Persephone Books discussion

Is anyone ready to discuss this one? I really enjoyed it! I thought Louise was a great character. Were there any characters or themes that jumped out at you?

Once again I have fallen behind. I will get back on it!

I loved this one too. I agree Louise was a great character. For me, the main theme was her relationships with her daughters and what happens when she tries to help them - is it help or interference? And the way they assume that they are helping her by having her to stay, when it's really the last thing she wants to do.

It was interesting that despite having three daughters, the people in her family that she seemed to get on best with were the granddaughter and the farming son-in-law. And obviously none of them understood why she got on so well with the writer chap (I've forgotten his name!)

The daughters did not seem to see her as a person at all, only as their mother. I thought that was very sad. Perhaps it improved a little towards the end.

Yes, I thought it was really interesting to read about the relationships with her daughters. The relationship between Mr Disher and Louise was really cute...for the most part, the sections when they were spending time with each other was a refreshing break from the time she spent with her children. I thought the title of the first book he gave her - The Girl in the Bloodstained Bikini - was really funny...I wonder what the title would have been if the novel took place in 2012?
For some reason, the scene that really struck me was between Eva and Louise, when Louise was trying to tell Eva that David wasn't going to leave his wife. Maybe because Louise has more to say in this scene than most of the other scenes she has with her children. She was trying to save her daughter from more heartbreak, but Eva didn't want her to see how upset she was (or that she knew Louise was right). That failure for Eva to be authentic with her mother puts her in the same category as her sisters--sometimes I felt like Eva identified with Louise, but this scene made it seem impossible that they would ever have a close relationship.

Gina wrote: "I wonder what the title would have been if the novel took place in 2012?"

'Fifty Shades of Grey' LOL

Yes I was disappointed with Eva in that scene, although I thought it was very realistic. I can remember being exactly like that and thinking I knew better than my mother when she was trying to help. And I would have been hugely embarrassed to have her know so much about my personal life.

I would have liked to see Mr Disher and Louise together a bit more.

It is interesting that David's wife came to confide and discuss the situation far more honestly than any of Louise's family ever would have. I understand what you are saying that it would be embarrassing to have your mother trying to talk to you about such a tough situation, but Louise had no choice.

Louise didn't seem like a pushy, opinionated person, so I really couldn't see why the daughters were always running from any contact with her. Perhaps it was the atmosphere of their growing up. Apparently, the father had created an atmosphere in which Louise was just a bit player. Maybe that would have made it difficult for the next generation of women, when they had never seen their mother take any kind of an outgoing role in life. In addition they seemed to have no real emotion or connection to her or to their own lives. Eva maybe was the exception -- she did seem to have an interest and a passion in her life.

This is such an overwhelming story. A case where the late husband left a woman poor, none of her family have a clue how to treat her, and additionally they blame her for what the late father did. That part was low -- I am sure they knew how controlling the man was, why blame the mother for that.

I actually think if Miriam's husband had not been so status-oriented, he might have turned out to be a better person. He was so nutty about the children and their riding competitions. Of course he did blow his chance to try to be a father to Ellen. A lot of odd parenting going on among them. What a flawed group of daughters and sons-in-law.

Good points, Sarah! Louise seemed like such a gentle person, it was hard to understand why her children didn't seem to be very fond of her. And most of the characters were very unpleasant...in general, I think I put more emphasis on the ending when I'm deciding whether I like it or not. In this story, there was a nice ending for Louise, so I felt like it was worth putting up with the other characters for the rest of the book!

Just finished reading 'The Winds of Heaven' and loved it !
Poor Louise ! Her daughters were quite awful to her : /
Sad but with lots of humour too.
I loved the scenes where Louise goes to stay with her friend in her hotel in the Isle of Wight.Sybil is such a funny character !
Some unlikeable characters too though, i wasn't keen on Arthur (Miriam's husband) and George ( Sybil's husband).
It seems all Louise's daughters was so wrapped up in their own lives to notice how poor Louise was feeling.
I'm really looking forward to reading more by Monica Dickens soon

I agree, George and Arthur are pretty awful. I wasn't too keen on Miriam either. She didn't want her Mum to go out and get a job and gain some independence, because this would reflect badly on Arthur, but she clearly didn't really want her staying with them. She completely lacked any understanding.

Tania wrote: "I agree, George and Arthur are pretty awful. I wasn't too keen on Miriam either. She didn't want her Mum to go out and get a job and gain some independence, because this would reflect badly on Arth..." I loved Ellen , she seemed the only one who truly understood how her Gran was feeling

I agree, Carissa. It was an easy read and yet had so much to say. I loved the ending, which handled wrong could have ended up being cheesy but it worked here.
Karen, Ellen was a great character. The two of them understood each other better than anyone.

I also agree with what Lisa was saying, that Louise had managed by herself to get her life back on track, and had earned her reward.

Sorry, didn't mean to put those comments in the wrong place..

Easily done.
I was glad that Louise finally managed to stand up to her daughters and live her life the way she wanted. It must have taken great strength for someone who had been subdued by others her whole life.

I agree! And good point about dangers of handling ending wrong, (paraphrase) "Thank you for being so kind." play it straight, not sarcastic or cheesy.

There's been 4 books that I reread immediately upon finishing the last page... This is one of them.

Hi Lisa, Tania and Carissa, so happy you enjoyed it and i agree that Monica Dickens handles the ending well.A great story with many layers i thought.
Hope you can join in next month reading 'Young Anne' by Dorothy Whipple

I will be reading more Monica Dickens after this one. I really loved the writing here. Glad it was chosen for a group read.