Posted by Peter Ceresole on February 25, 2010 at 19:00:36 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: PM review on Amazon posted by Robin Marshall on February 25, 2010 at 18:00:43:
Nancy certainly displayed her sensible side, not that the Doctor, Postnman, and Timothy would agree.
She had a powerful incentive- protecting the only person to whom she actually displays motherly feelings, her own mother. She puts on a good hostess act for the Ds when they arrive, but the book explicitly covers that. She's being very 'Nancy' like, strictly operational, driven and efficient in her own terms. The rose trellis shows that under it all, the old pirate is alive and well.
No; the revelation about Nancy is her similarity and fellow feeling for the GA. How much she has inherited from her. Again, explicitly explored in the scene where Maria Turner lands 'at bay' on the Beckfoot lawn. But it's not the taming of Nancy, rather the unveiling of the GA's wild side. However, Nancy becomes aware of their kinship. To that extent you could say she's growing up.
But Nancy isn't reformed. She just does what she must to achieve her main objective, which is to protect her mother.
AR handles all this very subtly, and it hangs together beautifully. But it's clear that in PM his own main interest lies with the Ds, and especially Dorothea. In all the books that feature the Ds, I think that's true. The Lakeland books are clearly written (never forget he primarily needed the books to sell) in part as therapy for himself- as a return to the principal happiness of his youth. We know from his letters etc that he keenly felt the loss of Tabitha, as a result of his divorce. Maybe Dorothea was his idealised daughter? Anyway, all this speculation is just that; a theory that it's entertaining to discuss here. PP's a rattling good book, and remains my favourite.
Reading that first review, I can't help thinking that it might partly be a joke.