A young, beautiful woman with a shiny future ahead of her falls seriously ill. It takes her a long time to recover, and when she does, the illness has taken such a toll on her physically and mentally that she is hardly the same person any more. Her beauty is gone, her colours are faded, and all she wants now is to remember her past self with the happiness of her former life.
The world around her has changed, too; when she timidly starts venturing outside again, she finds her friends from school days are mostly married, have babies, moved away or simply have found other pastimes without her who used to be at the centre of their circle. The village itself is constantly growing and being modernized, so that slowly but surely, everything she knew and loved in her youth is gone.
When she is already in her middle age, she is left a vast fortune, and uses it to act out her dream of restoring the past: On an empty stretch of land, she has the high street of "her" village rebuilt according to her instructions, with every stone, every shrub and tree and every corner just the way they were when she was young and healthy and full of life. She moves into this ghostlike, empty village which becomes the scenery to her reclusive life.
A relative of hers dies, leaving behind a little boy, and the duty to raise the orphan falls on her. Much as she loves the child and treats him like a son, he does not make a difference to her outlook on life, turned backwards instead of towards the future. On the contrary, the little boy loves the life-sized portrait of Miss Ludington's former self from the first moment he sets eyes on it (not knowing who she is), and his love only grows fonder and stronger as he gets older.
Eventually, the boy is grown up, and Miss Ludington in her sixties. He returns from school, reluctant to start any profession or do anything else that will take him away from the empty village and the portrait. Instead, he develops a theory that, if proven true, could mean his abstract love for the girl in the painting can be turned into something real.
How Miss Ludington and her nephew set about to bring the past to real life, and what happens when they do, I will not tell you here. Let me just say that the story managed to surprise me more than once, although some bits were foreseeable.
This free ebook from the kindle shop was one I really enjoyed, and was almost sad to finish. Some information about the author can be found here.
Hello Meike,
ReplyDeleteThis does sound to be an extraordinary setting for a novel. It is so good when one has been so involved with the plot and the characters that one is sad when the final page is turned. You certainly leave us full of suspense about how it all works out......
Hello Jane and Lance,
DeleteThe idea of having her village rebuilt and to live in it with no people other than her own household was something I found very intriguing. I imagined myself walking through the silent village, perfect from the outside, but completely empty inside, like scenes for a theatre play, only sturdier and very real in every detail.
What an interesting setting and background for a story.
ReplyDeleteIt is what kept me going, it really was a very unusual story.
DeleteI read Looking Backward a long time ago......Probably in the '80s.
ReplyDeleteBellamy must have been very interested in time.
You are becoming my literary advisor, I think! ;->
Yes, I was wondering how much of the young man's theory was really Bellamy's own, and how much of it he only wrote to allow for those twists in the story.
DeleteYou've whetted my appetite Meike. Another on the Kindle for a rainy day.
ReplyDeleteI also found it interesting how the male author described Miss Ludington's feelings from the time she was a young woman to her old age.
DeleteFree for the Kindle, huh? You have me intrigued. I am going to get this book.
ReplyDeleteYes, free, but certainly not worthless :-)
DeleteNow you got me curious as to the ending:) This reminds me of the days when as a child in Sicily I got typhoid fever, and my father at the same time, so both of us were lying in bed seriously ill for three months. You are right about the glasses...I used to wear contact lenses, but I can't anymore because they dry my eyes out too much. Moreover, if I wear contacts then I need to wear reading glasses over them:) But I do wish I could wear lenses, I don't look good in glasses...not that I'm such a great beauty without them:) Have a nice weekend!
ReplyDeleteWho says you don't look good in glasses?!
DeleteI can't wear contact lenses, either; they bother my eyes too much, and just putting them in is a huge challenge (I did try). Now I am so used to wearing glasses (I started at the age of 7) that I don't think about it anymore.
Good to know my review made you curious about the ending - that is what I intended :-)