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feather_ghyll) wrote2009-11-15 07:05 pm
feather_ghyll) wrote2009-11-15 07:05 pm
REREADING: In the High Valley
In the High Valley: Susan Coolidge Latimer House 1949.
I got this many, many moons ago, and may have reread it since, but last year, I bought a copy of ‘Clover’, a sequel to the ‘What Katy Did’ trilogy, which brings Clover Carr to the high valley of the title of this sequel. I meant to reread this book after finishing 'Clover'. It took me a few months to do so. Ah well, it's only taken me a few weeks to get this up. In the High Valley is set several years later, not only is Clover a mother, but so is Elsie, the third Carr sister, who fortunately married Clarence, the cousin who admired Clover. But she preferred Geoff, his English ranching partner.
However, it takes the story a while to get to them because we begin with Imogen and Lionel Young, on the verge of leaving their North Devonshire home. Lion is to return to Colorado and become a partner in Geoff and Clarence’s ranching enterprise, after serving an apprenticeship there. His sister, whom he calls ‘Moggy’ (there’s no explicit mention of another sister named Kitty, but she must exist) is joining him to keep house for him. Imogen is an unusual heroine, in that she isn’t really a heroine, exactly, just a way into the continuing domestic adventures of the Carrs. Healthy but not quite pretty, she isn’t bright, clever or creative, and her life has been somewhat limited. She has quite the insular prejudice about the superiority of her own country and what the States will be like. Her brother and others’ words do nothing to dissuade her and she commits quite a few faux pas before experience teaches her differently.
She has also conceived a dislike of Clover, her future closest neighbour, who has become the darling of Clover’s sister-in-law who happened to be Imogen’s oldest friend. And Imogen has never been anyone’s darling. Her brother cares for her, but they are both the siblings of many children and she is sent with him out of convenience. Having arrived in the high valley with all these prejudices, of course, Imogen finds out that Clover is a true friend - Elsie is a touch more autocratic and less kind-hearted. In a reminder of previous books, a fever teaches Imogen to value Clover, who has inherited her father's healing abilities, and her reward for her penitence for being an idiot is starchy Dorry Carr, who she calls Theodore, while her brother Lionel finds happiness in Johnnie/Joan/Joanna/John, the youngest Carr girl.
This is more the (ex)Carrs story than Imogen’s. People from the previous books cross her path – the Ashes, Rose Red and Roselein and even Katy Herself make appearances. We learn that they’re mostly happy and contented, with Clover and Elsie excelling at the domestic arts and improvisation required in their elevated home. By the end, with the inducement of three out of four daughters and two grandchildren, Dr Carr retires to Colorado too.
It was an easy enough read, satisfying the curiosity about what happens next to all the characters previously introduced (which kicks in with any series of this kind). For a book that pokes fun at anti-American bigotry, it is wince-inducing in its depiction of the main characters' Asian servants. It’s got the frothiest of romances as a cherry on top, but its focus is more on keeping the sisters together. Imogen shows more passion over her friendships, which would be relatable for a wide audience of girls, in her jealousy over Isabel’s friendship with Clover (or over leaving her family behind, come to that). She leaves with Dorry, we stay with the family in the valley.
Edited 16/9/10.
I got this many, many moons ago, and may have reread it since, but last year, I bought a copy of ‘Clover’, a sequel to the ‘What Katy Did’ trilogy, which brings Clover Carr to the high valley of the title of this sequel. I meant to reread this book after finishing 'Clover'. It took me a few months to do so. Ah well, it's only taken me a few weeks to get this up. In the High Valley is set several years later, not only is Clover a mother, but so is Elsie, the third Carr sister, who fortunately married Clarence, the cousin who admired Clover. But she preferred Geoff, his English ranching partner.
However, it takes the story a while to get to them because we begin with Imogen and Lionel Young, on the verge of leaving their North Devonshire home. Lion is to return to Colorado and become a partner in Geoff and Clarence’s ranching enterprise, after serving an apprenticeship there. His sister, whom he calls ‘Moggy’ (there’s no explicit mention of another sister named Kitty, but she must exist) is joining him to keep house for him. Imogen is an unusual heroine, in that she isn’t really a heroine, exactly, just a way into the continuing domestic adventures of the Carrs. Healthy but not quite pretty, she isn’t bright, clever or creative, and her life has been somewhat limited. She has quite the insular prejudice about the superiority of her own country and what the States will be like. Her brother and others’ words do nothing to dissuade her and she commits quite a few faux pas before experience teaches her differently.
She has also conceived a dislike of Clover, her future closest neighbour, who has become the darling of Clover’s sister-in-law who happened to be Imogen’s oldest friend. And Imogen has never been anyone’s darling. Her brother cares for her, but they are both the siblings of many children and she is sent with him out of convenience. Having arrived in the high valley with all these prejudices, of course, Imogen finds out that Clover is a true friend - Elsie is a touch more autocratic and less kind-hearted. In a reminder of previous books, a fever teaches Imogen to value Clover, who has inherited her father's healing abilities, and her reward for her penitence for being an idiot is starchy Dorry Carr, who she calls Theodore, while her brother Lionel finds happiness in Johnnie/Joan/Joanna/John, the youngest Carr girl.
This is more the (ex)Carrs story than Imogen’s. People from the previous books cross her path – the Ashes, Rose Red and Roselein and even Katy Herself make appearances. We learn that they’re mostly happy and contented, with Clover and Elsie excelling at the domestic arts and improvisation required in their elevated home. By the end, with the inducement of three out of four daughters and two grandchildren, Dr Carr retires to Colorado too.
It was an easy enough read, satisfying the curiosity about what happens next to all the characters previously introduced (which kicks in with any series of this kind). For a book that pokes fun at anti-American bigotry, it is wince-inducing in its depiction of the main characters' Asian servants. It’s got the frothiest of romances as a cherry on top, but its focus is more on keeping the sisters together. Imogen shows more passion over her friendships, which would be relatable for a wide audience of girls, in her jealousy over Isabel’s friendship with Clover (or over leaving her family behind, come to that). She leaves with Dorry, we stay with the family in the valley.
Edited 16/9/10.
no subject
Curious that Coolidge used the name Imogen again. I feel rather sorry for the character; she seems to have had so little say in her own future. I wouldn't like to be packed off to Colorado away from all I thought of as civilised.
Rather too neat, I think, the way the cosy family of the first book is recreated at the end. What Katy Did will always be my favourite.
no subject
I found this book after reading the first three, but not that long after. WKD is the best. I like School for the picture of an American boarding school and I read Next when I was young enough to be romanced by the travelling. I always think that the part where Katy, sick of telling AMy stories about two ordinary girls kills them off, breaks Amy's heart and tries to take it back. It's grown in significance in my mind, certainly after reading Clover and revisiting this.
Given all her prejudices, you would have expected even an aside about the family wondering whether Imogen was quite the best person to go. But no.