skygiants

I LOVED THAT BOOK FROM THE FIRST MOMENT I READ IT AS A GIRL AND STILL HAVE A COPY. ahem. I remember it was pretty well-written and as you point out, Kit has some actual flaws -- not Mary Sue flaws, but she's impetuous, doesn't think much about the HUGE amount of privilege she has, isn't interested in much beyond her own life and is really determined to bitch and moan every step of the way. But she's also generous, open-hearted, dedicated to doing the right thing and does try to learn. Fine Lines was pretty good on this:

Kit tutors poor Prudence Cruff and makes friends with Hannah Tupper, the older Quaker woman. But she's also a former slaveowner who seriously considers marrying William Ashby simply to escape the cycle of hard labor of her uncle's house. She acts impulsively, which means she saves people with her kindness, but she also endangers them at the same time. Yes, she takes Prudence Cruff away from the poverty of her upbringing and teaches her to read, but she also nearly closes Mercy's school. Yes, she saves Hannah from the angry mob who comes to torch her house, but her visits are partly what has drawn attention to the woman in the first place. Yes, she's brave to go see Hannah, but she also exposes her entire aunt's family to the condemnation of the community.

I'm always surprised when I see the book was written in 1958; somehow it feels like it could have been from much later. I wonder if the author kind of wrote it as a secret corrective to The Crucible, which opened in 1953.

DAME HANNAH <333