LMM Project - Jane of Lantern Hill

The general set up is that Jane lives with her mother and grandmother in Toronto. Life there is pretty bleak and lonely for Jane. Her mother is lovely and affectionate, but also a little weak and very absent - always rushing off to the next party and refusing to address Jane's real emotional needs. Her grandmother is very severe. This set up reflects some of Mont real life struggles. Two years prior to writing Jane of Lantern Hill LMM had relocated to Toronto with her husband and, judging by the way she writes about it, missed her beloved Prince Edward Island desperately.

Jane grew up believing her father was dead when out of the blue she gets a letter from him. He is alive and well and he wants Jane to come stay with him in PEI for the summer. Her mother and grandmother purposely deceived her and are not happy about this new development. However, they can't really keep Jane from her father and so away Jane goes for the summer. Although Jane is nervous once she finally arrives in PEI and meets her father she instantly loves him. She also meets a colorful cast of characters on the island. By the end of the summer she's fallen firmly in love with PEI and so the prospect of returning to Toronto is a grim one indeed. And so it's up to Jane to figure out the mystery of her parent's parting and see what, if anything, she can do about it.

I liked what this book had to say about the concept of 'home' and what it *really* means. I think the storyline is a decent one that taps into children's fears and fantasies. What child of divorce doesn't secretly want their parents to get back together? I'm afraid I was less enthused by the overall characterization. I liked Jane, I really did, but I just couldn't love her. She was a bit too practical for my taste. I realize she's a product of her situation, but she didn't inspire me like Anne and Emily did. And the parents! Ack! So weak and so selfish! Again, I feel like this was an important part of the story, but it made it so that I couldn't completely cheer on Jane's efforts to see them back together. And the peripheral PEI locals were not as memorable as in other LMM novels.

Notes: There is a 1990 TV movie based on this novel. I haven't been able to watch it because it's not available on netflix. Bummer! But you can read more nformation here...