Lucy Maud Montgomery's Prince Edward Island, Part 2: The Author's Birthplace

“And here, around a certain corner, is a certain small, yellowish-brown house, close to the road, that I always look at with a kind of fascination, for it is the house where my father and mother lived after their marriage, and where I was born and spent the first year of my life. The years have passed on and each succeeding one has left the little brown house something shabbier than before, but its enchantment has never faded in my eyes. I always look for it with the same eager interest when I turn the corner.” — The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery: The PEI Years, 1889-1900, Saturday,  December 31, 1898.

This journal entry is quoted on a sign outside of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s birthplace. She was 24 at the time of writing this, and I think she would be happy to know that even though the building has been altered superficially—it is brown no longer, but white with dark green trim—the house still holds a certain enchantment. Here in this tiny house close to the road, a great writer was born some 150 years ago. 

Lucy Maud Montgomery was born on 30 November 1874 to Hugh John Montgomery and Clara Woolner Macneill in the village of Clifton, now called New London, Prince Edward Island. The home overlooks picturesque New London Harbour, complete with the quintessential sand dunes any viewer of the many Anne of Green Gables adaptations would imagine if asked to picture the landscape of the Island.

Maud was not yet two when her mother, Clara, died of tuberculosis at the Macneill homestead in Cavendish. Afterwards, Maud continued to live with her maternal grandparents, Alexander and Lucy Macneill. She lived there at the Macneill Homestead in Cavendish until her marriage to Rev. Ewan Macdonald on 5 July 1911.

Now seems like a good time to share Maud’s wedding dress, which can be viewed at Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Birthplace. This replica is on display in a glass case right next to the cash desk, which made it very difficult to photograph without capturing annoying reflections. I admit, I found the mannequin quite disturbing. Most mannequins are a bit unsettling by nature, but the fact that this one looks like it has a stocking pulled over its face, ready to rob a bank, added another dimension of creepiness. 

Speaking of the cash desk, I didn’t pay much attention to the gift-y things in portion of the house designated as a shop. I was much too excited to focus on shopping. But I did happen to notice they did have a very good selection of books. When you walk in the front door the facing wall is covered in books with the covers facing out, which I found particularly tempting. I bought two published by Kindred Spirits of PEI, a publisher run by George Campbell, a relative of Maud. The two books were, Anne of Green Gables (1908), because I needed a backup—this was not the last copy I bought on this trip—and The Story Girl (1911). (I have linked to the same editions I bought, which you can find at the Anne of Green Gables Store in person, or online. These are not affiliate links.)

In that same room is where I spotted this photo of Maud, wearing a truly fabulous hat, and her husband Rev. Ewan Macdonald on their honeymoon.

On the same wall as the above photo of Maud, I found this flower made of human hair, which was apparently a popular craft around 1900. I could admire for its craftsmanship, maybe even its artistry, if only I didn’t have an abhorrence of hair that is not attached to a body. I considered not including it here, because it is another creepy thing, but, for better or worse, I was struck by its oddity and thought it might be of interest to others. Let’s move so I can shake off the heebie-jeebies. 

When you come in the front door of the house the cash desk is to your left (go there first and pay your entry fee), to your right is a flight of stairs, and straight ahead leads to the rest of the main floor. Let’s head to the kitchen and work our way counterclockwise through the rooms. 

An imposing Franklin stove presides in this room. I cannot imagine relying on this not only to cook, bake, heat the iron, but also to keep the house warm. It must have been used as heating, because what was noticeably lacking from this building was any sign of a fireplace. The one chimney you can see on the outside of the house, must be for the stove. The kitchen also contains a number of chairs, a table that has been pushed against one wall, and a corner cabinet filled with dishes. I can’t help but wonder how this room was set up when Maud’s parents lived here. 

What I find most fascinating about historic homes that have been set up as they might have been however many years ago, are all the little domestic items. The area next to the stove has such an interesting array of items that I felt compelled to capture it. One of the items appears to be a preserved bird wing. For beauty, or for purpose? Either answer would only end up in more questions. 

In the main room downstairs there is a display which takes up the centre of the room, filled with Maud’s scrapbooks. There were other objects, tables, chairs, some china I meant to ask about, but I didn’t. I was too captivated by the scrapbooks to focus on anything else. I had not heard about Maud’s scrapbooks before our visit to the Island. To be honest, I knew very little about Maud, outside of the contents of her novels and short stories. As you can see from the collection here, she certainly loved scrapbooking, including invites and programs from outings. She also collected clippings of her published stories, which can be seen in the long display case in the centre of this room. 

I have just recently started reading the first of seven volumes in her collected journals, The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery: The PEI Years, 1889-1900. She wrote her journal with the intention of it being published one day. That is striking enough, I think, but she even edited it. There are places where she had removed leaves and pasted in new ones. Another notable difference between Maud’s journal and many other writer’s personal record is that she added visual elements as well, including newspaper clippings, postcards, studio shots, and her own photography. I’m just up to the entries from 1890, but the photographs of Maud’s friends, family, and the landscape have added so much to the reading experience. Also, I never would have expected that Maud’s voice to be so mature from such an early age. From the start of the journal in 1889, when Maud is almost fifteen, the writing and the scenarios could have been pulled straight from the pages of The Story Girl or Anne of Green Gables. 

I snapped this photo of Imagining Anne: Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Island Scrapbooks at The Site of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Cavendish Home. I’ll talk more about that location in another post, but I will say here that they did have a great selection of books at that location. I wish I had bought a copy of this book while I was on the spot, but you can find it online. If you are interested in learning more about Maud’s scrapbooks, I think this book would be a great resource.

At the back of the house and to the far left, in relation to the front door, there is a small sitting room. Here I picked up a couple of brochures about the Island and Maud-related locations, including one specific to her birthplace. I can see this room being used as a study or quiet space back when the building was a family home, so it was fitting to find a cabinet with a number of foreign editions of Maud’s books on display.

Returning back to the front door, we go up the stairs that appear on the right on your way in. At the top of the stairs on the right is a door marked “The Child’s Room”.

I’m currently reading The Golden Road (1944), and in it Cecily is making a quilt that people have paid to have their name stitched on in either a 5¢ or 10¢ piece. In the book, the governor’s wife pays to have her name and her husband’s stitched on a 10¢ piece, which speaks to their financial and social position. More surprising is that Peg Bowen, a reclusive woman who lives is a decrepit old place and appears to only have one outfit, also says she will take a 10¢ piece. She even appears affronted when Cecily asks her which price of piece Peg would like. But then, Peg says she will pay later, because she doesn’t have the cash on hand. That was a couple of chapters ago, and so far no mention that she paid Cecily for the privilege. I don’t think Peg would unintentionally go without paying. She did give the children refuge in a snowstorm, after all. But after a night spent in the woman’s house they are no less convinced she is a witch, and there is this constant back and forth between whether Peg is just a misunderstood woman who lives by herself or something more sinister. Back to Maud's birthplace...

Back to Maud’s birthplace… This is the first of a number of rugs I took photos of on this trip. There are a couple of other beauties to come in the guest room, but overall, I was just really impressed with the attention to detail in dressing these rooms. I am not a historian, so I cannot comment on historical accuracy of all of the items, but they are all beautiful to look at, and the child’s room was my favourite room in the house. There is something so welcoming about an adorably decorated children’s room.

A room marked “The Main Bedroom” is the next door down the hall on the right. This is the room Maud was born in and would have been her parent’s bedroom. This is another room with a lot of items to admire. The hooked rugs, and the braided rug caught my eye, as did the garments of clothing. But just look at the bedspread! A sign outside the door reads, “This bedspread is on loan from the family of the late Edith Woodside, a valuable former board member.” I’m going to assume Edith Woodside made this bedspread, and very talented she was too. I wish I could have got a better photo of it, but there are low gates that run across the doorways of each of the upstairs rooms, preventing visitors from going inside. When I go back this year, I hope to at least ascertain whether the bedspread is crocheted or knitted.

Well, I had to take a photo of this man, Adonijah (Nige) Marks (1858-1945), posed with a litter of fox cubs that he raised. He made the bed in this room. Although, I think it is fair to assume that this is not the bed in which Maud was born in 1874. According to Nige’s great-great granddaughter, Elizabeth (Ingraham) Tumblin, “He was known for his long beard, his furniture making, his apple orchards and his telling fortunes through reading tea leaves.” He sounds like such a character, and just the sort of person I would like to know more about. Also, why are we not naming children Adonijah anymore?

Here are a couple more photos of the main bedroom that I am not going to comment on, otherwise, we are never going to get out of here.

We have made it to the last room upstairs, which is situated at the end of the short hall, “The Guest Room”. I have no idea what the deal is with the wedding dress, I will add that to my list of questions to pester the staff with on my next visit. But turn your attention to the quilt to the left of the mannequin bride. There is a small tag attached that says this is a log cabin afghan “[s]tarted by a little girl 8 years old, Sue M. Moncey (Muncey?), later Mrs. J.B. Leigh Lowther, Carleton Lot 28. Born November 1874. Died March 22, 1974.” It’s a beautiful piece, but no doubt it was also included in this room because Sue shared the same birth month and year as Maud. I would imagine this is the kind of handiwork that Maud and other little girls would have learned at the time. 

More of those beautiful rugs I mentioned earlier…

I love the patchwork quilt that sits on blue chest of drawers in the next photo. Patchwork speaks of a time when pieces of old clothes and bits of fabric were repurposed into beautiful and practical objects, instead of being thrown away like we would today. We donate our family’s old clothes to charity, and items that are at the end of their life I usually just turn into rags. It has never occurred to me to try my hand at patchwork, but it might be something to fill up the long winter nights and would take a lot longer than crocheted or knitting blankets, which is my current crafty pastime. 

Now, it’s time to go back down the stairs. Watch your step. The staircase is just about as steep as it appears in this photo. 

From start to finish, we spent 45 minutes at Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Birthplace, that’s including making a couple of purchases in the bookstore/gift shop area and having a lovely chat with the woman who was working there. I believe her name was Deborah. We were the only visitors at the time and Deborah, as we are calling her, was very generous with her time. I remember commenting to my husband that it felt like we had been given a personal tour. Other than leaving us to explore the upstairs on our own, she was close by, providing us with tidbits of information about the building and its objects. Now, I’m thinking the worker’s name could have been Margaret. Heaven help me. Well Deborah/Margaret, if you are reading this, thank you for your time and for offering to stamp not just the books I had bought, but any that I had in the car. She was so kind and she made me feel like she was just as excited to see us as we were to see Maud’s birthplace. All round, we had a very heartwarming experience visiting Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Birthplace.

Additional information:

Address

Lucy Maud Montgomery Birthplace

6461 Route 20, New London

PE C0B 1M0

At Junction of Route 20 and Route 6

Summer (902) 886 2099

Winter (902) 836 5502

Hours

Open Daily 15 June - 15 September 

10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

For off season hours visit their website.

Other useful information

Free parking

Air conditioning

$7.00 per adult

$3.00 per child 3-12 years

No washrooms

***If you got something out of this post, please consider subscribing to my blog. You can find the email sign up on the right hand side at the top of this page (on desktop version only), or click on the link here. You will receive a confirmation email in your inbox (or possibly your junk folder). Once you click to confirm your email address you will receive an email notification whenever a new blog post goes up. And, of course, you can unsubscribe at any time. Feel free to email me if you have any trouble subscribing, or if you just want to chat about books. I would love to hear from you! Whether you subscribe or not, I’m thankful you are here.***

This blog post contains affiliate links for Blackwell’s. As a Blackwell’s Affiliate, I may receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you, if you decide to make a purchase through one of the links on my website. I recommend Blackwell’s because I use them myself. This helps support me in sharing—what I hope is—valuable content. Thank you for your support!

Lucy Maud Montgomery's Prince Edward Island, Part 1: Finding My Way to Anne

Anne of Green Gables was one of my most precious books when I was a child. I read it and reread it, crying at that part. (If you know, you know. And if you don’t, I’m not saying a word.) It was given to me in a goodie bag at a slumber party with a box set that included Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island, books two and three in the Anne of Green Gables series. I went on to read the other books in the series too, and was very thankful that my parents agreed to buy them for me. For the most part, I used the libraries near us. With a library at my school and the public library within walking distance, I took advantage of reading for free. But I don’t remember finding any Lucy Maud Montgomery books in the library until I got to high school, where they had a lot of titles I had not seen before. There I found Akin to Anne, a collection of stories about orphans like Anne. Among the Shadows, ghost stories that I read in the school library, for fear that my mother wouldn’t approve. I also found the Emily of New Moon trilogy (Emily of New Moon, Emily Climbs, Emily’s Quest) on those shelves. I remember loving those books, and when I was in grade 10 the CBC aired a TV adaptation that I loved watching. Although, I was careful not to broadcast that I was watching Emily of New Moon to anyone at school, a family friendly show that had an early evening Sunday night time slot. Everyone else was watching the new shows Dawson’s Creek and Felicity, and maybe even Beverly Hills, 90210 at the time. Not that I wasn’t watching those shows, as well. But I always felt a little out of place in high school and just wanted to fit in, or at least fly under the radar and get through the day without incident.

Part of what made Maud’s books so special to little Caro, is that they were set in Canada. (And yes, I’ve decided to be on a first name basis with this writer, because we have known each other for over 30 years.) Before Maud, I had not come across a novel that was set in Canada. While Prince Edward Island was far enough away from where we lived to feel like a fantasy land, the descriptions of the island sounded a lot like my home. It was a landscape I knew, even if the roads were tinted red there and the landscape sprinkled in fairy dust. I could get lost in my imagination with Anne, and found somehow too. Anne made me feel less alone. She made me realise that I wasn’t the only one who lived an internal life. Who told stories. Who loved to read. And who dreamed. 

I loved to read before Maud’s books came into my life, but she was the first author whose books I actively sought out and would ask my parents to buy any time I came across a title I didn’t have. Happily, they often obliged. Although, they weren’t interested in getting me the Emily books after I let it slip that they had them at my school library. And I somehow still do not have this series in my collection. I must remedy that at some point, because I would like to reread them.

Besides Anne and Emily, the character I really connected with was Valancy from The Blue Castle. This book is geared towards a slightly older audience. It’s not quite a book for adults, but not a children’s book either. I think today it would be marketed for young adults, but that doesn’t seem quite right either. This book is about a young woman who does not fit in with her large family. She is 29 years old and well on her way to becoming the family spinster, and general dogsbody. She is unhappy with her life, until one day when she finds out from her doctor that she has heart condition and could die at any time. Finding out she is going to die is what helps Valancy really live for the first time in her life. She lights the place on fire, moves to the woods, has a famous artist ask to paint her, and falls in love. It’s a life affirming book with a lot of big, complicated emotions, and it is just so good. Set in Muskoka, an area of Ontario that I was familiar with from family camping trips, this was another book that I could find myself in. It was just too romantic for words and I have no idea how many times I reread this in my youth. My copy looks almost as tired as my childhood copy of Anne of Green Gables, so I would say, a lot!

Last September, I visited Prince Edward Island for the first time. I would say it was a childhood dream of mine to visit the Island, but that is not quite true. Prince Edward Island was a place I could escape to in my mind, not somewhere one travelled to by more traditional means. So finally being there in the flesh, this place that with the help of Maud, I had created in my mind, was a lot to process. I planned to write a number of blog posts and post content on Instagram at the time, but when I got there… I don’t know. I just wanted to enjoy it. To be there without distraction. When I came home I posted a few photos, on Instagram, but I just felt so overwhelmed by the experience that I felt like I needed time to process it. I had really been there, treading the same paths as Maud, seeing the same views, breathing the same air, and I just wanted to hold it close, for it to be all mine, a little longer.

It’s almost a year later, and soon I will be on the Island again. We enjoyed our time so much that we are going back. This time we will be meeting my friend, Gina (@babsbelovedbooks) and her husband there, which is what I had dreamed of on our last trip. I wanted so much for all of my fellow fans of Maud to be there and experience this magical place too. I had a wonderful time visiting all of the Maud related haunts, but besides that, the Island is such a calming place. It’s a small place, so everything is fairly accessible, and there is a closeness that you can feel too, like nothing really bad could happen there. It sounds silly, and it might be because I had the holiday rose tinted sunnies on, but there is something undramatically beautiful about driving through that landscape of rolling hills. And when you turn off the paved road onto the country road, it really is red. So maybe it is the Island’s soil infusing the place with a rosy glow. 

In the lead up to my trip I’ll be going through my photos from last September. Each week, I’ll be taking you along to all the places I went, the views I saw, and I’ll be sure to let you know all of the places I got emotional, as well as a few things to do if you are travelling with a kindred spirit who is not yet a Maud fan. Hopefully, I will inspire you to take your own trip to this lovely gem of a place off the East Coast of Canada, Prince Edward Island.

***If you got something out of this post, please consider subscribing to my blog. You can find the email sign up on the right hand side at the top of this page (on desktop version only), or click on the link here. You will receive a confirmation email in your inbox (or possibly your junk folder). Once you click to confirm your email address you will receive an email notification whenever a new blog post goes up. And, of course, you can unsubscribe at any time. Feel free to email me if you have any trouble subscribing, or if you just want to chat about books. I would love to hear from you! Whether you subscribe or not, I’m thankful you are here.***

This blog post contains affiliate links for Blackwell’s. As a Blackwell’s Affiliate, I may receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you, if you decide to make a purchase through one of the links on my website. I recommend Blackwell’s because I use them myself. This helps support me in sharing—what I hope is—valuable content. Thank you for your support!

Ending with the photo that has been on desktop for the past year. It brings me joy every time I sit down to work. It may sound cheesy. I’m going to say it anyway. It’s a reminder to not just dream big. But to dream bigger. And then laugh when someone leaves a discarded takeaway coffee right in the middle of your dream (photo).  

56 Weeks with Nancy Drew - The Whispering Statue - Part 2/2

Book 14

Welcome to the 56 Weeks with Nancy Drew series! If you are new here, welcome. You can find my introductory post to this series here. Please note I will be including plot spoilers in this review series. I explain my reasoning at the start of this post.

This discussion of The Whispering Statue is in two parts. You can find a link to Part One, here, where we discuss the plot of both the original text (OT) and revised text (RT). 

Now, let's pick up where we left off...

Bonkersness 

There is one bonkers scene in the RT… Okay. There are a few scenes that are fairly bonkers, but one that goes well beyond my suspension of disbelief… Nancy, Bess, and George are snooping in the storeroom of a shop when they hear someone coming.

    Instantly the young detective made a decision.

    Grabbing Bess and George by their arms, she pointed toward the empty portrait frames.

    "Pose!" Nancy whispered.

    The three girls stepped through the frames against the canvas. Each one kneeled and took a different pose. They assumed profile positions so they could not be identified easily if the intruder should happen to know them.

[…]

    The man began looking around and mumbling to himself. 

[…]

    In his search the newcomer suddenly lurched into Bess's frame. It fell over, striking Bess who also went down. Instantly the intruder realized that the person in the frame was alive!

    "Oh!" cried Bess.

    The man gave a deep grunt, then yanked Bess up from the floor. At the same instant Nancy and George leaped from their frames! (RT 110-112)

The girls quickly overpower him because he was "taken completely by surprise" (RT 113). Good thing all baddies in Nancy Drew books are incredibly dim-witted and unobservant. The crazy thing is, the girls almost get away with their disguise! 

As you may notice from the photo to follow, the illustration that goes along with the scene doesn’t do the writing any favours. From where the man in standing in the doorway he would see right down the back of the frames. The girls shouldn’t stand a chance in their silly efforts of disguise! As I said all baddies in these books are very dim, but what does it say about Nancy and her friends that they think pretending to be two dimensional objects would actually work? There are times in the RT Nancy Drews when Nancy seems to be closer to eight than eighteen. Although, I feel I’m doing a disservice to the intelligence of eight-year-olds in saying that! 

More dramatic and more believable?

The OT of this one is so over the top. But, somehow, it works! While it’s much more dramatic than the RT and some crazy things happen in this book, it stops just shy of being completely unbelievable. I think that’s why I’m enjoying the OT Nancy Drew books so much. Nancy has more of a devil-may-care attitude than in the RT, which makes for exciting reading. When this Nancy gets into a pickle I feel a lot less frustrated with her than I do when I’m reading an RT. In her efforts to help others and solve the mystery, the OT Nancy often rushes headlong into trouble and her nutty ideas of getting out of it seem just desperate enough to be believable, like this scene where she has just escaped a house where she has been kept captive and with the help of a sheet attempts to pass herself off as a statue.

    She wondered how much longer the storm would hold off. The tall trees near the place were waving wildly in the wind, and at any moment a limb might snap off and come crashing down. The site was a most dangerous one.

    Nancy stood hesitating an instant; then, with the wind tearing at her garments, she crossed the garden toward the Whispering Girl statue.

    Where three figures previously had stood, but two now remained.

[…]

    Nancy scarcely had time to hide. Wrapping the sheet tightly about her, she stepped up to the empty pedestal to become a living statue in the Whispering Girl group.

[…]

    With head bent low, Joe Mitza stumbled through the garden. He was muttering to himself, saying over and over that he had learned his lesson, and that never again would he be dishonest.

    Nancy had intended to frighten the fellow with another whispered warning. However, observing his nervous condition, she overcame the temptation and remained silent. The fellow cast a frightened glance at the Whispering Girl statue as he hastened by and went on down the road. (OT 196-199)

The scene in the RT where the three girls hide in frames is reminiscent of this one. There are a few reasons why I think this scene works where the other one fails: Nancy is pretending to be a statue and not a painting, she is outdoor at night as opposed to indoors in full daylight, and the baddie she is trying to fool is truly upset and distracted from some life-changing news he has just heard, while the baddie in the RT is just busy casing the joint. The other reason this scene from the OT works while the scene from the RT fails is because of the writing. 

Some of the writing in the RT Nancy Drews is shockingly bad. The plots have all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop and the dialogue is just plain moronic most of the time. But for me, the aspect that really suffers in this RT is the descriptions of settings. In the OT description is used to create atmospheric scenes where anything could happen. While in the RT they virtually skipped descriptions and setups to scenes and substitute them with liberally placed exclamation points. Take, for instance, the scene from the OT when Nancy visits Old Estate for the first time and sees “The Whispering Girl”.

    An ancient gate still barred the entrance to the winding private road which led to the house. As the young man pulled it open so that they might drive through, a loose board fell to the ground, making it impossible to close the barrier again. The road was dry but rutty, and a wild jungle of shrubs brushed against the car as it passed.

[…]

    The automobile rounded a bend and halted before a weather-beaten, rambling old house which was perched high above the sea. It stood at a rakish angle since one wing had no form of support at all. The water had cut a great tunnel beneath it.

    "Another season, and the house surely will topple into the sea," Jack declared, gazing about him with interest. "A lot of damage has been done since last I visited here."

    Toward the right lay what remained of a garden. There were a few scraggly rose bushes entangled among a jungle of weeds. Yet when the visitors came within view of the Whispering Girl statue, they halted and stared in awe, for the figure tended to dignify its unkempt surroundings.

    The marble piece was still imposing, though weatherbeaten and old. The group consisted of three sculptured figures; a life-sized likeness of a beautiful girl with flowing hair, on either side of which, at a little distance, stood a smaller statue. The central figure bore a startling resemblance to Nancy. (OT 68-69)

Even in daylight there is a feeling of foreboding as they approach the estate. This is a place in transition with a house that is teetering on the cliff edge, on the brink of being taken by the sea. Time is running out. If the daughter of the deceased owner isn’t found and brought to claim the property for her own soon, the house, and even the statue will be lost.

There isn’t a scene or setting in the RT to directly compare this to. I found aspects of this scene in three separate settings in the RT: the rutted drive of a derelict mansion the girls are brought to in a foiled kidnapping attempt, the statue at night outside of the yacht club where the girls are staying, and the overgrown garden at a property being used as an artist’s studio.

    The highway ran directly to the oceanfront. Here the driver turned left and drove for some distance. The area was uninhabited and the roads were heavy with sand. After a while the car went up a weed-choked driveway toward a large weather-beaten house. On the ocean side of it, sand dunes ran down to the water’s edge. (RT 24)

    The marble figure cast a broad shadow. There was something eerie about the scene with the beautiful young woman looking longingly in the direction of her Italian homeland. (RT 81)

    The front yard was filled with terra-cotta statues which stood amid high grass. Here and there a rosebud reared its head above an overgrown flower bed, and a few hollyhocks towered above the weeds. (RT 121)

In all of these scenes the bit of tension that is created is destroyed by a quick reassurance of safety. In the first scene the girls hop out of the car and outrun the men who are “past middle-age, heavy, and not so agile” (RT 26) then they double back and steal their car to drive to a phone to call the police (27). In the second, Nancy and Ned, who have been at a dance being held at the yacht club, go outside to see the statue. They think they hear the statue whispering, but shortly discover the voices are coming from a couple sitting behind the statue, the man proposing (81, 82). In the last instance, the girls talk to the artist, look at the statues on display, see someone coming and they scoot next door to have dinner at a “farmhouse [that] had been converted into a charming, old-fashioned dining room” (126).

To a certain extent the tension is softened in the OT, but not enough to clear the atmosphere. In the scene above when Nancy and her friends first see the statue, Bess comments that Mrs. Owen was right, Nancy could be its twin. Nancy’s response, “It makes me feel sort of creepy to see myself reflected in marble” (69). Moments later, Nancy asks everyone to listen.

    Everyone remained quiet for a moment. Save for the whistle of the wind in the pine boughs and the roar of the ocean, there was no other sound.

    “One can almost imagine that the statue is whispering now,” Nancy murmured.

    “It’s only the wind,” George Fayne said impatiently. 

    “Of course,” Nancy returned quickly, “and I hope you won’t think me superstitious, but I find the illusion almost perfect.” (OT 70)

George brings Nancy back down to earth, and while Nancy makes light of her flight of fancy, this only enhances the earlier tension. If logical-minded Nancy Drew is getting affected by the scene we know there is something about the derelict estate that is unsettling.

In conclusion

My plan was not to pick apart the RT, because I thought it was quite good, not great. But it didn’t put me to sleep or cause me to roll my eyes on every other page like the RT of The Mystery of the Hollow Oak did either. Even so, the RT of The Whispering Statue doesn’t compare to the quality of writing in the OT. My intention isn’t to pit the writers of these two editions against each other. Harriet Stratemeyer Adams writes simple sentences. Perhaps, it was thought that was all the children of the day were able to understand. Mildred A. Wirt manages to write a more sophisticated book without elevating the vocabulary to any great extent, rather, she varies it more, and her sentence structure is more complex.

As with many children’s books, both of these books have moments were one has to suspend their disbelief. However, these moments were a little harder to swallow in the RT. I found the incidents that were most unbelievable also made Nancy and her friends appear unintelligent. Nancy cannot be both a skilled detective and believe that hiding behind a frame will make her look like a painting. The two are mutually exclusive. 

The one problem I had with the OT was that I felt it was a bit slow to start. A lot was made of the dog, Togo, getting into trouble and taking Nancy along with him for the ride. He did enable Nancy to meet a character who becomes more important later, but Togo is all but forgotten once the group reaches Sea Cliff. Nancy leaves him at the hotel kennel and a few days go by before there is any mention of him at all. After that Togo isn’t mentioned again until the very end of the book, where he still doesn’t have any connection to the main plot. I am fairly sure Togo doesn’t feature in any of the other books in this series, but I will be on the lookout! (Through a bit of research online, I have discovered that Togo does appear in a number of the books in the Nancy Drew Diaries series. Although, I cannot directly attest to this, as I have not read any of the books in that series.)

Next up is book 15 in the series, The Haunted Bridge. See you in July!

56 Weeks with Nancy Drew - The Whispering Statue - Part 1/2

Book 14

Welcome to the 56 Weeks with Nancy Drew series! If you are new here, welcome. You can find my introductory post to this series here. Please note I will be including plot spoilers in this review series. I explain my reasoning at the start of this post.

I should add that this discussion of The Whispering Statue is in two parts. Part Two will go up tomorrow. Once it goes live, you will be able to find a link to it here.

Editions pictured: OT (25 chapters, 217 pages); RT (20 chapters, 179 pages)

OT publication date: 1937

My OT edition printed: approx. 1959-1961

RT publication date: 1970

My RT edition printed: approx. 1974

RT cover illustrated by: Rudy Nappi

Ghostwriter: Mildred A. Wirt Benson

Editors: Edna Stratemeyer Squier & Harriet Stratemeyer Adams

Revised by: Harriet Stratemeyer Adams

OT setting: River Heights & Sea Cliff (summer resort on Atlantic Coast)

RT setting: River Heights & Waterford (town on the coast)

Introduction

Since I have both books in my collection, I had the pleasure of reading the original text (OT) of The Whispering Statue and the revised text (RT). On the other occasion (The Message in the Hollow Oak OT, The Message in the Hollow Oak RT) where I had both editions I discussed each book in its own post. The RT diverged from the OT to such an extent that it would have been near impossible to compare them. While the OT and the RT of The Whispering Statue are quite different from each other, I believe they have enough in common that they can be discussed together. That’s my hope, anyway!

On the other occurrence when I had both the OT and the RT of a title, I read the OT first. But after reading the more sophisticated and — let’s just say it — better written OT, the RT was a slog to get through. I vowed not to make the same mistake a second time around, so when it came time to read The Whispering Statue I picked up the RT first. And you know what? It had the desired results! I had a fun time reading both books. Sure the OT was still better, as I expected it would be, but I didn’t have to force myself to finish the RT and I was able to appreciate that one for what it was without constantly comparing it to the OT. I believe this enabled me to look at both of these books more objectively and better appreciate their strengths without letting the weak points cast a dark cloud over my enjoyment of them!

The other thing I didn’t do this time is take notes while I was reading. This enabled me to get into these stories without all of the stopping and starting that detailed note taking entails. The one downside is that I didn’t have anything to refer back to after I had finished reading, which made this blog post a whole lot harder to write! If you have read any of my Nancy Drew posts before, you know that I usually start them off with a list of the shenanigans Nancy and her friends get up to, followed by how many meals were eaten, and any other interesting details. However, my not having taken notes while I was reading means I don’t have any of that information available to me. I hope you will forgive me for the unusually straightforward synopses to follow. 

RT Synopsis

Mrs. Merriam, a client of Nancy’s father, inherits a large collection of fine books from her uncle. She approaches Willis Basswood, the owner of an art gallery and bookshop in her town, and he agrees to sell the books for her, taking a fee of twenty-five percent from each sale. Some of the books sell for quite a bit of money and others for less as is to be expected. All is well, until Mr. Basswood stopped paying Mrs. Merriam. He explained it was because the books weren’t selling, but Mrs. Merriam suspects the man is selling the books and simply not paying her.

While Mrs. Merriam explains her problem to Nancy, masked men ambush the Drew home, and Nancy gets a threatening phone call with the message, “You tell Mrs. Merriam to shut up or she’ll get hurt and you people too!” (RT 4).

Soon Nancy is taking an assumed name and traveling in disguise to Waterford with friends Bess and George in tow. There they stay at the Waterford Yacht Club where there is another mystery surrounding a missing statue which is said to whisper and bears a distinct resemblance to none other than Nancy Drew.

The mysteries are linked — well, aren’t they always?! — and Nancy brings the baddies to justice with a lot of help from her friends. At one point she is entrapped in a sarcophagus and things would have quickly gone downhill if it wasn’t for the quick actions of Bess, George, Ned, and their new friend Dick.

OT Synopsis

Nancy goes to the opening ceremony of a new park in River Heights, where a lost bull-terrier adopts her, dragging Nancy into all sorts of trouble. The dog, soon to be named Togo, digs up freshly planted flower beds, chases a bevy of swans, and darts wildly at children. He takes a mislaid handbag, plunges into a lake, swims out a ways, and drops it in before paddling back to shore.

Through Togo’s excitable nature — see handbag incident above — Nancy meets Mrs. Owen, the honoured guest speaker of the event, and hears about a statue called “The Whispering Girl” that looks remarkably akin to Nancy, which just happens to be on display near Sea Cliff, a place she will soon be going on holiday. While the two are airing out the woman’s belongings — see Togo’s excitable nature above — Nancy happens to see in the woman’s possession a personal ad clipped from the newspaper. After some consideration, Nancy suspects Mrs. Owen of having a secret sorrow. 

Nancy, Bess, and George go on holiday to Sea Cliff resort. On the train, they see a shady individual preying on an older woman. Nancy warns the woman to be careful of the man, but the woman gives Nancy short shrift for her efforts. Later Nancy suspects the woman isn’t as soft a touch as she seems. There’s a mystery there!

In this one, Nancy and her friends save two men from a burning plane, reunite a man and wife, and stop some thieves from stealing a number of expensive sculptures. Nancy also finds the missing heiress of a crumbling estate, saves an elderly woman from a watery grave, and is rescued during a terrific storm from a most unseaworthy vessel.

Going forward

When I first set out to read one Nancy Drew and write a blog post per week I had no idea how time consuming it would be. It vaguely crossed my mind that for the titles I had both editions in I would then have to read both in one week, but I had so few in the OT that I didn’t think it would matter much. What I didn’t think about at all is my mood. The truth is, as much as I love Nancy Drew, there are a lot of other books that I want to be reading. Besides, there are a lot of other things I want to have time for outside of reading and writing about what I read. As the gaps have grown between posts has proven, a weekly turnaround simply isn’t attainable for me. 

In July and August I will be discussing one Nancy Drew title per month and then starting in September I plan to do two titles per month. Hopefully, this will free me up to do non-Nancy posts if the urge takes me. More importantly, I hope this will rekindle my excitement for this project. It’s hard to get enjoyment out of the process when you can practically hear the clock ticking! I hope you can all understand and aren’t secretly cursing me. 

Fingers crossed I’ll have more time to fine-tune my thoughts, and make my blog posts are little more succinct, so I can stop producing posts that grow so large that they need to be cut in half!

See you tomorrow where we will be talking about bonkersness, good writing, better writing, and the best way to disguise yourself as a work of art. I hope to see you then.