Kathy Martin's Blog - Posts Tagged "anne-of-green-gables"
Christmas highs and lows in literature
I always enjoy reading about Christmas in novels. I suppose this isn’t surprising, given that I am and always have been a massive cheerleader for the season of goodwill. A part of my enthusiasm for this time of year stems from the fact that my birthday falls four days after Christmas. However, it is mostly due to my wonderful Austrian mother who instilled in me an abiding appreciation for the magic of Christmas. She mixed the central European customs of her childhood with familiar British traditions to create fabulous Christmases that still shine in my memory. After her premature death on 21st December, 1974, the festive season became a difficult time for my father, sisters and me until we learned to embrace those special memories instead of running from them. Now, once again, I am able to enjoy pretty much everything about the run up to Christmas, although I still dash out of shops to avoid hearing ‘Lonely This Christmas’, the song that was No. 1 in the UK pop charts the year Mother died.
But that’s the thing about Christmas – for some it will be a time of jollity and plenty while for others it will be bleak and full of heartache. Both ends of the spectrum are represented in the descriptions of Christmas that feature in some of my favourite books. In 'Demelza', the second in Winston Graham’s Poldark saga, the eponymous heroine’s selfless act of kindness at Christmas results in a terrible personal tragedy. Kindness also leads the March family to donate their much-anticipated Christmas breakfast to the impoverished Hummels in Louisa M. Alcott’s 'Little Women'; their generous act earns them the approval of their rich neighbour who rewards them with a sumptuous supper of ice-cream, cake, fruit and French bonbons. It is a happy time but even so, those familiar with the book know that the seeds of future sadness have been sown in the girls’ interaction with the Hummels.
At the joyful end of the spectrum, there can be fewer more ecstatic reactions in literature to the receiving of a Christmas gift than that of Anne Shirley in L.M. Montgomery’s 'Anne of Green Gables'. When Matthew Cuthbert presents her with a new dress, the unexpectedness of the gift, the fashionable cut of the dress and, above all, the glory of its puffed sleeves overwhelm Anne to such a degree that she is temporarily rendered silent, a rare occurrence with the garrulous child. Rapture also awaits the three Fossil sisters, the central characters in Noel Streatfield’s 'Ballet Shoes', the Christmas after they start learning to dance. Pauline, Petrova and Posy receive several presents, the most exciting being wrist-watches with straps of different colours for each of them, but the highlight of their day occurs when a group of caped and hooded carol singers arrive carrying lanterns. Standing beneath the girls’ window, they sing a selection of carols so beautifully that the Fossils give them fifteen shillings for a children’s hospital. Before the arrival of the carol singers the girls had been feeling flat because Christmas was nearly over but the beauty of the singing raises their spirits. It is a simple, understated yet lovely scene.
Finally, in Maeve Binchy’s 'Light A Penny Candle', one of my all-time favourite novels, Christmas in 1940s provincial Ireland is portrayed as a time of bewildered happiness for a lonely English child experiencing the warmth and generosity of her surrogate family; and of tears and violent drama for a transgressing daughter of that same family. If you haven’t read 'Light A Penny Candle', give yourself the gift of it this Christmas. It was Maeve Binchy’s first novel and much as I loved some of her subsequent books I don’t think she ever surpassed this one.
But that’s the thing about Christmas – for some it will be a time of jollity and plenty while for others it will be bleak and full of heartache. Both ends of the spectrum are represented in the descriptions of Christmas that feature in some of my favourite books. In 'Demelza', the second in Winston Graham’s Poldark saga, the eponymous heroine’s selfless act of kindness at Christmas results in a terrible personal tragedy. Kindness also leads the March family to donate their much-anticipated Christmas breakfast to the impoverished Hummels in Louisa M. Alcott’s 'Little Women'; their generous act earns them the approval of their rich neighbour who rewards them with a sumptuous supper of ice-cream, cake, fruit and French bonbons. It is a happy time but even so, those familiar with the book know that the seeds of future sadness have been sown in the girls’ interaction with the Hummels.
At the joyful end of the spectrum, there can be fewer more ecstatic reactions in literature to the receiving of a Christmas gift than that of Anne Shirley in L.M. Montgomery’s 'Anne of Green Gables'. When Matthew Cuthbert presents her with a new dress, the unexpectedness of the gift, the fashionable cut of the dress and, above all, the glory of its puffed sleeves overwhelm Anne to such a degree that she is temporarily rendered silent, a rare occurrence with the garrulous child. Rapture also awaits the three Fossil sisters, the central characters in Noel Streatfield’s 'Ballet Shoes', the Christmas after they start learning to dance. Pauline, Petrova and Posy receive several presents, the most exciting being wrist-watches with straps of different colours for each of them, but the highlight of their day occurs when a group of caped and hooded carol singers arrive carrying lanterns. Standing beneath the girls’ window, they sing a selection of carols so beautifully that the Fossils give them fifteen shillings for a children’s hospital. Before the arrival of the carol singers the girls had been feeling flat because Christmas was nearly over but the beauty of the singing raises their spirits. It is a simple, understated yet lovely scene.
Finally, in Maeve Binchy’s 'Light A Penny Candle', one of my all-time favourite novels, Christmas in 1940s provincial Ireland is portrayed as a time of bewildered happiness for a lonely English child experiencing the warmth and generosity of her surrogate family; and of tears and violent drama for a transgressing daughter of that same family. If you haven’t read 'Light A Penny Candle', give yourself the gift of it this Christmas. It was Maeve Binchy’s first novel and much as I loved some of her subsequent books I don’t think she ever surpassed this one.
