Women's Classic Literature Enthusiasts discussion

We will discuss chapters 8-12 in this thread. Be careful to use spoilers if you are making comments that might ruin the story for others.

Cean's meditation in Chapter 8 on her quiet house with the clock ticking I found very beautiful and sad--"like a heart in the midst of a body". For me, the passage of time in this book is blurred and unclear-- Cean is aging so quickly, with the mysterious illness in her second pregnancy. The story swirls around with the characters' memories, making a timeline for events difficult. Major event follows major event in this section so quickly!

How did Cean get the shoulder injury from the painter? I was confused by that part. By the way, a painter is a puma: http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedi...

More info on pumas: http://www.livescience.com/27267-puma...

What do you think about Lias and his behavior? Why would Margot want to care for Lias' illegitimate child? I think Jasper is in love with Margot, so I'm eager to see what happens between those two.

I keep spiders and spider webs in my house because they catch many of the flies and mosquitoes that intrude into my territory. Most people are appalled. Cean considered the spider webs as good luck. That is one of the many superstitions surrounding spiders. http://www.spiderzrule.com/superstiti...

If I find a spider web, I leave it alone for the same reason.

With regard to Lias: I think he is a rotter. His brothers are nice young men, yet Lias--awful as he is, is his father's favorite.

The only thing good that seems to be thought about Lias, and that by his biased father, is that he is smart.

I don't know what it is that makes a parent regard the worst of their children as special when the others are more worthy. I guess it's hard to admit one's own child is no good when it is obvious.

I don't think Margot had much choice but to care for little Fairby. There is no way she could have even gone back to the coast unless one of her in laws were willing to take her there on their annual journey. And they might have felt they were coming between a husband and wife to do so. Her FIL certainly wouldn't have taken her back or been any help to her or allowed his younger to do so. it's interesting that Alonzo let her stay at his house when he seems to have the type of low-key personality to not make waves and avoid controversy. I still don't think he would have taken her to the coast though. That might have been too much of getting between a husband and wife and might offend his FIL and MIL.


At the outset, I had a bad feeling about Margot, but she turned out to be a good DIL and SIL and kind enough not to be unkind to poor Fairby.

If anyone wants to be reminded of how little recourse or justice a wife could have in the eyes of her community/society, the church, and the law for anything her husband did--even beatings, read Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.