REVIEW: The Loyalty of Hester Hope
The Loyalty of Hester Hope: Bessie Marchant, Blackie
‘”She is a bundle of contradictions,”’ (p.179).
I was thoroughly glad to read that comment, because it was true and it was good to see Marchant let one of her characters realise and acknowledge it of a heroine, for her heroines can be bundles of contradictions quite often, but I tend to feel that this is because Marchant is so busy churning her stories out that she lets characterisation become subservient to plot, which is always a shame.
Hester is headstrong and determined in some regards, ‘cowardly’ in others, but mainly untested. She arrives at Crag End, in the wilds of British Colombia, having left her Toronto home upon her father’s second marriage. (It occurs to me that if I did a tag called ‘the plot-driving stepmother’, I’d use it quite a lot.) She was determined to make her own way instead of ceding her position to a stepmother she’d never met (WHY? Why do fathers always do this in fiction and then act surprised that their offspring doesn’t take it well?)
The job she applied for was ‘lady’s help’, but when Hester turns up, she is met off the train by Alice Trevor, the girl who is currently Mrs Powell’s help, and she reveals that what is needed at Powells Gorge is a hired man, not a girl. Despite being with the Powells since childhood, she is tired of the hard life, made worse by Mrs Powell’s tyranny and Mr Powell’s capitulation to it, and seeking a new position. Town-bred Hester is surprised that she won’t be wafting about, arranging flowers, and has to consider returning to her father and new stepmother.
Except when they arrive at the ranch, it is to find Mrs Powell lying prone on the floor having had some sort of stroke, her husband missing, the area in an uproar because of trouble with a bear and in the mines. The two girls (Hester’s age is never specified, but Alice is nineteen, and Hester comes across as her contemporary) have to take responsibility for the situation, not helped by the fact that Alice has an accident that makes her unable to put weight on her foot and Hester hasn’t had any experience of tending to a milking cow, chickens and pigs.
This being a Bessie Marchant book, the troubles and complexities they face get only more complicated, as a Russian girl, connected to the Dukhobor sect (I’d never heard of them before) seeks shelter with them, the local doctor thinks the worst of Hester due to a misunderstanding, a self-proclaimed nephew of Mrs Powell’s turns up, who won’t help the girls, but will lay claim to the property, as Mr Powell remains missing. And that’s not the whole of it...
Hester is stronger-willed than Alice, who wears the weight of a hard upbringing. It should be noted that Hester is referred to as a daughter of Canada, while Alice is an émigré from England, but the two balance each other out. There are sick and lost relatives to be reunited with and romance for both girls. The stepmother even becomes part of the weave of the story and is written sympathetically.
Hester sees lessons in the life of Jonah, who ran away from his duty and ended up in a worse situation because of it, and so she is willing to see through all these troubles, looking after Mrs Powell, the farm and bucking up Alice and ordering anyone who needs it due to her common sense or yielding to someone who argues with more common sense. If there’s a moral lesson, it’s to accept what God’s Providence has in store for you, although I would imagine there are few readers who have to face such an eventful providence as Marchant’s characters - it’s interesting in this context that the euphemism for when Hester and Alice’s beaux fall for them is ‘X had met his fate’.
This entry was originally posted at http://feather-ghyll.dreamwidth.org/134512.html. Please comment wherever you prefer to.
‘”She is a bundle of contradictions,”’ (p.179).
I was thoroughly glad to read that comment, because it was true and it was good to see Marchant let one of her characters realise and acknowledge it of a heroine, for her heroines can be bundles of contradictions quite often, but I tend to feel that this is because Marchant is so busy churning her stories out that she lets characterisation become subservient to plot, which is always a shame.
Hester is headstrong and determined in some regards, ‘cowardly’ in others, but mainly untested. She arrives at Crag End, in the wilds of British Colombia, having left her Toronto home upon her father’s second marriage. (It occurs to me that if I did a tag called ‘the plot-driving stepmother’, I’d use it quite a lot.) She was determined to make her own way instead of ceding her position to a stepmother she’d never met (WHY? Why do fathers always do this in fiction and then act surprised that their offspring doesn’t take it well?)
The job she applied for was ‘lady’s help’, but when Hester turns up, she is met off the train by Alice Trevor, the girl who is currently Mrs Powell’s help, and she reveals that what is needed at Powells Gorge is a hired man, not a girl. Despite being with the Powells since childhood, she is tired of the hard life, made worse by Mrs Powell’s tyranny and Mr Powell’s capitulation to it, and seeking a new position. Town-bred Hester is surprised that she won’t be wafting about, arranging flowers, and has to consider returning to her father and new stepmother.
Except when they arrive at the ranch, it is to find Mrs Powell lying prone on the floor having had some sort of stroke, her husband missing, the area in an uproar because of trouble with a bear and in the mines. The two girls (Hester’s age is never specified, but Alice is nineteen, and Hester comes across as her contemporary) have to take responsibility for the situation, not helped by the fact that Alice has an accident that makes her unable to put weight on her foot and Hester hasn’t had any experience of tending to a milking cow, chickens and pigs.
This being a Bessie Marchant book, the troubles and complexities they face get only more complicated, as a Russian girl, connected to the Dukhobor sect (I’d never heard of them before) seeks shelter with them, the local doctor thinks the worst of Hester due to a misunderstanding, a self-proclaimed nephew of Mrs Powell’s turns up, who won’t help the girls, but will lay claim to the property, as Mr Powell remains missing. And that’s not the whole of it...
Hester is stronger-willed than Alice, who wears the weight of a hard upbringing. It should be noted that Hester is referred to as a daughter of Canada, while Alice is an émigré from England, but the two balance each other out. There are sick and lost relatives to be reunited with and romance for both girls. The stepmother even becomes part of the weave of the story and is written sympathetically.
Hester sees lessons in the life of Jonah, who ran away from his duty and ended up in a worse situation because of it, and so she is willing to see through all these troubles, looking after Mrs Powell, the farm and bucking up Alice and ordering anyone who needs it due to her common sense or yielding to someone who argues with more common sense. If there’s a moral lesson, it’s to accept what God’s Providence has in store for you, although I would imagine there are few readers who have to face such an eventful providence as Marchant’s characters - it’s interesting in this context that the euphemism for when Hester and Alice’s beaux fall for them is ‘X had met his fate’.
This entry was originally posted at http://feather-ghyll.dreamwidth.org/134512.html. Please comment wherever you prefer to.