgomery endows Emily, more than any other heroine, with her own passion for writing. For both Maud and Emily, the sheer necessity of getting things on paper puts it beyond the scope of hobby to an outright calling. Emily needs to empty her soul with her pen so all the emotional dross can be cleared. The solace she gets from reading and writing keeps her on an even keel. Aunt Elizabeth has an old-fashioned suspicion of fiction and wants Emily to stop, but Emily knows she can't possibly obey. Writing is as necessary to her as breathing. It's elemental and cathartic to her soul. I tend to think if Aunt Elizabeth managed to prevail, Emily would be far harder to live with. 

Emily's three closest friends provide excellent subplots, because their equally colourful backstories enrich the whole text. (Funnily, they're all only children brought up by single parents, or in Perry's case, it's a great aunt, after his seafaring father passes away.)

First is Emily's BFF, the vibrant and choleric Ilse Burnley whose dad, the local doctor, neglects and resents her for a mysterious reason that's concealed from kids but tacitly understood by all adults. When we finally discover what it's all about, Dr Burnley emerges from the secret looking like a rat in my opinion, although peers from his own era seem to understand where the guy was coming from. I'll say no more and leave you to form your own opinions about him.  

Both Burnleys are renowned for their tantrum throwing! It's great fun to read, especially Ilse's colourful insults, but could anyone really get away with such full-on hissy fits without alienating their friends? In the case of Allan and Ilse, people just seem to accept that they're born that way. It seems to me at the very least, both father and daughter are headed for blood pressure and cardio problems if they don't tone it down. Lots of good property is broken or otherwise damaged by being kicked, smashed or pitched out of windows. I do love Ilse though, for her honesty and energy.  

Next is the budding artist Teddy Kent, whose intensely brooding and neurotic mother has her apron strings tied so tightly around him, the poor boy can barely breathe. Even though Teddy is loyal enough to say that she's awesome when they're alone, she's a menacing force capable of doing his psyche great harm. Everything she thinks he's too fond of gets destroyed, whether it's pets being drowned or artwork being burned. Because she must have all his love for herself! Seriously, this lady needs help. 

And finally, Perry Miller, the hired boy who helps Cousin Jimmy around New Moon! What a lad! He's quick-witted and penetrating with abundant confidence to make up for being born on the wrong side of the tracks. This boy hails from Stovepipe Town, the nearby slum, but has no doubt he could become premier of Canada if he tries hard enough. He's a fabulous example of rising from putdowns. I remember as a kid thinking Perry would be a great match for Emily, but can now see he's far too pragmatic. Emily needs a much artier, head-in-the-clouds type of guy, if you get my drift. (I once wrote a blog post explaining why this boy is one of my favourite LMM heroes. You can find it here.)

I read a suggestion somewhere that Montgomery might have based Emily and her three best friends on the four basic temperaments. Emily is Melancholic, Ilse is Choleric, Teddy is Phlegmatic and Perry is Sanguine. Even though each of them, like most of us, is really more of a mixture, I like this generalisation, although I'm not sure it was intentional on Montgomery's part. 

Montgomery's knack for writing elderly ladies shines in this book. Aunt Nancy Priest, her companion Caroline, and Perry's Aunt Tom are all other-worldly wrinklies beyond caring about making good impressions at their stage of life. Old ladies get plenty of awesome lines reflecting the wisdom of having seen the gamut of human nature in their time. 

But practically every character is well drawn. Miss Brownell gets my prize for nastiest teacher, Lofty John for meanest practical joke and Dean Priest for creepiest romantic intentions. One of the final impressions we're left with is this thirty-something guy who's biding his time, waiting for a twelve-year-old girl to grow up so he can woo her properly. Yep, Montgomery's setting him up to become one of Emily's serious suitors, and Dean's occasional passion charged comments suggest that he can hardly wait.    

But I started with Emily and will finish with her too. Believe me, we have no sunny-hearted, carroty haired Anne here. Emily is a little Gothic chick from her black hair and pallid skin right through to the bone! She has a prickly, cheeky streak a mile wide, and backchat flows so naturally to her tongue that half the time she doesn't even realise. Simply stating that Emily lacks Anne's essential sweetness is an understatement. Sure, Anne blows up at Mrs Lynde and Gilbert for outright insults, but can you imagine her delivering a line such as this one from Emily to Great Aunt Nancy? 'If I was Salome I'd ask for your head on a charger.' In all honesty, I can see why some people, (both inside the story and out), consider Emily a piece of work.

She even lives in a darker, grimmer version of Prince Edward Island than Anne's, to match her Gothic persona. Emily's world is peopled by control freaks like Mrs Kent, perpetual sulkers like Dr Burnley and cynical brooders like Dean Priest. It contains eerie guestrooms with spine-chilling portraits and terrifying four-poster beds. Gruesome things happen to innocent people, like Ilse's mother.

 But Emily's flash, devotion to writing, love of cats and openness to being wowed humanises her, and makes me keen to keep re-reading her adventures. Most of all, I admire her self-containment. When her blunt old former housekeeper, Ellen Green, warns her not to cause ripples because she's of no importance, Emily responds, 'I'm important to myself!' Yay, a girl like this will survive the dark, Halloween-y twists her life sometimes takes. 

Bring on Emily Climbs!

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 

Trixie Belden series 4 - 6

4) The Mysterious Visitor

Honey and Trixie are concerned about their classmate, Diana Lynch, who's grappling with an awkward problem. Di's parents have recently made a fortune, and her long-lost Uncle Monty has shown up on their doorstep from out of the blue. Now he's a permanent house guest, and an overbearing, controlling nuisance, which compounds the angst Di has been dealing with, coming to terms with her family's sudden wealth. Suspicious circumstances lead Trixie and the Bob Whites to wonder whether Uncle Monty is on the level. If he's not who he claims to be, what are his reasons for sweeping into the Lynch family? And how can they unmask him? 

* I sense Diana is more prone to melancholia and blues than Trixie and Honey. She's a non-academic, pretty girl, but she's no fool. Di recognises physical beauty for the transient asset it is. Some of her remarks and her general attitude indicates low self-worth and social anxiety. Sometimes she just feels bewildered, as the fringe-dweller who doesn't get the 'in' jokes yet. She craves acceptance and belonging, which she's beginning to get with the Bob Whites.

* Jim thinks that Diana has a phobia about being rich. I guess it takes one to know one, since Jim tends to be a bit sensitive about his own reversal of fortune, especially when he's nettled.

* Di is simply disillusioned by the pomp and pretentiousness of the new lifestyle that's been thrust upon her. She was never born to it like Honey, so all the showy bull dust is a source of grief and great loss to her. Especially now that all of her old school acquaintances (including Trixie until now) have shunned her because of the gaping difference. Although Trixie rebukes her for being depressed that she's rich, it's far more complex than simply getting over it. But Trixie doesn't really understand all the identity angst and bereavement involved. It's short-sighted of her to tell Diana how she should feel, however well intended. Trixie can be such a know-it-all at times.

* Trixie and Diana both have good reason to envy each other. Each of them has all sorts of things which the other wishes they had. It adds unspoken tension, even though they are genuinely good friends.  

* Regan is a legend! I wondered why the kids get so anxious he'll resign as Wheeler's groom, just because some opinionated stranger breezes in to give his opinion. But I think I get it. They suppose that Uncle Monty is a horse expert, and fear Regan will quit out of pessimism and insecurity if his methods are questioned. Naw, he's made of far cooler stuff than that. 

* Trixie is her over-confident, know-it-all self. Tom Delanoy warns her not to go exploring a seamy section of Sleepyside unless her brothers accompany her. So what does Trixie do? She heads straight to dodgy Hawthorne Street alone. What an eye roll. 

* As far as I see it, Trixie owes Mart big time. He saves her life! (He surely has issues of his own, feeling unconsciously lower in the Bob White hierarchy than Brian and Jim. That's probably one motivation behind his large vocabulary. It's attention seeking behaviour. And in the same vein, wearing his hair in a crew cut rather than letting it curl like Trixie's and Bobby's is all a grasp for individuality.) 

* Some of the recurring cop characters are introduced for the first time. We get Spider Webster, the popular guy, and Sergeant Molinson, who seems to be just a regular officer at this stage. Spider's crucial role in this story dates the series a bit. It was written back in the time when policemen still stood at intersections, directing traffic on foot. 

* Wow, Tom and Celia are jolly lucky to be given a free trailer! What an over-sized reward for a very small tip-off. Surely it should be more of a permanent loan than an outright gift. In my opinion, Tom should gradually pay off its new owners. (Can't identify who they are without being too big a plot spoiler.) 

* We are told the Lynches fire Harrison the butler toward the end of the book. I'm guessing that must change before long, because I clearly remember his presence in later books in this series. But seriously, do they really need a butler?

* There is perhaps a slight continuity glitch, but nothing major. The story has skipped to late October, yet there's still a feeling the Bob Whites have only just returned to school. The last book ends in late August, when they were discussing their imminent return. Now, this story clearly needs to be late October, to include the infamous Halloween party, but I think it might have worked better without the inclusion of the school assignment about how they spent their holidays. 

* Bring on more! You can surely see I'm loving all the implicit psychological subtleties motivating the Bob Whites. Who even needs to discuss the actual mysteries. 

5) The Mystery off Glen Road

Fierce gale winds destroy the roof of the Bob Whites' clubhouse in the week leading up to Thanksgiving. Only Brian has saved enough money to pay for necessary repairs, but everyone knows he'd intended to purchase a secondhand car from Mr Lytell - a once-in-a-lifetime sort of bargain. Trixie thinks hard to come up with a solution enabling them to fix their roof without Brian's sacrifice. It partly involves some gamekeeping work on Mr Wheeler's estate, since the current gamekeeper has quit in a huff. Trixie and Honey stumble across evidence that a sneaky poacher may be at work. What's more, he seems to be a weird, elusive character who rides a unicycle. How will they pin him down?

* The car that Brian plans to buy from Mr Lytell is a jalopy, a term I was unfamiliar with. It turns out it's simply what I know as an old bomb. 

* I don't really like the idea of Mr Wheeler setting up a huge game reserve where lots of lovely animals can be fed and feel at home just so he can blast through and shoot them when he feels like it. The whole set-up strikes me as very Watership Down, and this guy has more of a British Squire vibe the more I hear about him.

* Trixie's plan to win back Brian's car involves some hilarious, fake romantic play-acting on her part. Chapter 6 in particular is laugh-out-loud funny, and I actually did laugh out loud. 

* We are introduced to a new recurring character, Mr Maypenny, a senior gentleman who lives a semi-reclusive lifestyle on a small patch of land surrounded by the Wheelers' game reserve which his own family has actually owned for generations. 

* Honey's cousin, Ben Riker appears again. Although most people get browned off with his practical jokes, he's really not a bad guy, and seems to get saddled with way more than his fair share of looking after Bobby Belden, as far as I see it.   

* Oh oh, Trixie and Honey are already at it. That is they make occasional condescending remarks about Di Lynch, along the lines of, 'Oh, she's not good enough to come with us, so let's think of something else for her to do, to make her feel important.' (Not in those words of course, but that's the gist of it.) Sometimes their treatment of Di is no different from the way they'd fob off Bobby. And then, they assign her a few arduous jobs to take the pressure off themselves! (Entertain Ben and babysit Bobby.) If that's their tactful way of making Diana feel valued, it serves a double purpose. In effect, they're using her and telling each other they're doing her a favour.

* Mr Lytell has the hots for Miss Trask. I don't think that one's going to launch. 

* For quote of the book, I choose the moment when Brian discovers his sister's schemes on his behalf and says, 'Of course I'm mad, you lame-brained idiot. Mad with joy.' 

* It's a satisfying ending all round, but did this mystery itself manage to launch? Or did it fizzle out? I can't quite decide. Anyway, it doesn't matter, because I thoroughly enjoyed it.  

6) The Mystery in Arizona

It's almost Christmas time and Diana's REAL Uncle Monty makes good on his promise to host the Bob Whites on his Dude Ranch in Arizona. But they arrive to discover that the majority of his staff has just disappeared without notice. It was one family unit he hired as a whole, and now they've taken off. The Bob Whites offer to pick up the slack with cleaning, cooking and waiting on tables. The place isn't short of mysteries to solve. Is the resident cowboy a phony? Is there something suspicious about Rosita, the young Indian housemaid who has just acquired a job? And how about three very problematic guests who are reluctant to leave their rooms? Most of all, why the heck did the Orlando family shoot through like that? Trixie overhears suggestions that they were threatened.

* I had to google the term 'Dude Ranch.' Turns out it's a ranch that's oriented toward paying guests, and therefore part of the tourism industry. What a great place to visit. 

* The tension of the subplot can be cut with a knife. Trixie is struggling with a couple of school subjects, and Brian and Jim have volunteered to spend time tutoring her so she won't have to miss the trip to Arizona. Friction escalates, because Trixie thinks they're too demanding and they're convinced she's slacking off. This really garners reader sympathy for Trixie, who sheds some frustrated tears over the boys. Her insecure schoolgirl persona is refreshing. 

* Aha, put your money where your mouth is, Honey! She insists that she won't go riding in the Arizona desert herself if her best friend Trixie has to miss out and swot. But when the moment really comes... it's a whole different story. 

* There is now some cohesive inner structure within the Bob Whites. Jim and Trixie are co-presidents, Honey is vice president and Mart is secretary and treasurer. But what's Brian's role? (And Diana's, for that matter?) 

* I first read this book as a young teenager in the mid 1980s. Since then, my corner of the world must have grown far more international. Back then, I had no idea what tortillas, guacamole and pinatas were, and this story probably enlightened me. Now I wonder how I could possibly have been ignorant! They're now quite common sights on menus and at parties. 

* Avocadoes are called 'alligator pears' for obvious reasons. I like it a lot! 

* At this stage, Di is certain she wants to become an air stewardess like Babs, who they befriend on their flight west. (And Trixie suggests that she's not smart enough! Di cops a lot of straight talk from Trixie.) 

* I like all three challenging guests; rich, bossy Mrs Sherman, lonely, sullen Miss Jane Brown and wistful, sad Mr Wellington. Jane Brown discovers that reality may not live up to rosy expectations, but decides that you have to work at having fun, along with everything else. Fun doesn't necessarily just fall in your lap. Who says you can't learn good life lessons from books such as the Trixie Belden series? 

* We learn lots of other interesting trivia too, such as the many uses of a cowboy's bandanna.

* Jim always laughs and pretends to be meek when he's actually fuming. The others have grown to recognise danger signs that he's getting hot under the collar. He always cools down quickly, but Jim can be an angry young man. His moods are very entertaining.

* Are we getting an early sign when it comes to choosing square dance partners, of how these kids may pair themselves off in the future? 'Jim grabbed Trixie's hand, Brian crooked his arm at Honey, and Mart bowed low in front of Di.' 

* As for my quote of the book, I love it when Mart challenges the girls to come up with the correct answer to the 'Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,' tongue twister, and Di responds that Peter Piper couldn't have done it anyway, because, 'peppers don't grow pickled, they're pickled after they're picked.' Brilliant, yet this girl considers herself to be dumb. 

* The festive season is described beautifully, Julie Campbell, the initial creator, wraps up her input in the series. She's set up strong characters, taken them through six months, from June to late December, and now she's passing the baton on. From now on, the pseudonym 'Kathryn Kenny' will comprise several ghost authors willing to have a shot at writing a Trixie Belden mystery or two. Bravo, Julie Campbell! I noticed no continuity issues as a kid, but that was a long time ago, and I'll soon find out how smooth the transition really is. 

Catch my thoughts from last month on books 1 to 3. 

And please join me soon for books 7 to 9 in the series.