Although Kate Douglas Wiggin is famous for Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, she can deal with some remarkably dark subjects for an obvious optimist. The Romance of a Christmas Card is in the end a story of strange coincidences that ultimately lead to redemption. Continue reading →.

Jane Eyre isn’t beautiful or rich or of any social consequence. She’s a poor, plain working girl whose concerns and feelings are so expertly portrayed that we almost feel they are our own. Part of Jane’s attraction is her ordinariness. Who wouldn’t connect on some level with her? Through her eyes and ears we see the displays of the upper classes as an outsider–giving the social mores of the time an even more ridiculous tone. Continue reading →.