Reading Journal: Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery

 

Book Description:

Jane Stuart lived at 60 Gay Street, Toronto for as long as she could remember. But life in Grandmother's dreary old mansion was anything but gay. Even dear, beautiful Mother, who went from party to party, always seemed sad. 

For years, Jane believed her father to be dead--until she accidentally learned he was alive and well, living on Prince Edward Island. And when she spends the summer at his cottage on Lantern Hill, doing all the lovely things that Grandmother deemed unladylike, she discovers that life truly can be beautiful after all. 

If only there could be a house like that in Toronto...a house where Mother, Father, and Jane could all live together without Grandmother directing their lives...a house with a magic all its own.

My thoughts:
Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery is a sweet little story that I thoroughly enjoyed. Jane is such a fun character. When we first meet Jane she is living with her mother, aunt, and Grandmother in Toronto. She seems to be a dull girl, who don't have many friends, doesn't excel in school, and is always receiving her Grandma's disapproval.

When she is sent to spend a summer with her father she just knows she is going to hate him and is dreading having to go to P.E. Island. When she actually meets her father she knows that they will be great friends. Thus begins a new period in her life where she actually has some independence and a whole new world is opened to her. She takes up housekeeping, which she was never allowed to to in her grandmother's house, learns to cook with the help of neighbors, makes friends, and spends evening listening to her father tell her history stories and more.

Thus life goes for a couple of years between Toronto during the school year and P.E. Island during the summers. During this time she becomes a confident young lady. Though she still receives criticism from her Grandmother she is able to take it and stand up to her when necessary. Jane's ultimate dream is to have a little home with magic that includes her mom, dad, and herself in it, but seems impossible until one day a letter arrives which changes their destiny.

Jane is her own person with her own story and is different enough to stand alone among Montgomery's other works. Jane of Lantern Hill is a perfect little story, which may be boring to some, but I found it just right!