Frances’s Comments (group member since Mar 07, 2012)

Frances’s comments from the The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 group.

Welcome to week 2 of our Christmas stories, and this one is quite a contrast to our first week. Here we have a typical Trollope in many ways: Set in the comfortable upper-middle class milieu, mostly happy families, no children, no real villain, but perhaps some overly coddled or fussy adult(s), and often an amusing misunderstanding at the heart of the matter.

1. Did you have a particular character with whom you identified or particularly sympathized?

2. How soon did you realize that these strangers were going to end up spending Christmas together?

3. Anyone still use a mustard plaster? Was the concern that it would burn the skin when left on too long?

4. There is much made of the "English Christmas" with all the food, the church going, the family gathering, the snow, the big house in the country. Dickens has shown us that something similar would occur on a much smaller scale among those of more limited means, and many have in fact credited Dickens himself with "popularizing" the more secular aspects we associate with Christmas. At the time in which this is set, the 1870s, were celebrations in other parts of Europe more muted, as Mrs Brown suggests?

Please share your thoughts on this week's tale.

Ginny wrote: "Frances wrote: "The Phantom Coach is set in Northern England at the beginning of December, and our protagonist finds himself lost on the moors after a day of hunting. Convinced he will perish in th..."

I also wondered if the mansion and the old man were ghosts/ghostly as well. As for sending him out to catch the mail coach, it could also be that, having cut himself off from all outside society, he wasn't aware that the mail coach no longer ran at this time.

I'm somewhat surprised that although both are listed as "Christmas Ghost Stories" (at least in my anthology) neither explicitly references Christmas, other than perhaps Johnson mentioning that he is going away for the holidays.

The Kit Bag is set in London, following the resolution of a murder case, and the junior of the defence counsel is preparing to take a holiday in the alps and to get away from the foul London weather.

1. How does Blackwood build the suspense here?

2. Did you expect the significance of the Kit Bag (the title notwithstanding)?

3. What were you expecting the murderer to want from Johnson?

4. What was your overall impression of this story?

The Phantom Coach is set in Northern England at the beginning of December, and our protagonist finds himself lost on the moors after a day of hunting. Convinced he will perish in the cold and snow, he thankfully catches sight of a working man walking ahead of him, and follows him back to his home, where the master of the house grudgingly admits him and offers him a meal, and then they share an extraordinary conversation. While it is assumed he will spend the night, on mentioning how worried his wife will be when he fails to turn up, his host mentions that he could catch the overnight mail coach about 5 miles away, and his man takes him part way and directs him to the spot.

1. How Does Edwards build the suspense of her tale?

2. What did you think of the host/isolated manor house?

3. Do you think the host intended to send him out to a ghost coach?

4. Why was there a space for him in the coach? The tale of the accident mentioned 6 people found dead.

5. What was your overall impression of this story?

Amelia B Edwards, 1831-1892, was an English novelist, journalist, and Egyptologist. She was also well known for her travel writing. The Phantom Coach, published in 1864, is one of her best-known works, along with several novels and writings about her travels, most notably trekking in the Dolomites and touring Egypt. Edwards never married, and formed emotional attachments almost exclusively with women, including Lucy Renshaw, her travel companion to the Dolomites and to Egypt, and her later life partner of 30 years, Ellen Drew Brasher. She died of influenza at the age of 61 and is buried in Bristol, having lived in nearby Westbury-on-Trym for the last 28 years of her life. (from Wikipedia).

Algernon Blackwood CBE (1869-1951) was an English broadcast journalist, novelist and short story writer, and was a very prolific ghost story writer. Born just outside London and educated at Wellington College,Blackwood had a varied career including stints as a dairy farmer in Canada, a newspaper reporter in New York City, a bartender, a model, a private secretary and a violin teacher. He moved back to England in his late 30s and started to write short stories of the supernatural which he later began to read on radio and television. He also wrote novels, children's stories and plays. He was interested in both mysticism/the supernatural and was also a keen outdoorsman, enjoying skiing and mountain climbing. He never married, and was described as a loner. He died in 1951 at the age of 82, and he was cremated and had his ashes scattered in his beloved Swiss Alps.

I realize that both the Dickens reads are from The Pickwick Papers, chapters 28 and 29, although I have the Goblin story in a collection of short stories as well.

Grahame's The Wind in the Willows extract is from the second half of chapter 5, Dulce Domum .

Once again, we are planning a short story read on a Christmas theme for the month of December. There are both short stories and a couple of excerpts from longer works, and I’ve tried to have a combination of well- and lesser-known authors.

Nov. 30-Dec 6th: The Phantom Coach by Amelia B. Edwards and The Kit-Bag by Algernon Blackwood

Dec. 7-13: Christmas at Thompson Hall by Anthony Trollope

Dec 14-20: The Pickwickians Celebrate (an excerpt from The Pickwick Papers) and The Story of the Goblins who Stole a Sexton by Charles Dickens

Dec 21-27: The Shop of Ghosts by G K Chesterton and Mole End (an excerpt from The Wind in the Willows) by Kenneth Grahame

I believe these are all obtainable through Project Gutenberg and are in the public domain-please let me know if there are difficulties obtaining any.

The short stories are designed as a read one or all month, so come join the discussion for any that you read, and the threads will all remain open into the New Year for those who can finally relax and read after the holiday rush is over.

I think that Elizabeth was clearly her father's favourite, even over Jane, likely for her wit and good humour, and I think that shows in her personality. Girls who grow up secure in the love of their father are often strong and "saucy" because they've been given the liberty and even encouragement to be so at home. So Elizabeth both feels able to choose for love and is strong enough to tease and flirt gently with the men that she meets.

Ginny wrote: "Much better than is usual for fan fiction, I believe."

I'll have to look for that one. I really enjoyed Longbourn which tells the P&P story from the servants' perspective.

I always thought that Mary would have been Mr collins” best option for wife. Charlotte made a very practical decision given her age and apparent lack of other suitors, I never had the sense she did it to become mistress of Longbourn particularly.

Gem wrote: "Sorry I wasn't around this week. My computer had a critical error on Sunday and wouldn't boot. We ordered a new one, and it was supposed to be delivered Tuesday; it was delivered yesterday."

Welcome back Gem! Amazing how much we are now dependent on our computers-can't imagine what I'd do without mine for a few days.

One interesting observation I've heard previously is that the reason Darcy is so aloof in our first meeting of him is that he is jealous of his friend Bingley who, although less rich and lacking his own estate, has snagged the prettiest girl at the ball, and he has been left with what he views as decidedly 2nd best. This doesn't make him seem any better of a man, but perhaps somewhat more human in his failings.

I was also surprised by how much liberty the younger girls had, and agree that this is a failing on their parents part-while we can blame the father I do think that this role would in general have been left to the mother to instruct her girls in proper behaviour/decorum, but she clearly lacks the ability to do this properly for the younger ones. What led to the older ones being so much better? Perhaps Mrs Beneett wasn't quite so tired and worn out at that stage and by daughters 4 & 5 was simply exhausted with the effort.

Trev wrote: "Despite the enticingly tactile and sumptuously leatherette bound copy of Pride and Prejudice sitting alluringly on one of my bookshelves, delicately embossed with golden ‘flounces’..."

My book dilemma exactly-while in theory I love reading the beautifully bound and illustrated books, there is something satisfying about being able to underline and comment in situ (although you must have a better e-reader than me if you can doodle too!).

Gem wrote: That was me with Agatha Christie. I think she is responsible for my love of reading.

I think Christie was my adolescent binge read as well!

Abigail wrote: "I'll certainly join in--and I may even reread it, though I basically know it by heart at this point. I envy those coming to the book for the first time! For me that happened at age 13, so I can't r..."

You make it sound like our generation's version of Harry Potter! I remember having to suggest to my daughter on her 5th go-round of HP that perhaps she'd like to try something else for a change-and I suggested P&P but I don't think it grabbed her the same way.

Welcome Janet from another Canadian! Also, Janet's my sister so happy to have her joining us!

Neer wrote: "I am a little confused regarding the nighttime burial. Was there already a coffin in the crypt?"

I tried to review that section but I’m not sure, although I would assume that a crypt would have other coffins in it as it would be a place to bury multiple members of a family or a community.

I thought Devereux was making love to Lilias, and that she seemed to return his affection, or at least was quite upset about his leaving town. So the visit from the two women was meant for her.

I also wondered if Gertrude's visitor was a ghost-it appeared to be someone that Lilias had never seen before, and Gertrude wanting only the shadows and absence of light, and referring to the person outside the window as The form of a man, Lily-you're right-not a man, but the form of a man, all point to there being something spectral about him.

I rather want to get back to the ghost story, I find that more compelling than the social scene, particularly between all the various men with their duels and debts and drinking.

Agreed, this feels like two different tales-the creepy haunted house one (and we haven't heard if either Mervyn or his servants have experienced anything spooky) and the regiment/local gentry/village folk social novel.

I agree the duel bits were quite funny-I was expecting an embarrassing accident for O'Flaherty-and I do hope this is the end of the duelling bits.

The women in this section are given quite detailed personalities, and I do like the glimpses into the various marriages and Rebecca and Gertrude's relationship, but we have yet to see much of Lilias.