And in the last chapter, the beautiful sentiments of admiration for her, voiced by Father, left me with a face wet with tears when I closed the book. Motherless characters seem to fill the pages of fiction (including Shakespeare and Dickens.) Here, however, Mother cannot escape notice. I mentioned some years ago, how rare mothers seem to be in fiction. Meanwhile, as we read, created for us are scenes of faith, hope, patience, industry, trust, generosity, hospitality, parental love - and lots and lots of courage.Ī 10-year-old boy, Joris, is central to the plot. We learn their secrets one chapter at a time. Hunger and secrecy are part of what this family lives with every day. Dad runs a windmill, one of the few non-electric water-pumps in service. In The Winged Watchman, the main characters are a Catholic family living in Nazi occupied rural Holland. While upholding virtue, they might introduce us to unpleasant and even life-threatening conflict. Do such books encase us in a bubble? They don’t have to.
Good fiction increases our understanding and our sympathies. I love this story.Īs I continue in my Preface of Blackberry Inn, “All fiction is useful chiefly to animate truth, to inspire some noble aim or sweet spirit.” It was the “idyllic principle” that enabled me to warm up to the story, The Winged Watchman by Hilda van Stockum. One of my aims in writing was to demonstrate that the “idyllic principle” is also applicable to stories for grown-ups. I believe an author of children’s fiction has a duty to describe the world as it ought to be, as it can be.Ī blog friend gave me this book mark after she visited Prince Edward Island this summer. I admit to joining the ranks of the idealistic. In my Preface to Lessons at Blackberry Inn I admit to something.
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