This week, I comment on a novel about several Irish women who’d like more in their lives and on a TV series about the infamous English sisters who thought nothing of ignoring and defying the accepted standards of society. Plus I offer up a few photos taken at the local botanical garden.
RECENT READING: VILLAGE LIFE IN IRELAND
The Coast Road by Alan Murrin
Set in 1994 in Ireland, Alan Murrin’s novel, The Coast Road, highlights the constricted role of women in a small village where everyone knows everyone else’s business. Izzy Keaveney is the wife of local councilman James and a mother. At one time, she had a small flower shop, but no more; now she aspires to again do something purposeful in her life.
Colette Crowley, a poet, left her rich husband Shaun and went to Dublin to stay with her lover. When she returns, she is shunned by her neighbors, and her husband prevents her from seeing her sons. She and Izzy become friendly in a writing workshop Colette leads, while each woman struggles to find contentment and satisfaction.
There are several interwoven strands in this novel, and the reader is kept wondering how these situations will resolve, or if they will. For more about this book, you can read an interview with Murrin in nb magazine. Recommended for fans of Claire Keegan. (~JWFarrington)
OF BUTTERFLIES AND BLOOMS
Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens (Boothbay)
On our most recent visit to the gardens, I was struck by striking beds of bright flowers, colorful foliage against stone, and a pair of peaceful frogs.
In addition, I very much enjoyed exploring the butterfly house with my sister Ann, who knows her butterflies, but is also a fount of information about plants and nature in general.
VIEWING: NOTORIOUS MITFORD FAMILY
Outrageous (BritBox and other services)
The Mitford family, parents and their seven children, were a wild bunch. Aristocrats and well off, until they weren’t, the six sisters were unconventional, passionate, and lived by their own rules. The eldest, Nancy was a novelist and the family mediator. Diana left her well-situated husband and child and took up with Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Fascists. Unity was attracted to the Nazis, went to Munich, and was enamored of Hitler. Sister Jessica was a staunch communist and disdainful of the family’s comfortable lifestyle. Parents Muv and Farve are largely ineffectual in attempting to manage their wayward offspring.
The 6-part series is set in the 1930’s and presents in bursts the unbelievable actions of these sisters. The subject matter is serious, but the style of the episodes is rollicking and sometimes playful, as if it were all a farce. Of course, it wasn’t a farce, and there were consequences. The sisters have odd nicknames for each other which don’t always relate to their real names, making it sometimes difficult to know which sister is being addressed.
Nancy is the narrator and provides commentary in each episode. Played by Bessie Carter, she is elegant and forthright, even when describing her own challenging marriage. Seeing Carter in this role, it’s hard to believe she played the overdone Prudence Featherington in Bridgerton. The Chief Penguin and I thoroughly enjoyed the series. Recommended!
Note: All garden photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)
