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Jane of Lantern Hill
For as long as she could remember, Jane Stuart and her mother lived with her grandmother in a dreary mansion in Toronto. Jane always believed her father was dead until she accidentally learned he was alive and well and living on Prince Edward Island. When Jane spends the summer at his cottage on Lantern Hill, doing all the wonderful things Grandmother deems unladylike, she dares to dream that there could be such a house back in Toronto... a house where she, Mother, and Father could live together without Grandmother directing their lives — a house that could be called home.
274 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1937
About the author
L.M. Montgomery
1,437 books12.2k followersLucy Maud Montgomery was a Canadian author, best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908.
Montgomery was born at Clifton, Prince Edward Island, Nov. 30, 1874. She came to live at Leaskdale, north of Uxbridge Ontario, after her wedding with Rev. Ewen Macdonald on July 11, 1911. She had three children and wrote close to a dozen books while she was living in the Leaskdale Manse before the family moved to Norval, Ontario in 1926. She died in Toronto April 24, 1942 and was buried at Cavendish, Prince Edward Island.
Montgomery was born at Clifton, Prince Edward Island, Nov. 30, 1874. She came to live at Leaskdale, north of Uxbridge Ontario, after her wedding with Rev. Ewen Macdonald on July 11, 1911. She had three children and wrote close to a dozen books while she was living in the Leaskdale Manse before the family moved to Norval, Ontario in 1926. She died in Toronto April 24, 1942 and was buried at Cavendish, Prince Edward Island.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,054 reviews
May 3, 2024
Grudzień 2021: Jana to najspokojniejsza bohaterka Montgomery (poza przeźroczystą Kilmeną) i to dzięki niej dostałam bardzo przyjemną i lekką powieść o nietuzinkowej rodzinie.
Jedna z moich ulubionych książek Maud!
Maj 2023: Wciąż uwielbiam.
Jedna z moich ulubionych książek Maud!
Maj 2023: Wciąż uwielbiam.
May 31, 2020
4 stars, more if you really like old-fashioned novels. This is a charming, vintage tale by L.M. Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables, and is very much in the same vein. Jane of Lantern Hill is obscure enough that I'd never even heard if it before a GR friend alerted me to it, even though I've read all of the Anne books and even the Emily of New Moon ones.
The main character in this 1937 novel is Jane Victoria Stuart, who ages from 11-13 over the course of the novel. Jane lives with her mother, aunt and grandmother in Toronto. They're a wealthy upper crust family, and Grandmother is a piece of work; you'll hate her before you're more than a few pages into the book. Jane's mother is a lovely socialite with a sweet disposition and no backbone whatsoever, especially when facing off against Grandmother's ire and iron will. Jane regularly gets criticized and browbeaten by Grandmother and sundry other relatives; it's not a very happy life for her, except that she adores her beautiful, weak-willed mother.
Jane has always believed that her mother is a widow, but one year, surprise! A letter from her father arrives, insisting that Jane visit him for the summer so they can get to know each other. Turns out that her parents have been separated since she was about a year old, but never divorced (there's a fair amount of discussion here about how it was next to impossible to get a divorce in Canada at this time; often people who wanted a divorce would go live in the U.S. for long enough that they'd qualify to get divorced under U.S. laws).
Jane is appalled at the idea of spending an entire summer with this unfamiliar father who is so hated by her grandmother and has made her mother so sad, but she has no choice. So an unhappy Jane is reluctantly shipped off to Prince Edward Island ... and if you know anything about P.E.I. in Anne of Green Gables, you know that Jane has a marvelous experience awaiting her.
It's not quite up to the level of the first few Green Gables books, but it was still a very heartwarming read. L.M. Montgomery can't be matched for loving, detailed descriptions of life on P.E.I. in bygone days. It's a little far-fetched at times, wish-fulfillment reading really, but the delightful moments will stick with me.
I found this novel free online here at Gutenberg Australia. G'day, mate! ETA: It's also in the public domain in Canada, and Faded Page has more easily downloadable copies.
The main character in this 1937 novel is Jane Victoria Stuart, who ages from 11-13 over the course of the novel. Jane lives with her mother, aunt and grandmother in Toronto. They're a wealthy upper crust family, and Grandmother is a piece of work; you'll hate her before you're more than a few pages into the book. Jane's mother is a lovely socialite with a sweet disposition and no backbone whatsoever, especially when facing off against Grandmother's ire and iron will. Jane regularly gets criticized and browbeaten by Grandmother and sundry other relatives; it's not a very happy life for her, except that she adores her beautiful, weak-willed mother.
Jane has always believed that her mother is a widow, but one year, surprise! A letter from her father arrives, insisting that Jane visit him for the summer so they can get to know each other. Turns out that her parents have been separated since she was about a year old, but never divorced (there's a fair amount of discussion here about how it was next to impossible to get a divorce in Canada at this time; often people who wanted a divorce would go live in the U.S. for long enough that they'd qualify to get divorced under U.S. laws).
Jane is appalled at the idea of spending an entire summer with this unfamiliar father who is so hated by her grandmother and has made her mother so sad, but she has no choice. So an unhappy Jane is reluctantly shipped off to Prince Edward Island ... and if you know anything about P.E.I. in Anne of Green Gables, you know that Jane has a marvelous experience awaiting her.
It's not quite up to the level of the first few Green Gables books, but it was still a very heartwarming read. L.M. Montgomery can't be matched for loving, detailed descriptions of life on P.E.I. in bygone days. It's a little far-fetched at times, wish-fulfillment reading really, but the delightful moments will stick with me.
I found this novel free online here at Gutenberg Australia. G'day, mate! ETA: It's also in the public domain in Canada, and Faded Page has more easily downloadable copies.
July 24, 2021
2021 reread:
I wasn't as satisfied this time around. I think the abrupt ending bothered me, and I wanted more, such as showing Robin finally standing up to Grandmother (unless Robin just left and never talked to her), Dad, Robin, and Jane happy together, etc. I get so caught up with Jane and her story that I want a longer ending.
I despise Aunt Irene even more this time, if that's possible. I could easily be annoyed with Robin for being a pushover, but I'm that way as well, so I sympathize with her.
Dad's speeches are my favorite parts. He is so humorous and imaginative.
****
I find Jane of Lantern Hill to be a little underrated. Most reviews I've read about it have said that Jane isn't very inspiring, especially compared with the famous Anne. Sure, Jane isn't as inspiring as Anne, but I think she's inspiring too, just in a different, less dramatic way.
Jane reminds me of the joys of the 'little things' in life-living in a house one loves, cooking, feeling useful and needed, enjoying the domestic tasks and scenes, finding something in nearly everyone to like etc (okay, maybe those are 'big' things...)
All of LMM's books do that for me, actually, but this one does it in a more practical, material way, if that makes sense. The Anne and Emily books make me see the magic and romance in everyday life, while Jane helps me celebrate everyday things themselves, including all the various little tasks I do. It leaves me feeling a quiet joy in everything I might ordinarily take for granted.
In addition, Jane finds out not to accept lies and malice; she learns to reach for a rich, beautiful life that no one can take away from her.
All in all, I'd call it a pretty inspiring book. It doesn't quite give me the soaring feeling that the Anne, Pat, and Emily books do; it makes me feel more 'down to earth' and practical in a poetical way- if that makes sense!
I wasn't as satisfied this time around. I think the abrupt ending bothered me, and I wanted more, such as showing Robin finally standing up to Grandmother (unless Robin just left and never talked to her), Dad, Robin, and Jane happy together, etc. I get so caught up with Jane and her story that I want a longer ending.
I despise Aunt Irene even more this time, if that's possible. I could easily be annoyed with Robin for being a pushover, but I'm that way as well, so I sympathize with her.
Dad's speeches are my favorite parts. He is so humorous and imaginative.
****
I find Jane of Lantern Hill to be a little underrated. Most reviews I've read about it have said that Jane isn't very inspiring, especially compared with the famous Anne. Sure, Jane isn't as inspiring as Anne, but I think she's inspiring too, just in a different, less dramatic way.
Jane reminds me of the joys of the 'little things' in life-living in a house one loves, cooking, feeling useful and needed, enjoying the domestic tasks and scenes, finding something in nearly everyone to like etc (okay, maybe those are 'big' things...)
All of LMM's books do that for me, actually, but this one does it in a more practical, material way, if that makes sense. The Anne and Emily books make me see the magic and romance in everyday life, while Jane helps me celebrate everyday things themselves, including all the various little tasks I do. It leaves me feeling a quiet joy in everything I might ordinarily take for granted.
In addition, Jane finds out not to accept lies and malice; she learns to reach for a rich, beautiful life that no one can take away from her.
All in all, I'd call it a pretty inspiring book. It doesn't quite give me the soaring feeling that the Anne, Pat, and Emily books do; it makes me feel more 'down to earth' and practical in a poetical way- if that makes sense!
April 18, 2018
SO delightful. Can I just drop everything and live on PEI now, please? I mean, I'll take my family. And as long as I'm making outrageous requests of the universe, I'm going to throw in a little time travel as well - PEI about a century ago. Thanks.
January 26, 2024
Indeed I have always had a very large and emotional soft spot for L.M. Montgomery's 1937 Jane of Lantern Hill (a stand-alone novel and actually one of the last books the author published). And while I know and even accept that for some readers, Jane's story does not seem to mesh all that well, that they find especially the grandmother too much of a stereotypical caricature of evil and abusive jealousy, and Jane's mother also penned as being too meek and mild (too much of an annoying pushover), it is precisely Jane's own and personal triumph over her yes in all ways evil grandmother that speaks and has always loudly and triumphantly spoken to me. And actually, I for one do NOT even consider Janes's grandmother as all that totally unrealistic, having unfortunately met and dealt with individuals who were (who are) that psychologically and emotionally abusive and neglectful, having met individuals who continuously were striving to train children for their "own good" but were basically and for all intents and purposes killing these children's spirits and souls with sarcasm, destroying their self esteem and sense of being with constant criticism, and believing that condemnation is supposedly oh so much more important and more necessary than any kind of praise.
So is L.M Montgomery’s depiction of Jane’s maternal grandmother and her general presentation in Jane of Lantern Hill a bit overly exaggerated? Probably and likely even definitely (although much of her manipulativeness is not or at least does not feel to me personally to be all that overly fantastical), but I actually do also have to wonder a bit if L.M. Montgomery might have based Jane’s Grandmother Kennedy at least somewhat on her own "nearest and dearest" (for I know, or rather, I have read, that the maternal grandparents who raised Montgomery were undemonstrative and strict, and like Jane's maternal grandmother, willing and able provide basic food and shelter, but no soul nourishment, no love and precious little acceptance). And no, I am also in NO way claiming that Jane's grandmother is supposed to be a portrait of absolute truth and autobiographical reality, but simply that perhaps snippets and strands of L. M. Montgomery's own remembrances of her rather emotionally starved childhood and upbringing might have made their way into Jane of Lantern Hill, into the grandmother's character (not only physical, but also and perhaps even more importantly, her mannerisms, actions and reactions, although if one does want to be completely realistic and truthful, L. M. Montgomery's grandfather actually seems to have been much more of an unloving tyrant than her grandmother, but both indeed and seemingly in no way were able to even remotely give to Maud, to grant to the granddaughter they were raising the love, attention and support desired and also very much required, very much needed).
Now I do love how L.M. Montgomery with Jane of Lantern Hill describes the dichotomy of stagnant and shabbily genteel downtown Toronto (and Gay Street especially) versus rural and much more lively and laid back Prince Edward Island. However, that is not to say that Toronto in its entirety is seen by Montgomery as altogether negative, as the new subdivision near the ravine (where Janes's mother visits a friend and Jane discovers her "special" house) is portrayed both lovingly and glowingly. And after Jane manages to reunite the family, the Stuarts will actually be living in Toronto during the winter (while the father works as chief editor for a newspaper) and then spend the summers (the glorious summers) back home in Prince Edward Island. But indeed the positive and optimistic ending of Jane of Lantern Hill, although it definitely does tie up the plot lines sufficiently and tidily, has always also left me with a bit of a queer sense of personal dread for the Stuarts' future happiness. Yes, I know that Jane's parents (that Robin and Andrew) are now back together, and that they (and Jane) will not be living anywhere near Gay Street and Robin's mother. However, considering how manipulative and conniving the grandmother has always been, and how easily Robin has (in the past) been able to be influenced by her harridan of a mother, I do wonder if the reach, no actually, more like if the grasping kraken like tentacles of the grandmother could reach even into the new domicile of the Stuarts and ensnare Jane and her parents once more, for while Jane's "special" house near the ravine (which is still for sale at the end of Jane of Lantern Hill and where the Stuarts would likely be living) is not all that physically close to Gay Street, it is still located in the Toronto area and thus in the same city (but that is of course just some idle speculation on my part, but in my opinion I believe still worthy of consideration, as I do think that there is even with the hopeful ending of Jane of Lantern Hill a bit of fear for and of the future lurking between and below the lines, well, at least there is every time I read Jane of Lantern Hill).
Well and finally, I must say that with my latest rereading of Jane of Lantern Hill, while I have of course and naturally once again enjoyed my time spent with Jane Stuart as much as always (and find L.M. Montgomery’s text both totally magical and warming for my innermost being), I do have one particular and niggling issue with one small part of Montgomery’s storyline. For yes, when Jane returns from her first summer with her father to Toronto and to her horrid grandmother’s domicile at 60 Gay and she is not allowed to receive letters from her father and to write to him, considering that Jane is actually still secretly writing to Andrew Stuart but just not sending these letters to him (as she will be giving him his letters next summer when Jane means to return to PEI) I for one do think that Jane should have simply mailed her letters to PEI on the sly and with that to also actively rebel against her grandmother (and yes also I guess against her mother).
So is L.M Montgomery’s depiction of Jane’s maternal grandmother and her general presentation in Jane of Lantern Hill a bit overly exaggerated? Probably and likely even definitely (although much of her manipulativeness is not or at least does not feel to me personally to be all that overly fantastical), but I actually do also have to wonder a bit if L.M. Montgomery might have based Jane’s Grandmother Kennedy at least somewhat on her own "nearest and dearest" (for I know, or rather, I have read, that the maternal grandparents who raised Montgomery were undemonstrative and strict, and like Jane's maternal grandmother, willing and able provide basic food and shelter, but no soul nourishment, no love and precious little acceptance). And no, I am also in NO way claiming that Jane's grandmother is supposed to be a portrait of absolute truth and autobiographical reality, but simply that perhaps snippets and strands of L. M. Montgomery's own remembrances of her rather emotionally starved childhood and upbringing might have made their way into Jane of Lantern Hill, into the grandmother's character (not only physical, but also and perhaps even more importantly, her mannerisms, actions and reactions, although if one does want to be completely realistic and truthful, L. M. Montgomery's grandfather actually seems to have been much more of an unloving tyrant than her grandmother, but both indeed and seemingly in no way were able to even remotely give to Maud, to grant to the granddaughter they were raising the love, attention and support desired and also very much required, very much needed).
Now I do love how L.M. Montgomery with Jane of Lantern Hill describes the dichotomy of stagnant and shabbily genteel downtown Toronto (and Gay Street especially) versus rural and much more lively and laid back Prince Edward Island. However, that is not to say that Toronto in its entirety is seen by Montgomery as altogether negative, as the new subdivision near the ravine (where Janes's mother visits a friend and Jane discovers her "special" house) is portrayed both lovingly and glowingly. And after Jane manages to reunite the family, the Stuarts will actually be living in Toronto during the winter (while the father works as chief editor for a newspaper) and then spend the summers (the glorious summers) back home in Prince Edward Island. But indeed the positive and optimistic ending of Jane of Lantern Hill, although it definitely does tie up the plot lines sufficiently and tidily, has always also left me with a bit of a queer sense of personal dread for the Stuarts' future happiness. Yes, I know that Jane's parents (that Robin and Andrew) are now back together, and that they (and Jane) will not be living anywhere near Gay Street and Robin's mother. However, considering how manipulative and conniving the grandmother has always been, and how easily Robin has (in the past) been able to be influenced by her harridan of a mother, I do wonder if the reach, no actually, more like if the grasping kraken like tentacles of the grandmother could reach even into the new domicile of the Stuarts and ensnare Jane and her parents once more, for while Jane's "special" house near the ravine (which is still for sale at the end of Jane of Lantern Hill and where the Stuarts would likely be living) is not all that physically close to Gay Street, it is still located in the Toronto area and thus in the same city (but that is of course just some idle speculation on my part, but in my opinion I believe still worthy of consideration, as I do think that there is even with the hopeful ending of Jane of Lantern Hill a bit of fear for and of the future lurking between and below the lines, well, at least there is every time I read Jane of Lantern Hill).
Well and finally, I must say that with my latest rereading of Jane of Lantern Hill, while I have of course and naturally once again enjoyed my time spent with Jane Stuart as much as always (and find L.M. Montgomery’s text both totally magical and warming for my innermost being), I do have one particular and niggling issue with one small part of Montgomery’s storyline. For yes, when Jane returns from her first summer with her father to Toronto and to her horrid grandmother’s domicile at 60 Gay and she is not allowed to receive letters from her father and to write to him, considering that Jane is actually still secretly writing to Andrew Stuart but just not sending these letters to him (as she will be giving him his letters next summer when Jane means to return to PEI) I for one do think that Jane should have simply mailed her letters to PEI on the sly and with that to also actively rebel against her grandmother (and yes also I guess against her mother).
December 1, 2009
This book is such a comfort read for me. I love Jane because she breaks away from the typical L.M. Montgomery mould of being the sensitive, dreamy, romantic type with a wonderful imagination. Instead she is sensible and capable, down-to-earth and a very good cook. She's great!
One of the things I like best about L.M. Montgomery, I've decided on re-reading this for the millionth time, is the awesome houses she gives her characters. They have such fun decorating them, putting up curtains and cool wallpaper and filling the cupboards with heirloom china and apostle spoons. There's the Disappointed house in the Emily series, Valancy's Blue Castle, Whispering Winds in A Tangled Web and Anne's House of Dreams. This one has TWO - Lantern Hill and also the house in Toronto which Jane discovers when her mother is visiting someone, which they decide in the end will be their winter home. I especially liked the description of its "dining room with a door that opened into a sun-room and the most delightful breakfast nook in pale yellow, with built-in china closets."
Actually I noticed quite a few similarities this time between this one and 'The Blue Castle' - the transformation both Jane and Valancy experienced after leaving the poisonous and loveless environments at home and going somewhere where they could be themselves.
Oh, and the descriptions of Jane's mother's outfits are great also! I can't imagine what they would look like in real life, but something about the way L.M. describes them makes them sound so fabulous. "A lovely crimson velvet wrap with a white fur collar", "a dress of pale yellow taffeta, with a great rose of deeper yellow velvet at one of her shoulders", "blue fox furs, with a little wine hat tilted on one side of her head", "the daintiest breakfast jacket of tea-rose crepe de chine edged with cobwebby beige lace".
But yeah. All in all, a great read. One of my favourite books of all time.
Also, I'm a tiny bit in love with Jane's Dad.
One of the things I like best about L.M. Montgomery, I've decided on re-reading this for the millionth time, is the awesome houses she gives her characters. They have such fun decorating them, putting up curtains and cool wallpaper and filling the cupboards with heirloom china and apostle spoons. There's the Disappointed house in the Emily series, Valancy's Blue Castle, Whispering Winds in A Tangled Web and Anne's House of Dreams. This one has TWO - Lantern Hill and also the house in Toronto which Jane discovers when her mother is visiting someone, which they decide in the end will be their winter home. I especially liked the description of its "dining room with a door that opened into a sun-room and the most delightful breakfast nook in pale yellow, with built-in china closets."
Actually I noticed quite a few similarities this time between this one and 'The Blue Castle' - the transformation both Jane and Valancy experienced after leaving the poisonous and loveless environments at home and going somewhere where they could be themselves.
Oh, and the descriptions of Jane's mother's outfits are great also! I can't imagine what they would look like in real life, but something about the way L.M. describes them makes them sound so fabulous. "A lovely crimson velvet wrap with a white fur collar", "a dress of pale yellow taffeta, with a great rose of deeper yellow velvet at one of her shoulders", "blue fox furs, with a little wine hat tilted on one side of her head", "the daintiest breakfast jacket of tea-rose crepe de chine edged with cobwebby beige lace".
But yeah. All in all, a great read. One of my favourite books of all time.
Also, I'm a tiny bit in love with Jane's Dad.
April 30, 2023
یک کلاسیک ساده، جذاب و خواندنی!
یک ��استانِ قشنگ و نسبتا آرامِ بدون هیجان!
یک دخترِ کلهشق و حاضر جواب و مهربان!
یک خانه و مادربزرگِ عصبی و دیکتاتور!
یک خانوادهی عجیب و جذاب!
و
یک داستانِ بیآلایش و راحت با چالشهای قشنگ در جزیره پرنس ادوارد و شارلوتتاون🤭❤
یک ��استانِ قشنگ و نسبتا آرامِ بدون هیجان!
یک دخترِ کلهشق و حاضر جواب و مهربان!
یک خانه و مادربزرگِ عصبی و دیکتاتور!
یک خانوادهی عجیب و جذاب!
و
یک داستانِ بیآلایش و راحت با چالشهای قشنگ در جزیره پرنس ادوارد و شارلوتتاون🤭❤
July 3, 2024
5+ stars (9/10 hearts). Oh, my heart. I had forgotten how much I loved this book. I read it as a tween and I loved it, but I didn’t appreciate it as much as I do now, as an adult. I love this book so incredibly much.
I love Jane. She’s so strong and capable and inspiring. And Mummy is just so sweet and pathetic! And Dad. Oh, I LOVE Dad!! He is just simply amazing and I love him! Yet I love how they all have their flaws and how Jane helps them understand each other because she sees them both clearly. And all the side characters of Lantern Hill—they’re so precious and sweet and old-timey. And Jodi is a doll. You can’t help liking Phyllis in the end… and Grandmother is a very satisfactory villain.
I loved Lantern Hill so much, and there was just soooo much beauty in this book! And oh, the quaintness and happiness! It’s such a summer-flavoured read. And the 1920s flavour is cool too. I loved all the humour and all the vivid characters. I loved the home-building. I loved the message. I read this book when I was having a really hectic life, and it was so helpful to me to hear that message—that there is always beauty. Always good things coming around the bend. Always hope. Always wonder. Always joy and love. But also the message of standing up for people and doing things yourself and making your life good. it’s also a poignant message about misunderstanding and love and humanity…
And the ending. Oh, how I love that ending! It is just simply perfect. <33
Content: people think (and some want) Jane’s parents divorced, but that doesn’t happen.
A Favourite Quote: “‘Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’ The most terrible and tremendous saying in the world, Jane…. Because we are all afraid of truth and afraid of freedom… that’s why we murdered Jesus.”
A Favourite Beautiful Quote: The road was full of lovely surprises… a glimpse of far-off hills that seemed made of opal dust… a whiff of wind that had been blowing over a clover field… brooks that appeared from nowhere and ran off into green shadowy woods where long branches of spicy fir hung over the laced water…
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “You don’t know… I hope you never will know… what it is like to look casually out of a kitchen window, where you are discussing the shamefully low price of eggs with Mrs. Davy Gardiner, and see you daughter… your only daughter… stepping high, wide, and handsome through the landscape with a lion….”
“He was only a tame old lion,” said Jane impatiently….
“Jane, my adored Jane, for the sake of your poor father’s nerves, don’t go leading any more lions about the country, tame or otherwise.”
“But it’s not a thing that’s likely to happen again, dad,” said Jane reasonably.
“No, that is so,” said dad…. “I perceive that it is not likely to become a habit. Only, Janelet, if you some day take a notion to acquire an ichthyosaurs for a family pet, give me a little warning, Jane. I’m not as young as I used to be.”
I love Jane. She’s so strong and capable and inspiring. And Mummy is just so sweet and pathetic! And Dad. Oh, I LOVE Dad!! He is just simply amazing and I love him! Yet I love how they all have their flaws and how Jane helps them understand each other because she sees them both clearly. And all the side characters of Lantern Hill—they’re so precious and sweet and old-timey. And Jodi is a doll. You can’t help liking Phyllis in the end… and Grandmother is a very satisfactory villain.
I loved Lantern Hill so much, and there was just soooo much beauty in this book! And oh, the quaintness and happiness! It’s such a summer-flavoured read. And the 1920s flavour is cool too. I loved all the humour and all the vivid characters. I loved the home-building. I loved the message. I read this book when I was having a really hectic life, and it was so helpful to me to hear that message—that there is always beauty. Always good things coming around the bend. Always hope. Always wonder. Always joy and love. But also the message of standing up for people and doing things yourself and making your life good. it’s also a poignant message about misunderstanding and love and humanity…
And the ending. Oh, how I love that ending! It is just simply perfect. <33
Content: people think (and some want) Jane’s parents divorced, but that doesn’t happen.
A Favourite Quote: “‘Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’ The most terrible and tremendous saying in the world, Jane…. Because we are all afraid of truth and afraid of freedom… that’s why we murdered Jesus.”
A Favourite Beautiful Quote: The road was full of lovely surprises… a glimpse of far-off hills that seemed made of opal dust… a whiff of wind that had been blowing over a clover field… brooks that appeared from nowhere and ran off into green shadowy woods where long branches of spicy fir hung over the laced water…
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “You don’t know… I hope you never will know… what it is like to look casually out of a kitchen window, where you are discussing the shamefully low price of eggs with Mrs. Davy Gardiner, and see you daughter… your only daughter… stepping high, wide, and handsome through the landscape with a lion….”
“He was only a tame old lion,” said Jane impatiently….
“Jane, my adored Jane, for the sake of your poor father’s nerves, don’t go leading any more lions about the country, tame or otherwise.”
“But it’s not a thing that’s likely to happen again, dad,” said Jane reasonably.
“No, that is so,” said dad…. “I perceive that it is not likely to become a habit. Only, Janelet, if you some day take a notion to acquire an ichthyosaurs for a family pet, give me a little warning, Jane. I’m not as young as I used to be.”
March 20, 2023
This has been a lovely little story. I am sure I would have given it 5 stars, had I had the chance to read it as a child.
As an adult, I had on bone to pick with it, which cost it -1 star, but still loved it overall.
Great characterisation & lovely scenery.
Hope I'll have the time to write a proper review later.
As an adult, I had on bone to pick with it, which cost it -1 star, but still loved it overall.
Great characterisation & lovely scenery.
Hope I'll have the time to write a proper review later.
April 18, 2024
On the lines of stories like Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden, Elizabeth Von Arnim’s The Enchanted April, and Lucy Maud Montgomery’s own, The Blue Castle, where a change of scene and importantly nature bring about a life changing transformation in the characters’ until then dreary and oftentimes even miserable lives, is Jane of Lantern Hill (1937). While written for a younger audience, as are most of the Canadian writer’s books, this one deals with among other things a broken marriage and in Jane gives us an eleven-year-old in some ways wise beyond her years.
Jane of Lantern Hill opens in Toronto, on 60 Gay Street, where Jane ‘Victoria’ Stuart lives with her beautiful loving mother and stern, cold grandmother leading a not very happy life. Her grandmother and aunt Gertrude leave no opportunity of putting her down, always calling her out for her ‘low’ tastes; she is well looked after of course has everything but can never do anything she likes, isn’t ‘allowed’ to run in the house or laugh or have a cat which she very much yearns for. Her mother loves her but lacks the strength to stand up to her own mother. Jane’s one friend is Jody an orphan who lives a couple of houses away, herself in miserable circumstances (even worse than Jane for she has to earn her keep) and the moon which is the place of Jane’s dreams.
After a few strange (or at least out of the ordinary) occurrences almost seeming to foreshadow what’s coming, a letter arrives from Jane’s father, Andrew Stuart asking for her to be ‘sent’ to him for the summer to Prince Edward Island where he lives. Her grandmother and mother are reluctant but compelled to agree and Jane is anticipating an even more miserable three months with a man she can’t help but hate. Her arrival on PEI is far from ideal but things change when she finally meets her father for the first time, for he turns out to not be a stranger at all (there’s a fun surprise here which would be a spoiler to reveal). Now her visit takes an almost 180 degree turn from what she was anticipating as with her dad, she not only finds a ‘home’ where she belongs as much as the home belongs to them—a little cottage on Lantern Hill which they buy (Andrew was so far in lodgings) for it has just the ‘magic’ they are looking for—but also a place where she can have/do all that she likes—a garden of her own with the flowers she wants, cooking and keeping house which have always appealed to her, pets (cats for her and a dog, Happy for her dad), and countless, yes countless friends—from their neighbours, the Jimmy Johns and the Snowbeams to Min a gypsy girl to many others, who love and are loved by her. Not only that, with her dad, lessons that didn’t ever interest her, suddenly begin to appeal. Here she can be Jane, not ‘Victoria’ as all at her grandmother’s call her but which she doesn’t feel like at all.
Now when she returns to Toronto, her grandmother finds a very different ‘Victoria’, one she can no longer hurt. Jane too, is no longer worried, but she does want to find out why her parents separated, and whether there is the slightest chance of bringing them back together. Does she manage to do so? Do they have a ‘happily ever after’?
Jane of Lantern Hill is essentially a ‘feel good’ story and it is both delightful and uplifting seeing Jane not only ‘free’ of the stifling, forbidding and cold atmosphere of 60 Gay Street but finding a place where she can finally be herself. She has always wanted to cook and she can do so in Lantern Hill; she can have the cats she’s always longed for, and shine in ways she didn’t know possible. Even more than Jane’s happiness in PEI where she knows she will return the next summer is the change in her when she returns (not too willingly) to Toronto—one can’t but be thrilled when her grandmother finds she can’t get to her anymore or indeed see her try all sorts of tricks to win Jane over knowing she will fail.
Prince Edward Island and its beauty are staples in L. M. Montgomery’s books and it is much the same here as she inspires in the reader the same love for the place that she herself has. Consider this for instance, when Jane wakes up on her first morning in PEI waiting for her father to collect her from her Aunt Irene’s home:
Jane did not know she was looking out on the loveliest thing on earth . . . a June morning in Prince Edward Island . . . but she knew it all seemed like a different world from last night. A wave of fragrance broke in her face from the lilac hedge between Aunt Irene's house and the next one. The poplars in a corner of the lawn were shaking in green laughter. An apple-tree stretched out friendly arms. There was a far-away view of daisy-sprinkled fields across the harbour where white gulls were soaring and swooping. The air was moist and sweet after the rain. Aunt Irene's house was on the fringe of the town and a country road ran behind it . . . a road almost blood-red in its glistening wetness. Jane had never imagined a road coloured like that.
Montgomery’s skill is much the same when it comes to describing houses—her vivid descriptions not only make them ‘real’ (as they must have been) but she gets the reader to also ‘feel’ the same magic as they must have held for her. The cottage at Lantern Hill (or more specifically Aunt Matilda Jollie’s cottage) Jane finds
… squatted right against a little steep hill whose toes were lost in bracken. It was small . . . you could have put half a dozen of it inside 60 Gay. It had a garden, with a stone dike at the lower end of it to keep it from sliding down the hill, a paling and a gate, with two tall white birches leaning over it, and a flat-stone walk up to the only door, which had eight small panes of glass in its upper half. The door was locked but they could see in at the windows. There was a good-sized room on one side of the door, stairs going up right in front of it, and two small rooms on the other side whose windows looked right into the side of the hill where ferns grew as high as your waist, and there were stones lying about covered with velvet green moss.
There was a bandy-legged old cook-stove in the kitchen, a table and some chairs. And a dear little glass-paned cupboard in the corner fastened with a wooden button.
On one side of the house was a clover field and on the other a maple grove, sprinkled with firs and spruces, and separated from the house lot by an old, lichen-covered board fence. There was an apple-tree in the corner of the yard, with pink petals falling softly, and a clump of old spruces outside the garden gate.
Wouldn’t you want to live in it? I certainly do!
For all the pleasantness in the story, there is also the issue of Jane’s parents’ broken marriage. Initially Jane has only snippets of information from different sources (her cousin among them) most of which seem to hold her to be the cause of the falling out. But talking to people on the island and then her parents themselves separately, she finds the fault lay in both of them. And here Jane proves herself very mature, able to recognize the flaws in both her parents without necessarily faulting them for it (this also comes through also in how she begins to face her grandmother and separately Aunt Irene, her confidence in herself and inner strength meaning that she need do nothing to get the message across). She wishes them to reconcile of course and there is the typical ‘threat’ in the form of a possible love interest for her father—but the solution, through a touch abrupt, doesn’t come instantly or miraculously. Her parents haven’t really ‘changed’ as such but one knows that Jane’s sense and understanding will bring what was missing in the equation.
Current-day readers might find Jane’s enjoyment of housekeeping and cooking (and likewise her father’s inability to do the latter) stereotypical but I think (aside from the time the book was written), they tend to get too demonized to times—enjoying cooking or looking after one’s home is perfectly fine (as is also not liking doing these).
This review has already got a little too long but it won’t do to not mention the cast of singular and fun characters we meet on PEI—each nicely drawn out even though they don’t get much space on the pages. There are an assortment of animals too—cats and dogs and cows mostly but also a lion—yes you read that right!
A very lovely revisit which I enjoyed each moment of.
Jane of Lantern Hill opens in Toronto, on 60 Gay Street, where Jane ‘Victoria’ Stuart lives with her beautiful loving mother and stern, cold grandmother leading a not very happy life. Her grandmother and aunt Gertrude leave no opportunity of putting her down, always calling her out for her ‘low’ tastes; she is well looked after of course has everything but can never do anything she likes, isn’t ‘allowed’ to run in the house or laugh or have a cat which she very much yearns for. Her mother loves her but lacks the strength to stand up to her own mother. Jane’s one friend is Jody an orphan who lives a couple of houses away, herself in miserable circumstances (even worse than Jane for she has to earn her keep) and the moon which is the place of Jane’s dreams.
After a few strange (or at least out of the ordinary) occurrences almost seeming to foreshadow what’s coming, a letter arrives from Jane’s father, Andrew Stuart asking for her to be ‘sent’ to him for the summer to Prince Edward Island where he lives. Her grandmother and mother are reluctant but compelled to agree and Jane is anticipating an even more miserable three months with a man she can’t help but hate. Her arrival on PEI is far from ideal but things change when she finally meets her father for the first time, for he turns out to not be a stranger at all (there’s a fun surprise here which would be a spoiler to reveal). Now her visit takes an almost 180 degree turn from what she was anticipating as with her dad, she not only finds a ‘home’ where she belongs as much as the home belongs to them—a little cottage on Lantern Hill which they buy (Andrew was so far in lodgings) for it has just the ‘magic’ they are looking for—but also a place where she can have/do all that she likes—a garden of her own with the flowers she wants, cooking and keeping house which have always appealed to her, pets (cats for her and a dog, Happy for her dad), and countless, yes countless friends—from their neighbours, the Jimmy Johns and the Snowbeams to Min a gypsy girl to many others, who love and are loved by her. Not only that, with her dad, lessons that didn’t ever interest her, suddenly begin to appeal. Here she can be Jane, not ‘Victoria’ as all at her grandmother’s call her but which she doesn’t feel like at all.
Now when she returns to Toronto, her grandmother finds a very different ‘Victoria’, one she can no longer hurt. Jane too, is no longer worried, but she does want to find out why her parents separated, and whether there is the slightest chance of bringing them back together. Does she manage to do so? Do they have a ‘happily ever after’?
Jane of Lantern Hill is essentially a ‘feel good’ story and it is both delightful and uplifting seeing Jane not only ‘free’ of the stifling, forbidding and cold atmosphere of 60 Gay Street but finding a place where she can finally be herself. She has always wanted to cook and she can do so in Lantern Hill; she can have the cats she’s always longed for, and shine in ways she didn’t know possible. Even more than Jane’s happiness in PEI where she knows she will return the next summer is the change in her when she returns (not too willingly) to Toronto—one can’t but be thrilled when her grandmother finds she can’t get to her anymore or indeed see her try all sorts of tricks to win Jane over knowing she will fail.
Prince Edward Island and its beauty are staples in L. M. Montgomery’s books and it is much the same here as she inspires in the reader the same love for the place that she herself has. Consider this for instance, when Jane wakes up on her first morning in PEI waiting for her father to collect her from her Aunt Irene’s home:
Jane did not know she was looking out on the loveliest thing on earth . . . a June morning in Prince Edward Island . . . but she knew it all seemed like a different world from last night. A wave of fragrance broke in her face from the lilac hedge between Aunt Irene's house and the next one. The poplars in a corner of the lawn were shaking in green laughter. An apple-tree stretched out friendly arms. There was a far-away view of daisy-sprinkled fields across the harbour where white gulls were soaring and swooping. The air was moist and sweet after the rain. Aunt Irene's house was on the fringe of the town and a country road ran behind it . . . a road almost blood-red in its glistening wetness. Jane had never imagined a road coloured like that.
Montgomery’s skill is much the same when it comes to describing houses—her vivid descriptions not only make them ‘real’ (as they must have been) but she gets the reader to also ‘feel’ the same magic as they must have held for her. The cottage at Lantern Hill (or more specifically Aunt Matilda Jollie’s cottage) Jane finds
… squatted right against a little steep hill whose toes were lost in bracken. It was small . . . you could have put half a dozen of it inside 60 Gay. It had a garden, with a stone dike at the lower end of it to keep it from sliding down the hill, a paling and a gate, with two tall white birches leaning over it, and a flat-stone walk up to the only door, which had eight small panes of glass in its upper half. The door was locked but they could see in at the windows. There was a good-sized room on one side of the door, stairs going up right in front of it, and two small rooms on the other side whose windows looked right into the side of the hill where ferns grew as high as your waist, and there were stones lying about covered with velvet green moss.
There was a bandy-legged old cook-stove in the kitchen, a table and some chairs. And a dear little glass-paned cupboard in the corner fastened with a wooden button.
On one side of the house was a clover field and on the other a maple grove, sprinkled with firs and spruces, and separated from the house lot by an old, lichen-covered board fence. There was an apple-tree in the corner of the yard, with pink petals falling softly, and a clump of old spruces outside the garden gate.
Wouldn’t you want to live in it? I certainly do!
For all the pleasantness in the story, there is also the issue of Jane’s parents’ broken marriage. Initially Jane has only snippets of information from different sources (her cousin among them) most of which seem to hold her to be the cause of the falling out. But talking to people on the island and then her parents themselves separately, she finds the fault lay in both of them. And here Jane proves herself very mature, able to recognize the flaws in both her parents without necessarily faulting them for it (this also comes through also in how she begins to face her grandmother and separately Aunt Irene, her confidence in herself and inner strength meaning that she need do nothing to get the message across). She wishes them to reconcile of course and there is the typical ‘threat’ in the form of a possible love interest for her father—but the solution, through a touch abrupt, doesn’t come instantly or miraculously. Her parents haven’t really ‘changed’ as such but one knows that Jane’s sense and understanding will bring what was missing in the equation.
Current-day readers might find Jane’s enjoyment of housekeeping and cooking (and likewise her father’s inability to do the latter) stereotypical but I think (aside from the time the book was written), they tend to get too demonized to times—enjoying cooking or looking after one’s home is perfectly fine (as is also not liking doing these).
This review has already got a little too long but it won’t do to not mention the cast of singular and fun characters we meet on PEI—each nicely drawn out even though they don’t get much space on the pages. There are an assortment of animals too—cats and dogs and cows mostly but also a lion—yes you read that right!
A very lovely revisit which I enjoyed each moment of.
December 1, 2015
I finished this book yesterday, Nov. 30, appropriate because it was the birthday of it's author, Lucy Maud Montgomery, born on that day 141 years ago. I have read most of her novels and a good many of her short stories, and what stands out to me was the consistent high quality of her writing, her stories and her characters. There is a similarity in all of them, a pattern, but she knew what she was doing and it worked to perfection. Her library of writing, her legacy, is still being enjoyed by readers today, and I dare say 500 years from now people will still be reading about Anne Shirley of Prince Edward Island, Canada.
But tthis book is about another character, Jane Victoria Stuart, and her comfortable but unhappy life in Toronto, living with her mother and her domineering grandmother. Jane doesn't know her father exists, but when he suddenly writes and insists that Jane be sent to spend the summer with him in Prince Edward Island, her life changes dramatically, and the stage is set for the magical story of Jane of Lantern Hill.
But tthis book is about another character, Jane Victoria Stuart, and her comfortable but unhappy life in Toronto, living with her mother and her domineering grandmother. Jane doesn't know her father exists, but when he suddenly writes and insists that Jane be sent to spend the summer with him in Prince Edward Island, her life changes dramatically, and the stage is set for the magical story of Jane of Lantern Hill.
March 15, 2024
مگه میشه ال ام مونتگمری کتاب بد بنويسه!
یه کتاب ساده ی حال خوب کن 🥰
یه کتاب ساده ی حال خوب کن 🥰
November 6, 2017
3.5 stars
What a darling little novel this is.
Jane lives with her mother and grandmother at 60 Gay Street in an old mansion. Her grandmother rules the house with a strict hand and is keeping Jane and her mother from experiencing any joy in daily life. Always trying to please everyone, being obedient and good natured, Jane works really hard at trying to fit in as a proper girl in grandmas society. However, it never seems to be enough and she keeps getting ridiculed by her.
What Jane does not know, is that her father is actually alive and well on Prince Edward Island. One day he sends a letter that Jane is to spend the summer with him on the island. This seems to be the most terrible idea to Jane, as she will miss her mother so much.
After the long and exhausting travel, she finally arrives and is immediately captivated by her father. Very naturally they fall into this endearing father daughter relationship and the island living suits Jane very much.
As you read this book through Janes’ eyes, you can’t help but picture yourself looking up to this gentle, wise father that loves her for who she is. And since she is such a sweet and pleasing girl, she takes on the role as the care taker for dad in the house. All the cooking, gardening and cleaning at her own will and desire, give her such a boost in her self-confidence that this summer actually becomes the best of her life.
Together, they have lovely adventures, read poetry and quote bible verses. Her father opens up about his relationship with her mother and you can’t help but feel such a tender spot for him and Jane.
L.M. Montgomery is the same (Canadian) author of the Anne of Green Gables series and her writing does not disappoint. It is really very lovely and I wish I had a little girl to share this with.
This is a standalone novel I believe, and she has written a few others like this and other series.
It is definitely and endearing read for the young and old alike.
I was happy to buddy read this with the lovely Kate from The Novel Nomad channel, who creates amazing bookish videos. :)
What a darling little novel this is.
Jane lives with her mother and grandmother at 60 Gay Street in an old mansion. Her grandmother rules the house with a strict hand and is keeping Jane and her mother from experiencing any joy in daily life. Always trying to please everyone, being obedient and good natured, Jane works really hard at trying to fit in as a proper girl in grandmas society. However, it never seems to be enough and she keeps getting ridiculed by her.
What Jane does not know, is that her father is actually alive and well on Prince Edward Island. One day he sends a letter that Jane is to spend the summer with him on the island. This seems to be the most terrible idea to Jane, as she will miss her mother so much.
After the long and exhausting travel, she finally arrives and is immediately captivated by her father. Very naturally they fall into this endearing father daughter relationship and the island living suits Jane very much.
As you read this book through Janes’ eyes, you can’t help but picture yourself looking up to this gentle, wise father that loves her for who she is. And since she is such a sweet and pleasing girl, she takes on the role as the care taker for dad in the house. All the cooking, gardening and cleaning at her own will and desire, give her such a boost in her self-confidence that this summer actually becomes the best of her life.
Together, they have lovely adventures, read poetry and quote bible verses. Her father opens up about his relationship with her mother and you can’t help but feel such a tender spot for him and Jane.
L.M. Montgomery is the same (Canadian) author of the Anne of Green Gables series and her writing does not disappoint. It is really very lovely and I wish I had a little girl to share this with.
This is a standalone novel I believe, and she has written a few others like this and other series.
It is definitely and endearing read for the young and old alike.
I was happy to buddy read this with the lovely Kate from The Novel Nomad channel, who creates amazing bookish videos. :)
June 19, 2020
LM Montgomery is among my favourite authors and this book has all the things I love about her books. One could call it a sort of Secret Garden or even an Enchanted April (but for children, of course). Eleven-year-old Jane Victoria Stuart lives with her mother and grandmother in a grey, dreary part of Toronto, unloved for the most part (her grandmother in particular hates her for being her father’s daughter), except by her mother (who pretty though she is cannot really stand up for herself or her daughter), unwanted, and extremely unhappy—her only solace being her one friend Jody and the moon. She also rather hates her father based partly on rumour, and one fine spring on getting a letter demanding that she be sent to spend the summer with him on Prince Edward Island, she is understandably reluctant and unwilling to go. But PEI plays the part of the secret garden for her working magic, as she finds it in its summer glory—flowers blooming, the perfect house, two cats and a dog, new friends (lots of them), a father who loves her and who she loves, as well as a place where she is actually wanted—she finally has a home. She finds herself, enjoys things, learns things (including history and geography) she never liked before, grows stronger, more confident and able to face her worst critics, and her happiness knows no bounds. But for her happiness to be complete, her parents have to get back together, and for this to happen her mother will also have to stand up for herself.
This was a truly delightful read as it was the first time around, and I’m sure it will be when I come back to it again (and again).
This was a truly delightful read as it was the first time around, and I’m sure it will be when I come back to it again (and again).
December 8, 2014
LOVE. Not sure how I managed to wait so long to read this one.
March 19, 2012
Jane Victoria Stuart lives at 60 Gay St., Toronto, with her mother, Aunt Gertrude, and Grandmother. Mother is very beautiful and well-dressed and goes out almost every night, but life at 60 Gay is dreary and oppressive - not least because Grandmother is the kind of matriarch who rules with an iron fist. And she is constantly finding fault with Jane.
She is nine years old when she learns that her father is still alive - she'd always assumed he was dead. She isn't taught to hate Father, exactly, but between the girl at school and cousin Phyllis telling her that it was the birth of Jane that broke up her parents' marriage, that her father never wanted her, and her Grandmother being equally poisonous about him, when a letter from him arrives unexpectedly a year later, requesting Jane spend the summer with him on Prince Edward Island, Jane refuses to go. Only, Uncle William says Jane must or her father could take her away forever, and so Grandmother decides: Jane must go.
But, not only is PEI everything that Gay Street is not, her father turns out to be a man Jane instantly clicks with and loves. He gets her as no one else ever has, and the two form a close bond. Together they go house-hunting with a fairly exact list of specifications: A little green and white house on a hill with some trees around it - young white birches, preferably - by the gulf, with a window looking seaward. And "lashings of magic" (p.71). After visiting several promising homes they finally find Lantern Hill, a very small house that meets pretty much all their requirements.
Jane, who has never been allowed to do anything at 60 Gay, happily takes on all the housekeeping, learning to cook, making tea for visitors, growing plants and veggies. She makes friends with all the children in the area and learns to drive the neighbour's tractor into the barn, shingle a roof, and make ambitious meals. Her father, a writer, brings to life the Bible and history and gradually her own confidence rises, so that when she has to return to Toronto and St Agatha's school for girls, she's more assertive and gets good marks at subjects she never liked before.
But as young Jane tries to juggle her love for both her parents, neither of whom will speak to each other or about one another, she becomes sure that they still love each other and it was meddling Grandmother and Aunt Irene, her father's sister, that poisoned the marriage - not Jane. But perhaps only Jane can stop them from continuing their mistake, and bring them back together again.
Of all the LM Montgomery books I read from the age of 10, this one was my first favourite. I liked Jane more than Emily (Anne came later for me, around 15 or so), I loved the self-contained novel that this is, I loved the stark contrast between her Toronto world and her life on Prince Edward Island - I called it a dichotomy at first, but Jane's nature isn't split; rather, arriving on PEI and meeting her dad, finding Lantern Hill and living the way she'd always yearned to live, is a true home-coming for Jane. It's her loyalties, to her mother and father, that are torn. And watching over everything like a great big spider is Grandmother, pulling everyone's strings.
When I first read this, growing up on a farm in Tasmania, it was very like being in PEI and Jane's love for the island really made me see my own island state with fresh eyes. I had never seen Toronto or knew anything about it except that it was in Canada somewhere, but the Toronto of the 1930s - in particular dark, gloomy, watchful 60 Gay (a fictional street) - figured hugely in my imagination. The massive old house itself was a larger-than-life character, one inseparable from Grandmother. It's rather like the mansion was Grandmother's "familiar". Watching Jane blossom once she was away from it, and seeing it slowly smother her mother, it takes the form of some kind of manifestation of all Grandmother is: controlling, oppressive, vindictive, manipulative, the opposite of everything that Jane experiences in PEI.
If Jane's life at 60 Gay reminds you somewhat of Valency and her relatives at family gatherings in The Blue Castle, you're not alone: there are similarities, especially with Jane's perfect and pretty cousin, Phyllis, who is so condescending, like Valency's cousin Olive. But the comparison is a small one and doesn't detract from the novel's strengths. I think the oppressive extended family, family misunderstandings and parents who feel resentful is something of a Montgomery trademark - I'm thinking not only of Jane and Valancy, but of Emily too.
I wondered, when I started re-reading this, if it would have the same effect on me as it did nearly 20 years ago (wow am I really that old?!), if the magic would still be there. It did, and it was. Such was Montgomery's ability to create these vivid landscapes and strong characters, and an emotional connection between story and reader, that the magic was very much still there.
She is nine years old when she learns that her father is still alive - she'd always assumed he was dead. She isn't taught to hate Father, exactly, but between the girl at school and cousin Phyllis telling her that it was the birth of Jane that broke up her parents' marriage, that her father never wanted her, and her Grandmother being equally poisonous about him, when a letter from him arrives unexpectedly a year later, requesting Jane spend the summer with him on Prince Edward Island, Jane refuses to go. Only, Uncle William says Jane must or her father could take her away forever, and so Grandmother decides: Jane must go.
But, not only is PEI everything that Gay Street is not, her father turns out to be a man Jane instantly clicks with and loves. He gets her as no one else ever has, and the two form a close bond. Together they go house-hunting with a fairly exact list of specifications: A little green and white house on a hill with some trees around it - young white birches, preferably - by the gulf, with a window looking seaward. And "lashings of magic" (p.71). After visiting several promising homes they finally find Lantern Hill, a very small house that meets pretty much all their requirements.
Jane, who has never been allowed to do anything at 60 Gay, happily takes on all the housekeeping, learning to cook, making tea for visitors, growing plants and veggies. She makes friends with all the children in the area and learns to drive the neighbour's tractor into the barn, shingle a roof, and make ambitious meals. Her father, a writer, brings to life the Bible and history and gradually her own confidence rises, so that when she has to return to Toronto and St Agatha's school for girls, she's more assertive and gets good marks at subjects she never liked before.
But as young Jane tries to juggle her love for both her parents, neither of whom will speak to each other or about one another, she becomes sure that they still love each other and it was meddling Grandmother and Aunt Irene, her father's sister, that poisoned the marriage - not Jane. But perhaps only Jane can stop them from continuing their mistake, and bring them back together again.
Of all the LM Montgomery books I read from the age of 10, this one was my first favourite. I liked Jane more than Emily (Anne came later for me, around 15 or so), I loved the self-contained novel that this is, I loved the stark contrast between her Toronto world and her life on Prince Edward Island - I called it a dichotomy at first, but Jane's nature isn't split; rather, arriving on PEI and meeting her dad, finding Lantern Hill and living the way she'd always yearned to live, is a true home-coming for Jane. It's her loyalties, to her mother and father, that are torn. And watching over everything like a great big spider is Grandmother, pulling everyone's strings.
When I first read this, growing up on a farm in Tasmania, it was very like being in PEI and Jane's love for the island really made me see my own island state with fresh eyes. I had never seen Toronto or knew anything about it except that it was in Canada somewhere, but the Toronto of the 1930s - in particular dark, gloomy, watchful 60 Gay (a fictional street) - figured hugely in my imagination. The massive old house itself was a larger-than-life character, one inseparable from Grandmother. It's rather like the mansion was Grandmother's "familiar". Watching Jane blossom once she was away from it, and seeing it slowly smother her mother, it takes the form of some kind of manifestation of all Grandmother is: controlling, oppressive, vindictive, manipulative, the opposite of everything that Jane experiences in PEI.
If Jane's life at 60 Gay reminds you somewhat of Valency and her relatives at family gatherings in The Blue Castle, you're not alone: there are similarities, especially with Jane's perfect and pretty cousin, Phyllis, who is so condescending, like Valency's cousin Olive. But the comparison is a small one and doesn't detract from the novel's strengths. I think the oppressive extended family, family misunderstandings and parents who feel resentful is something of a Montgomery trademark - I'm thinking not only of Jane and Valancy, but of Emily too.
I wondered, when I started re-reading this, if it would have the same effect on me as it did nearly 20 years ago (wow am I really that old?!), if the magic would still be there. It did, and it was. Such was Montgomery's ability to create these vivid landscapes and strong characters, and an emotional connection between story and reader, that the magic was very much still there.
May 30, 2019
3.75 to 4 stars
L.M. Montgomery can't be matched for loving, detailed descriptions of life on P.E.I. in bygone days. I'm not sure if it'll be the same as it was in the early to mid 19o0s, but she makes me want to book a flight to explore Canada ASAP. Ms. Montgomery definitely is a top author for heartwarming reads. It can be quite difficult for pieces of literature to age well as time goes on but I find that Jane of Lantern Hill has done a very nice job. (Can't believe it came out in 1937 and it's been 82 years since its release, or that my grandmother was around as a child to read this very book!)
Jane Victoria Stuart, who ages from 11-13 over the course of the novel, has lived with her mother, aunt and grandmother in Toronto all her life. They're a wealthy upper crust family, and Grandmother is someone you'll hate a few pages into the book because she treats Jane like dirt and ALWAYS has to have her way. Jane's mother is a lovely socialite with a sweet disposition and no backbone whatsoever, especially when facing off against Grandmother's ire and iron will, but she manages to disobey Grandmother sometimes for Jane. Jane regularly gets criticized and browbeaten by Grandmother and sundry other relatives; it's not a very happy life for her, except that she adores her beautiful mother. The thing is Jane and the reader are dumbfounded as to why Grandmother hates her but it's a fact of life that just must be accepted and lived with for her mother's sake.
Eventually Jane learns that her father, who she assumed died when she was young, is in fact alive and wants her to spend the summer with him. If Jane doesn't then he'll go to court for legal action. Everyone is shocked and unhappy about this news including Jane who hates anyone who makes Mother unhappy. However, the connection between father and daughter is strong and love enters swiftly. Jane grows into herself while on P.E.I. and is much happier than she has ever been in Toronto excluding all her times with mother. She looks forward to times with both her parents and starts to wonder what drove such wonderful people apart. Answers come slowly and Jane begins to wonder if it's possible that while everyone says her parents need to divorce if they really need to.
I'm not sure what it was about this book but I had a difficult time starting this read. It would take me a page or two to fully immerse myself into the story again. I have no reason why it took a while for me to get into this story but once I did I greatly enjoyed it and couldn't wait to continue reading. The ending was a good one but I would have liked an epilogue of everyone but I guess Ms. Montgomery wanted readers to create their own, and I'm okay with that as mine is a good one.
L.M. Montgomery can't be matched for loving, detailed descriptions of life on P.E.I. in bygone days. I'm not sure if it'll be the same as it was in the early to mid 19o0s, but she makes me want to book a flight to explore Canada ASAP. Ms. Montgomery definitely is a top author for heartwarming reads. It can be quite difficult for pieces of literature to age well as time goes on but I find that Jane of Lantern Hill has done a very nice job. (Can't believe it came out in 1937 and it's been 82 years since its release, or that my grandmother was around as a child to read this very book!)
Jane Victoria Stuart, who ages from 11-13 over the course of the novel, has lived with her mother, aunt and grandmother in Toronto all her life. They're a wealthy upper crust family, and Grandmother is someone you'll hate a few pages into the book because she treats Jane like dirt and ALWAYS has to have her way. Jane's mother is a lovely socialite with a sweet disposition and no backbone whatsoever, especially when facing off against Grandmother's ire and iron will, but she manages to disobey Grandmother sometimes for Jane. Jane regularly gets criticized and browbeaten by Grandmother and sundry other relatives; it's not a very happy life for her, except that she adores her beautiful mother. The thing is Jane and the reader are dumbfounded as to why Grandmother hates her but it's a fact of life that just must be accepted and lived with for her mother's sake.
Eventually Jane learns that her father, who she assumed died when she was young, is in fact alive and wants her to spend the summer with him. If Jane doesn't then he'll go to court for legal action. Everyone is shocked and unhappy about this news including Jane who hates anyone who makes Mother unhappy. However, the connection between father and daughter is strong and love enters swiftly. Jane grows into herself while on P.E.I. and is much happier than she has ever been in Toronto excluding all her times with mother. She looks forward to times with both her parents and starts to wonder what drove such wonderful people apart. Answers come slowly and Jane begins to wonder if it's possible that while everyone says her parents need to divorce if they really need to.
I'm not sure what it was about this book but I had a difficult time starting this read. It would take me a page or two to fully immerse myself into the story again. I have no reason why it took a while for me to get into this story but once I did I greatly enjoyed it and couldn't wait to continue reading. The ending was a good one but I would have liked an epilogue of everyone but I guess Ms. Montgomery wanted readers to create their own, and I'm okay with that as mine is a good one.
April 3, 2024
شد محبوبترین کتابم از مونتگمری✨
چقدر دوستداشتنی و بامزه بود و حس خوب داد بهم🥲❤️
جین و پدرش و فانوس تپه خیلی قشنگ بودن😭
جین رو از کارکترهای دیگه مونتگمری بیشتر دوست داشتم، شاید چون نسبت به اونها خیالپرداز و پر حرف نیست😅
بخشهایی که آشپزی میکردن شیرین بود.
کارکتر مادربزرگ جوری بود که هم دوست داشتی خفهاش کنی و هم گاهی حرفها و حرکاتش خندهدار بود😑😂
|تکه کتاب|
▪︎هروقت دلشوره داشتی به ستارهها نگاه کن جین آرامت میکنند... دل داریات میدهند. حالت را خوش میکنند.
▪︎دیوارها به محض اینکه از آنها عکس آویزان میکنی دوست آدم میشوند. دیوار برهنه چشم دیدن هیچ کسی را ندارد.
▪︎قبول داری وقتی شاعری در ستایش یک زن شعر میگوید، آن زن در تاریخ جاودان میشود؟ مثل بئاتریس لورا، لوکاستا یا مری کوهستانی، صدها سال از مرگشان میگذرد و با این حال هنوز اسمشان سر زبانها است چون شاعران بزرگی عاشق آنها بودهاند. از تروا خرابهای بیش به جا نمانده اما نام هلن هنوز زنده است.
▪︎از سپیدارها میسرایم تا در آن روز که میمیرم. نه در جست وجوی یاقوت و الماس باشم، که به عشق سپیدارهای در دست باد برخیزم. تو چی جین؟ دوست داری توی بهشت به چی برسی؟
جین گفت: به «فانوس تپه».
▪︎هیچ کدام از ماجراجوییها بیتماشای طلوع روز جدید ماجراجویی نمیشود، جین. خدا میداند هر روز با خودش چه میآورد. شاید یک پادشاهی سرنگون شود... شاید یک بچه به دنیا بیاید که یک روز درمان سرطان را کشف میکند، شاید کسی جایی یک شعر ناب بسراید...»
▪︎به این میگویند زندگی جین. آدم باید شومینه خودش را داشته باشد. پای آدم جلوی شومینه بقیه گرم میشود ولی قلبش یخ میبندد.
▪︎_فکر... فکر نمیکردم چیزهایی که من دوستشان دارم هم بمیرند.
_جين، عشق جلوی مرگ را نمیگیرد. درست است زندگیاش کوتاه بود ولی خوشبخت بود.
▪︎خودت هم شبیه به بنفشههایی جین. درست مثل آن یکی که حنایی است و چشمهای طلایی دارد. یاد آن موقع افتاد که دلش میخواست کسی هم او را به یک گل تشبیه کند.
چقدر دوستداشتنی و بامزه بود و حس خوب داد بهم🥲❤️
جین و پدرش و فانوس تپه خیلی قشنگ بودن😭
جین رو از کارکترهای دیگه مونتگمری بیشتر دوست داشتم، شاید چون نسبت به اونها خیالپرداز و پر حرف نیست😅
بخشهایی که آشپزی میکردن شیرین بود.
کارکتر مادربزرگ جوری بود که هم دوست داشتی خفهاش کنی و هم گاهی حرفها و حرکاتش خندهدار بود😑😂
|تکه کتاب|
▪︎هروقت دلشوره داشتی به ستارهها نگاه کن جین آرامت میکنند... دل داریات میدهند. حالت را خوش میکنند.
▪︎دیوارها به محض اینکه از آنها عکس آویزان میکنی دوست آدم میشوند. دیوار برهنه چشم دیدن هیچ کسی را ندارد.
▪︎قبول داری وقتی شاعری در ستایش یک زن شعر میگوید، آن زن در تاریخ جاودان میشود؟ مثل بئاتریس لورا، لوکاستا یا مری کوهستانی، صدها سال از مرگشان میگذرد و با این حال هنوز اسمشان سر زبانها است چون شاعران بزرگی عاشق آنها بودهاند. از تروا خرابهای بیش به جا نمانده اما نام هلن هنوز زنده است.
▪︎از سپیدارها میسرایم تا در آن روز که میمیرم. نه در جست وجوی یاقوت و الماس باشم، که به عشق سپیدارهای در دست باد برخیزم. تو چی جین؟ دوست داری توی بهشت به چی برسی؟
جین گفت: به «فانوس تپه».
▪︎هیچ کدام از ماجراجوییها بیتماشای طلوع روز جدید ماجراجویی نمیشود، جین. خدا میداند هر روز با خودش چه میآورد. شاید یک پادشاهی سرنگون شود... شاید یک بچه به دنیا بیاید که یک روز درمان سرطان را کشف میکند، شاید کسی جایی یک شعر ناب بسراید...»
▪︎به این میگویند زندگی جین. آدم باید شومینه خودش را داشته باشد. پای آدم جلوی شومینه بقیه گرم میشود ولی قلبش یخ میبندد.
▪︎_فکر... فکر نمیکردم چیزهایی که من دوستشان دارم هم بمیرند.
_جين، عشق جلوی مرگ را نمیگیرد. درست است زندگیاش کوتاه بود ولی خوشبخت بود.
▪︎خودت هم شبیه به بنفشههایی جین. درست مثل آن یکی که حنایی است و چشمهای طلایی دارد. یاد آن موقع افتاد که دلش میخواست کسی هم او را به یک گل تشبیه کند.
December 3, 2024
Now, THAT was a beautiful story. Most satisfying.
I LOVED this book. But, then, it was written by Lucy Maud Montgomery, so is that really so surprising? She is, after all, my favorite author, and for good reason! This book reminded me of many of them.
I loved watching Jane "grow up" through this story. Because she really does. How she blossoms and turns into the person she wishes her mother was! I fell in love with her father as Jane did, and her hopes and dreams for her little family became mine. I have to say, my favorite part of her "transformation" has to be her learning to love God and His Word.
And PEI! How that place that I've never been has become like a second home. It's like a friend waiting with arms wide open. Delightful descriptions, and perfectly delicious supporting characters, as per usual for LMM.
This book is like a hug made of pages. Oh, how I wish she had been able to write the sequel that she wanted!
I LOVED this book. But, then, it was written by Lucy Maud Montgomery, so is that really so surprising? She is, after all, my favorite author, and for good reason! This book reminded me of many of them.
I loved watching Jane "grow up" through this story. Because she really does. How she blossoms and turns into the person she wishes her mother was! I fell in love with her father as Jane did, and her hopes and dreams for her little family became mine. I have to say, my favorite part of her "transformation" has to be her learning to love God and His Word.
And PEI! How that place that I've never been has become like a second home. It's like a friend waiting with arms wide open. Delightful descriptions, and perfectly delicious supporting characters, as per usual for LMM.
This book is like a hug made of pages. Oh, how I wish she had been able to write the sequel that she wanted!
March 4, 2024
“You won’t forget to send for me next spring, will you, dad?”
“No,” was all dad said.
No is sometimes a horrible word, but there are times when it is beautiful.
چقدر کتاب دوستداشتنیای بود:((((((
با این کتاب یاد foster از کلیر کیگن افتادم، و با اینکه اونو خیلی بیشتر دوست داشتم و داستانش هم به نظرم واقعیتر بود، ولی بازم از خوندن ماجراجوییهای جین لذت بردم.
“No,” was all dad said.
No is sometimes a horrible word, but there are times when it is beautiful.
چقدر کتاب دوستداشتنیای بود:((((((
با این کتاب یاد foster از کلیر کیگن افتادم، و با اینکه اونو خیلی بیشتر دوست داشتم و داستانش هم به نظرم واقعیتر بود، ولی بازم از خوندن ماجراجوییهای جین لذت بردم.
November 7, 2022
I know I like Montgomery's books but this still took me by surprise! Probably because the movie freaked me out as a child. Haha!
This book was so picturesque, so moody, and so deliciously good. The watery-eyed ending was perfect. In essence, it was everything my book-loving heart was craving to read: realistic and likable characters, great writing (give me the authors of old who knew how to structure their thoughts so richly), and an intriguing and mesmerizing plot.
If you want to be reminded that bad situations can turn for the good, this is your book. I highly recommend this one.
Cleanliness: a couple is separated. There is minor and brief talk of an affair/another love interest but that is not the case. Mentions smoking and drinking. One blasphemy.
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This book was so picturesque, so moody, and so deliciously good. The watery-eyed ending was perfect. In essence, it was everything my book-loving heart was craving to read: realistic and likable characters, great writing (give me the authors of old who knew how to structure their thoughts so richly), and an intriguing and mesmerizing plot.
If you want to be reminded that bad situations can turn for the good, this is your book. I highly recommend this one.
Cleanliness: a couple is separated. There is minor and brief talk of an affair/another love interest but that is not the case. Mentions smoking and drinking. One blasphemy.
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide a Cleanliness Report, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
So Follow or Friend me here on GoodReads! And be sure to check out my bio page to learn a little about me and the Picture Book/Chapter Book Calendars I sell on Etsy!
March 12, 2015
Jane lives with her mother, aunt and grandmother in a world of rules and unhappiness. Her mother is weak and unable to stand up to Jane's grandmother and Jane stoically suffers daily from her grandmother's verbal bullying. This sounds very heavy but L M Montgomery writes in such a lovely, light and caring way about some serious issues. Jane escapes this repressed world to visit her father where she is allowed to be herself, taste freedom and live life to the full. She learns to face her fears and blossoms with the love and attention. This was a lovely book especially when you feel you need a charming and uplifting read. It was like a breath of fresh air on Lantern Hill.
January 21, 2018
I can't believe I'd never read this before! Montgomery is so good at writing terrible, repressive surroundings, and Jane's magical summer is such a relief - and so is her coming back to Toronto different, in a way that's entirely beyond her grandmother's power to change. The ending might be ridiculous, but it's also earned (if only by Jane) and just so sweet.
July 23, 2019
Another hit from LM Montgomery. I just loved Jane and following her as she meets her dad and explores PEI. I love Montgomery's descriptions both of the landscape and the characters. Lovely, lovely read.
August 24, 2023
قلم ِ خود ِ مونتگمری
با عاشقانه هاش برای طبیعت
یک دختر خیالپرداز ِ با دل و جرئت
و داستانی که با وجود اینکه از همون اول آخرش معلومه، باز خوندنش لذت بخشه
با عاشقانه هاش برای طبیعت
یک دختر خیالپرداز ِ با دل و جرئت
و داستانی که با وجود اینکه از همون اول آخرش معلومه، باز خوندنش لذت بخشه
February 16, 2014
Jane has never felt like she belongs; she lives with her mother, named Robin, Aunt Gertrude and Jane’s grandmother, Mrs Kennedy. Mrs Kennedy’s favourite child by far is Robin, she is the only person in the world she actually loves. But it’s an unhealthy, selfish love. She wants to keep Robin under her thumb, and resents anybody else that Robin cares for. Robin loves her daughter, but Robin is a weak person, and she doesn't have the strength of character to stand up to her mother. To keep the peace, she tries to hide much of her feelings for her daughter, but enough is evident that Jane is resented by her grandmother. The grandmother isn't abusive towards her, but she is belittling and cruel. Nothing Jane does is right, and she is constantly made to feel like a substandard disappointment. She has hardly any self-confidence and very little self-esteem.
Jane has been brought up without her father’s presence in her life, but he’s not dead, he and Robin have been living apart for the best part of 10 years. Jane’s father, Andrew, writes requesting that Jane visit him on P.E. Island for the summer. Jane is forced to go, prepared to hate a person who she believes has made her mother unhappy and instead she meets somebody who she feels like she’s always known, and she begins to understand where she has inherited many of her character traits from. Not only that, but Jane is allowed and encouraged to undertake things that she’s always wanted to do, and has talent in doing. She also meets many people who look up to her and like her. Jane returns from her holiday transformed; she isn't made of the same stuff as her mother, and she is much harder to cow. The start of Jane’s journey to a happier life begins with her first summer visit to Lantern Hill on P.E. Island...
This was a wonderful story from the author of Anne of Green Gables. I love her style of prose, and Jane’s story was so touching. The first third or so of the book was heartbreaking in a very non-dramatic way, I felt so bad for poor Jane, a child should NEVER feel like this, constantly being belittled and her mother not standing up for her. I pitied Robin but I was also angry with her for allowing this – she knew how unhappy Jane was, and even if Robin was financially dependent on her mother I felt like she should have made more effort to be there for Jane, to love her in secret if need be. When Jane finally starts getting some positive encouragement and is allowed to do things in line with her natural abilities rather than being made to toe the line to what is deemed socially acceptable by her grandmother you can see her petals unfurl. I so enjoyed this story and I can’t recommend it enough, it is just wonderful!
Jane has been brought up without her father’s presence in her life, but he’s not dead, he and Robin have been living apart for the best part of 10 years. Jane’s father, Andrew, writes requesting that Jane visit him on P.E. Island for the summer. Jane is forced to go, prepared to hate a person who she believes has made her mother unhappy and instead she meets somebody who she feels like she’s always known, and she begins to understand where she has inherited many of her character traits from. Not only that, but Jane is allowed and encouraged to undertake things that she’s always wanted to do, and has talent in doing. She also meets many people who look up to her and like her. Jane returns from her holiday transformed; she isn't made of the same stuff as her mother, and she is much harder to cow. The start of Jane’s journey to a happier life begins with her first summer visit to Lantern Hill on P.E. Island...
This was a wonderful story from the author of Anne of Green Gables. I love her style of prose, and Jane’s story was so touching. The first third or so of the book was heartbreaking in a very non-dramatic way, I felt so bad for poor Jane, a child should NEVER feel like this, constantly being belittled and her mother not standing up for her. I pitied Robin but I was also angry with her for allowing this – she knew how unhappy Jane was, and even if Robin was financially dependent on her mother I felt like she should have made more effort to be there for Jane, to love her in secret if need be. When Jane finally starts getting some positive encouragement and is allowed to do things in line with her natural abilities rather than being made to toe the line to what is deemed socially acceptable by her grandmother you can see her petals unfurl. I so enjoyed this story and I can’t recommend it enough, it is just wonderful!
November 12, 2014
This book was so lovely! Jane was a very engaging heroine and I loved her adventures. In true Montgomery fashion, there were vivid descriptions of nature, particularly of Prince Edward Island, and a very satisfactory happy ending! I strongly recommend this novel :)
**This is the French version of "Jane of Lantern Hill" by Lucy Maud Montgomery.
**This is the French version of "Jane of Lantern Hill" by Lucy Maud Montgomery.
May 8, 2023
Oh, this book! So beautiful and precious! And that ending! It's one of the only times that I am okay with crying in a book because it's tears of pure joy!
April 9, 2024
I was delighted to get the audio for one of my favorite childhood classics by LM Montgomery, Jane of Lantern Hill. As a pre-teen, I thought it was amazing that the author told the story of a girl growing up in a broken home at the turn of the twentieth century. As an adult, I add to the amazement that dear old Lucy Maude threw in emotional bullying and gaslighting by the maternal grandmother and paternal auntie for good measure. But, Jane of Lantern Hill stood the test of time and hit me hard in the emotions across the spectrum and wrote a young girl's triumph as she came into her own when given half a chance to do so.
So, Jane Stuart. She was born on P.E.I. during her parents' brief marriage, but has sense been living in her wealthy grandmother's dreary old Victorian home in Toronto. Her maiden aunt who quietly fusses over the housekeeping and her brilliantly gorgeous mother, Robin, the social butterfly of Toronto society along with her stern, disapproving grandmother. All is stern rules and reminders of deportment. No actual regular childhood for poor Jane who is oppressed if she smiles let alone were to play or sing or skip or anything that she might actually enjoy. She's even disapproved when she tries to help the cook or play with the neighbor girl.
Some children just imagine they are unliked and unloved, but, in Jane's case, her grandmother truly detests her and takes delight in removing anything from her life that gives Jane happiness. Why is this? There are two reasons. Mainly because Jane is the spitting image of her Stuart relations and a reminder that there was a marriage that took her precious Robin from her. She most especially prevents Jane from having an outwardly loving relationship with her own mother. Yes, the grandmother is jealous of anyone the mother would put before her in her life including Jane.
As a teen, I never thought about it, but I was infuriated with the doormat mother who lived in that house and knew her child was being mentally and emotionally abused by her grandmother. In fact, she encouraged Jane to be content with it all. The woman even makes the excuse that she's all her mother has to love (the woman has two other children from an earlier marriage she completely ignores for just Robin, her beautiful last child).
When Andrew Stuart shook things up by insisting after twelve years that he wants to get to know his daughter and wants her for the summer, the evil queen and her doormat daughter fill Jane's head with wrong ideas about her own father so she is nearly ill with nerves on the trip out to him. I was glad that this was the turning point in Jane's life. A quirky eccentric author dad and fabulous PEI go a long way toward healing Jane and making her whole. She sees her worth and feels the love and acceptance from her dad, the neighbors, and the friends she meets. Sure, there's a fly in the ointment- her dad's older sister is another like her maternal grandmother. Her aunt's brand of poison is saying mean and demeaning stuff with a smile and soft voice so the dad totally doesn't get what his own sister is up to and she likely played a huge part in breaking up the marriage.
Jane is intrigued finally about that old break-up and slowly pieces together the facts and finally gets the truth out of both parents. Then, Jane does what the pair of muddled lovers haven't done- she acts. She gets the communication lines open so old misunderstandings can be straightened out.
But, I'll stop there. I'll gush about marvelous Jane- capable Jane in that idyllic Lantern Hill home with her dad, her funny friends, her jolly mishaps learning to keep house and cook, and her closeness with her dad which fortifies her for the return to Toronto and yes, Jane was never the same.
Lauren Sanders was a new to me narrator, but I enjoyed how she voiced young Jane and all the adults and other children around her. Grandmother's snooty voice was the most brilliant as was Auntie's serpent syrupy tone.
All and all, a brilliant-good listen.
So, Jane Stuart. She was born on P.E.I. during her parents' brief marriage, but has sense been living in her wealthy grandmother's dreary old Victorian home in Toronto. Her maiden aunt who quietly fusses over the housekeeping and her brilliantly gorgeous mother, Robin, the social butterfly of Toronto society along with her stern, disapproving grandmother. All is stern rules and reminders of deportment. No actual regular childhood for poor Jane who is oppressed if she smiles let alone were to play or sing or skip or anything that she might actually enjoy. She's even disapproved when she tries to help the cook or play with the neighbor girl.
Some children just imagine they are unliked and unloved, but, in Jane's case, her grandmother truly detests her and takes delight in removing anything from her life that gives Jane happiness. Why is this? There are two reasons. Mainly because Jane is the spitting image of her Stuart relations and a reminder that there was a marriage that took her precious Robin from her. She most especially prevents Jane from having an outwardly loving relationship with her own mother. Yes, the grandmother is jealous of anyone the mother would put before her in her life including Jane.
As a teen, I never thought about it, but I was infuriated with the doormat mother who lived in that house and knew her child was being mentally and emotionally abused by her grandmother. In fact, she encouraged Jane to be content with it all. The woman even makes the excuse that she's all her mother has to love (the woman has two other children from an earlier marriage she completely ignores for just Robin, her beautiful last child).
When Andrew Stuart shook things up by insisting after twelve years that he wants to get to know his daughter and wants her for the summer, the evil queen and her doormat daughter fill Jane's head with wrong ideas about her own father so she is nearly ill with nerves on the trip out to him. I was glad that this was the turning point in Jane's life. A quirky eccentric author dad and fabulous PEI go a long way toward healing Jane and making her whole. She sees her worth and feels the love and acceptance from her dad, the neighbors, and the friends she meets. Sure, there's a fly in the ointment- her dad's older sister is another like her maternal grandmother. Her aunt's brand of poison is saying mean and demeaning stuff with a smile and soft voice so the dad totally doesn't get what his own sister is up to and she likely played a huge part in breaking up the marriage.
Jane is intrigued finally about that old break-up and slowly pieces together the facts and finally gets the truth out of both parents. Then, Jane does what the pair of muddled lovers haven't done- she acts. She gets the communication lines open so old misunderstandings can be straightened out.
But, I'll stop there. I'll gush about marvelous Jane- capable Jane in that idyllic Lantern Hill home with her dad, her funny friends, her jolly mishaps learning to keep house and cook, and her closeness with her dad which fortifies her for the return to Toronto and yes, Jane was never the same.
Lauren Sanders was a new to me narrator, but I enjoyed how she voiced young Jane and all the adults and other children around her. Grandmother's snooty voice was the most brilliant as was Auntie's serpent syrupy tone.
All and all, a brilliant-good listen.
November 27, 2024
نسبت به باقی آثار بانو مونتگمری مقداری تفاوت داشت بیشترین چیزی که به چشم میومد استفاده معقول تر از توصیفات و رویاپردازی های کمتر بود و حدس اتفاقایی که قراره بیوفته هم خیلی راحت بود با این وجود چیزی از قشنگی کتاب کم نکرد.
جین نازنین هم نسبت به شخصیت های دیگه مونگمری و نسبت به سنش بالغ تر و فهمیده تر بود :>
خوانش این کتاب برای من خیلی لذت بخش و دوستش داشتنی بود، از اون کتابا که سعی میکردم طولش بدم تا تموم نشه، سر کلاسای خسته کننده زیر میخوندمش و در دنیا�� قشنگ جین و بابای باحالش سِیر میکردم. :))
قسمت هایی که جین راجب خونهی پرنس ادواردشون صحبت میکرد فوق العاده فقدان نداشتن یک کلبهی چوی سبز و سفید رو توی قلبم احساس کردم :")
جین نازنین هم نسبت به شخصیت های دیگه مونگمری و نسبت به سنش بالغ تر و فهمیده تر بود :>
خوانش این کتاب برای من خیلی لذت بخش و دوستش داشتنی بود، از اون کتابا که سعی میکردم طولش بدم تا تموم نشه، سر کلاسای خسته کننده زیر میخوندمش و در دنیا�� قشنگ جین و بابای باحالش سِیر میکردم. :))
قسمت هایی که جین راجب خونهی پرنس ادواردشون صحبت میکرد فوق العاده فقدان نداشتن یک کلبهی چوی سبز و سفید رو توی قلبم احساس کردم :")
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