Customer Reviews

The Romance of Eleanor Gray (Hardscrabble Books-Fiction of New England)

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Set in 1910 Massachusetts, a 20-year-old schoolteacher comes to a picturesque New England town to begin her teaching career. Behavior is strictly proscribed, indicative of the moral constraints of the time. Eleanor Gray takes up residence in Alice Harrison's boarding house, peopled with eclectic, proper individuals, warmly welcomed by her fellow boarders.

Accidentally overhearing a heated discussion between a male and a female outside her door, Eleanor crosses to the window, where she observes a young woman leaving the house. Eleanor is struck by the presence and beauty, the corn-silk hair and translucent skin of Evangeline Sewell, a ward of the town for many years; it is whispered that Evangeline is pregnant.

With the typical unrestrained romanticism of the era, Evangeline is constantly in Eleanor's thoughts, as she builds Evangeline's plight into mythic proportions. As a teacher, Gray feels that she "has a moral right to project herself into situations where other persons might be loathe to go." Characteristic of the post-Victorian era and her own obscure reasoning, Eleanor develops an obsession with all things concerning Evangeline, writing to the girl to offer her friendship and unconditional support.

When Evangeline dramatically returns to the town, her intentions are unclear, but Gray has become an ardent supporter. The schoolteacher has a number of friends in the town, all of them supportive, particularly the men. When there is a conflict between Gray's "love" for the sixteen-year-old Evangeline and her standing as a schoolteacher and accepted member of the community, Eleanor makes her choice based purely on an excess of emotion and romanticized notions, regardless of the consequences.

Technically precise, Kennedy's writing is as pristine as the New England countryside, replete with the grandeur of nature. Gray's unfettered imagination is not unusual for the times; in fact, Eleanor Gray is the ideal, a young spinster with an overactive sense of duty and a tendency to stick her nose in someone else's business.

There is some suggestion of awakening sexuality and confusion in Gray's runaway feelings for Evangeline, yet the issue is not really addressed. Eleanor's impetuous nature and lack of self-control do not make for an endearing character. The impulsive plunge into Evangeline's affairs is ridiculous, as is the immediate adulation of everyone in the boarding house, so awed by the erudition of a twenty-year-old. The pastoral beauty of the country and the elegant construction of the novel are impressive; I acknowledge the author's skill, but the lack of passion hinders my appreciation of the book. Luan Gaines/2004.

This is a wonderfully written novel about a young woman whose desires inevitably put her at odds with her community. Eleanor Gray is a lovingly drawn and extremely engaging character. She arrives in a rural town in western Massachusetts to become the new schoolteacher and quickly wins the hearts of the townsfolk. But as she becomes ever more obsessed with a local young woman, she finds herself forced to choose between her loyalty to her community and her loyalty to herself and her own desires.