The Saturday Morning Post (No. 203)

THE SATURDAY MORNING BOOK REPORT

I needed an antidote to the dreary grimness of the last book, This Tender Land, so I returned to O Douglas, who I knew would serve up a nice quiet story. One without two killings in the first 40% of the story. I believe this one is one of a set of three set in the same general area, the Border Lands of Scotland, with a few minor cross over characters.

My reviewer criteria. I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.

Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below.

Pink Sugar by O. Douglas  B+

Kristy Gilmour, an orphan since the age of eight had been living with her stepmother for many years. Her stepmother was a restless person, living from hotel to hotel for years, so when she dies, Kristy decides to return to her home in the Scottish Border Country to settle down. To that end, she rents a modest house, part of a larger estate, with the intent of helping her fellow human beings in little ways. Her first task in this regard is to take in three young children, along with their young governess/ Their mother has died, and their father, broken hearted, wants to travel to get over his grief. The children are related to her only through her best friend. She falls in love with the children, and dreads the return of their father, although he is very nice and attractive.

The first thing I've discovered about O Douglas is that most of her stories are about exploring all sorts of characters. Her plots serve to bring characters she wishes to talk about to the fore. In this case, she uses Kristy to introduce the reader to the various characters in the small Tweed River-side village she settles in. This provides the modern reader a window into life a hundred years ago in England and Scotland. How they lived, what they did to pass the time, and their various attitudes. Most of her characters are either wealthy enough to live without working, or have husbands who are working and wealthy. It is this idle class that we get a glimpse into, where the women go around visiting each other, having tea, or dinner with others of their class.

The second thing I've discovered about O Douglas is that she adores small boys. She grew up with a bunch of older brothers, and I gather she ran with them in all their adventures. And this love of the life of boys is reflected in all the stories I've read so far. In this case, we have two boys and one girl. The girl hardly gets mentioned. One boy is devoted to fishing, and gets some air time. But it is the young, "bad" boy who is always getting into mischief who is the star of the show. You'll see this repeated in the next O Douglas book report as well. Which is fine, I've nothing against it, I just find it interesting at  how large part these boys play in her stories.

Though the character studies play an important part in this novel, there is a plot to it, several romances, the question of the fate of the children, and several of the characters evolving as the story goes along. I enjoy the glimpse of the past and the company of nice people going about their everyday life. I think some of the other woman authors of this period wrote more focused novels, but I enjoy my time spent in the company of O Douglas's creations.