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Where The Lost Aprils Are
At 27, Miriam Gould leads a life a good many people would envy. She is a successful editor of books for young people at a New York publishing house. She has her own apartment with a wood-burning fireplace. She has the delightful Mike Andric eager to marry her.
Not so enviable is the overwhelming sense of loss and loneliness she carries with her. Every year as April comes closer, she is subject increasingly to exhausting valleys of depression.
She was brought up in Connecticut by her mother, who told her matter-of-factly when she was 12 that she had never married Miriam's father and that he had been killed in the war. With this brief recital, her mother considers the subject closed. Miriam only knows that the two grew up together in a small town in Maine. Throughout her adolescence she fixes on one hero after another and dreams that her father must have looked like them. When Miriam is 21 her mother dies in a bus accident. Much later, the young woman musters the courage to go through her mother's few personal possessions. They include her photograph albums, which Miriam had pored over as a child. They also include a few pieces of jewelry. When Miriam goes through them, she finds that the jewel box's moire bottom is a false one. Under it are three long letters, the last written to her mother shortly before her death. All are signed "Fern". A photograph in one of the albums shows a child named Fern in a clown suit.
The letters are postmarked "Parmenter, Maine". An opportunity comes for Miriam to spend an extended period of time editing a manuscript away from her office. A fragment of poetry underlined in one of her mother's books... "Where the lost Aprils are, and the lost Mays..." haunts Miriam, and she heads for Parmenter to do her editorial work and to find her mother's lost Aprils.
At Parmenter, in exorcising her own ghosts, she finds a good deal more, including arson and mayhem, in the suspenseful Ogilvie tradition.
Not so enviable is the overwhelming sense of loss and loneliness she carries with her. Every year as April comes closer, she is subject increasingly to exhausting valleys of depression.
She was brought up in Connecticut by her mother, who told her matter-of-factly when she was 12 that she had never married Miriam's father and that he had been killed in the war. With this brief recital, her mother considers the subject closed. Miriam only knows that the two grew up together in a small town in Maine. Throughout her adolescence she fixes on one hero after another and dreams that her father must have looked like them. When Miriam is 21 her mother dies in a bus accident. Much later, the young woman musters the courage to go through her mother's few personal possessions. They include her photograph albums, which Miriam had pored over as a child. They also include a few pieces of jewelry. When Miriam goes through them, she finds that the jewel box's moire bottom is a false one. Under it are three long letters, the last written to her mother shortly before her death. All are signed "Fern". A photograph in one of the albums shows a child named Fern in a clown suit.
The letters are postmarked "Parmenter, Maine". An opportunity comes for Miriam to spend an extended period of time editing a manuscript away from her office. A fragment of poetry underlined in one of her mother's books... "Where the lost Aprils are, and the lost Mays..." haunts Miriam, and she heads for Parmenter to do her editorial work and to find her mother's lost Aprils.
At Parmenter, in exorcising her own ghosts, she finds a good deal more, including arson and mayhem, in the suspenseful Ogilvie tradition.
- GenresRomance
264 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1975
About the author
Elisabeth Ogilvie
75 books53 followersElisabeth Ogilvie’s striking evocation of the atmosphere of the Maine seacoast that is the background of The Seasons Hereafter is no accident, for she lived in just such an area for many years, and her love for its people and their way of life has influenced all her novels.
Her activities on Gay’s Island, where she spent most of the year, included writing, gardening, and “trying not to suspect that a bear is at the door, a moose lurking in among the alders, or a horned owl hovering overhead about to bear away the cat.”
She contributed a considerable amount of writing of magazine fiction and children’s books, and is the author of several novels, including There May Be Heaven, The Witch Door, Rowan Head, The Dawning of the Day, Storm Tide, and one book of nonfiction, My World Is an Island.
Her activities on Gay’s Island, where she spent most of the year, included writing, gardening, and “trying not to suspect that a bear is at the door, a moose lurking in among the alders, or a horned owl hovering overhead about to bear away the cat.”
She contributed a considerable amount of writing of magazine fiction and children’s books, and is the author of several novels, including There May Be Heaven, The Witch Door, Rowan Head, The Dawning of the Day, Storm Tide, and one book of nonfiction, My World Is an Island.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 25, 2015
3.5 stars
Note when initially shelving: Lois reads this in "Whine, Whine, Whine" (Lois & Clark episode 2.21). Looks interesting.
As of 2014: I actually read this months ago, but never got around to rating and reviewing. It was quite good -- good enough that I would be interested in reading other books by this author. Somewhat dated, but mostly a intriguing and suspenseful read. (If somewhat forgettable. I don't remember what the big secret was!)
Note when initially shelving: Lois reads this in "Whine, Whine, Whine" (Lois & Clark episode 2.21). Looks interesting.
As of 2014: I actually read this months ago, but never got around to rating and reviewing. It was quite good -- good enough that I would be interested in reading other books by this author. Somewhat dated, but mostly a intriguing and suspenseful read. (If somewhat forgettable. I don't remember what the big secret was!)
July 22, 2016
I first read this book as a young teenager in an old issue of Good Housekeeping, where it had appeared in condensed form. To say I was taken with it would be an understatement. Not only did it inspire my first attempt at fan fiction, but I also tore the full-page picture of the main couple out of the magazine, framed it, and hung it on my wall of my room.
That picture remained there long after I left home, and as my own life turned out less novel-perfect than I'd dreamed, on each visit home I was seized with the notion that if I could just identify the book that picture came from and reread it, perhaps I could recapture some of that romantic idealism I had as a 13-year-old. After years of thinking this, I finally took the picture out of the frame and brought it home with me on the plane, where I got enough clues from the writing on the back of the page to identify it as this novel and find it at a library near me.
I was as taken with the story as I had been the first time. The main character, Miriam, is someone I can really identify with, managing to be entirely practical while still keeping her eyes open for possibilities of adventure and romance. In seeking to solve the mystery of her parents' early lives, she travels to Maine and sensibly goes about investigating things, while managing to fall in love with a great guy at the same time. I would tell you whether I liked the ending of the book, but I didn't actually finish it. Believe it or not, during the time I had this book out from the library, I met the man who would eventually become my husband, and he swept me off my feet to such an extent that I returned the book to the library without finishing it! So perhaps the feeling I always got from that picture was correct after all.
That picture remained there long after I left home, and as my own life turned out less novel-perfect than I'd dreamed, on each visit home I was seized with the notion that if I could just identify the book that picture came from and reread it, perhaps I could recapture some of that romantic idealism I had as a 13-year-old. After years of thinking this, I finally took the picture out of the frame and brought it home with me on the plane, where I got enough clues from the writing on the back of the page to identify it as this novel and find it at a library near me.
I was as taken with the story as I had been the first time. The main character, Miriam, is someone I can really identify with, managing to be entirely practical while still keeping her eyes open for possibilities of adventure and romance. In seeking to solve the mystery of her parents' early lives, she travels to Maine and sensibly goes about investigating things, while managing to fall in love with a great guy at the same time. I would tell you whether I liked the ending of the book, but I didn't actually finish it. Believe it or not, during the time I had this book out from the library, I met the man who would eventually become my husband, and he swept me off my feet to such an extent that I returned the book to the library without finishing it! So perhaps the feeling I always got from that picture was correct after all.
August 20, 2022
Miriam Gold, successful book editor with author Mike Andric eager to marry her, is a victim of nightmares that haunt her. When she was 12 her mother told her that she had never married Mariam‘s father and that he had gone off the war and been killed. She never spoke of it again. When her mother dies she has very little to learn of her own history, but it in an old jewelry box she finds a false bottom and beneath it three letters sent from Parmenter, Maine. Mike tries to help her and finally demands that if she can’t tell him about her nightmares, that she at least write it all down.
In this writing we find Miriam escaping to Maine after her Mother’s death to edit new author Mike Andric’s massive novel, and to see if she can discover her mother’s background, and who her father might have been. There she rents a small cottage in Parmenter for the month of April, seeking to find her mother’s lost Aprils and lost Mays, and in doing so discovers who she really is, meets Young Rory Barstow, the musically gifted son of Kitty Barstow who has managed the family farms and increase their property and values all for her son. Mrs. Barstow dreams of his magical wedding with the town’ namesake, Eunice Parmenter and horrifically will do anything to make that happen.
In this writing we find Miriam escaping to Maine after her Mother’s death to edit new author Mike Andric’s massive novel, and to see if she can discover her mother’s background, and who her father might have been. There she rents a small cottage in Parmenter for the month of April, seeking to find her mother’s lost Aprils and lost Mays, and in doing so discovers who she really is, meets Young Rory Barstow, the musically gifted son of Kitty Barstow who has managed the family farms and increase their property and values all for her son. Mrs. Barstow dreams of his magical wedding with the town’ namesake, Eunice Parmenter and horrifically will do anything to make that happen.
April 9, 2024
I wasn't sure what to expect with this lesser known novel but it was a great read. I was invested in discovering who Miriams family was and I was rooting for her and Rory, despite the fact that you know from the first pages that they don't make it. Unfortunately I guessed why that would be early on, so it was a little predictable. But nonetheless Ogilivie seems to be great at writing a setting. I love authors who make the place come as alive as a character and I feel like she does that with Parmenter. I also love the supporting characters, even poor Eunice who will never have the man she loves, but I really thought it was great that Dora, the pining widow who doesn't hold much value to anyone, is the one to unlock so much of the puzzle. I love when insignificant characters prove their worth. Read this book if you enjoy novels with settings that come alive, and love stories that end tragically.
March 29, 2023
I really loved this until the end.
Elisabeth Ogilvie’s writing is amazing as usual, but the ending put a bad taste in my mouth. I would say it’s worth reading regardless but just not my favorite of hers.
Elisabeth Ogilvie’s writing is amazing as usual, but the ending put a bad taste in my mouth. I would say it’s worth reading regardless but just not my favorite of hers.
December 2, 2017
I read this as a young adult and again past middle age. I loved and wept at it both times. Truly, one of the best love stories written. I hope they never make it into a movie!
February 26, 2018
Sigh...I guess my tastes have changed since I read this 40 years ago
October 9, 2025
Some books and authors draw you in. You become invested in the book and the characters. Even after having finished the book, you still are angry at the lies and the manipulations. You still hate some of the characters and their actions and you are still crying for their victims.
This is one of those books for me.
This is one of those books for me.
December 27, 2016
A really beautifully written novel. The farther into it I got the more caught up in the characters and the landscape I became, including the uniquely quaint words and phrases of rural Maine. The scope of the underlying love story expanded as well, and it was wonderful how the hidden mystery wasn't completely revealed until the end.
October 6, 2013
I read this as an impressionable high schooler missing a summer romance with "the perfect boy" on a Maine beach. Cried my eyes out, such delicious tragedy. It still moves me, as do all Ogilvie books.
July 25, 2009
The only nonisland book of hers I have read and I loved it!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews