JUMP RIGHT IN

It hasn't been intentional, but somehow there have been a lot of books and movies popping up in my life lately, all covering the same era and topics, 'though each has come at it from a slightly different angle. It's an era I can't help but be fascinated by, for it's all about people trying to shed their shackles -- about the yearning to have some say over their own destinies.

The first was one of those audio books in the Elm Creek Quilt series that I told you about. It was called The Runaway Quilt, but it wasn't strictly about the American abolitionists and the underground railway. It was also about all the immigrants who fled to America in order to escape rigid caste/class systems, and about women struggling to have a bit of say over their own lives, via the suffragette movement. So much going on all at once, all for the sake of "free will!"

Next I got caught up in the latest PBS series on Masterpiece Classic - something called Downton Abbey. Do you recall how I once told you that when I visit a castle or palace, I'm not really interested in seeing the formal public spaces? What I wan't to do is explore the bowels of the place -- to run amok in the kitchens, pantries and wash rooms, so that I can discover how people really lived. This series allows me to do just that. It's also a fairly clear picture of the struggles the privileged class were up against at this time, trying to salvage the trusts that had been handed to them via "entailment", and that, despite all appearances, they too had very little say over their destinies -- especially if they happened to be female.

Finally, just as I became totally engrossed with this ongoing series, I stumbled across a discussion that several of my blogging friends were having, about the Kate Morton novels. Now, if there is one thing I have learned in my quest for the Good Life, it is this: when the river of synchronicity comes flowing past your door, you don't stand on the banks, wringing your hands -- you jump right in, and swim like crazy!

I could have put those books on reserve at the library, but something told me they were books I would need to share with friends, and to revisit upon occasion. I am now immersed in The House at Riverton, and am every bit as giddy as when I first discovered Jane Eyre as a young tween. You must pardon me now, for my books are calling me. They are nice and fat, and there are three of them!