The sequel to 'Pat of Silver Bush', which I reread a few weeks ago. I hadn't previously read this one, so was pleased to find it for my Kindle. I read it at an airport and on a flight, and it was ideal - quite engaging while reading, but easy to put down when necessary. Intended originally for teenagers, but probably much too tame for most of today's teens.

Pat, who was an idealistic child in the first book, is now an equally idealistic adult who loves her home almost more than anything. She's twenty at the start of the book, which takes place over twelve years. Pat makes new friends, goes out with some young men, thinks she might have fallen in love... and works hard running her family home. The housekeeper and cook Judy is her closest ally, and Judy is getting old.

Pat's sister Rae ('Cuddles' from the first book) goes through adolescence with plenty of high spirits and young men who like her. And Sid marries someone that neither of them like.

I thought this is an excellent sequel. It's long-winded, and in places hard to read (as Judy speaks in a strong Irish dialect). But the characters feel real, and their interactions believable. There are some moving scenes and an unexpected climax which leads on fairly quickly to the conclusion I had been hoping for.

Recommended, though it's best to read this after the first book.

Longer review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2024/08/mistress-pat-by-lucy-maud-montgomer... ( )

When she was twenty, nearly everyone thought Patricia Gardiner ought to be having beaus--except of course, Pat herself. For Pat, Silver Bush was both home and heaven. All she could ever ask of life was bound in the magic of the lovely old house on Prince Edward Island, "where good things never change." And now there was more than ever to do, what with planning for the Christmas family reunion, entertaining a countess, playing matchmaker, and preparing for the arrival of the new hired man. Yet as those she loved so dearly started to move away, Pat began to question the wisdom of her choice of Silver Bush over romance. Was it possible to be lonely at Silver Bush?

Mistress Pat doesn't hold up quite as well upon revisiting it as an adult... The issue of flimsy characters persists from the last book, though there is a good solid core of well written people, namely Pat herself, Judy Plum, Cuddles/Rae, and Tillytuck. Everybody else had no life in them apart from their interactions with these characters.

I found it harder and harder to relate to Pat's passionate attachment to her house... Pat's obsession with it really did get in the way of some of her friendships. There wasn't as much growth as I like to see in a character, and frankly, I find it unfortunate that she didn't end up with Hilary until after she literally had nothing except the clothes on her back. She acts like the scales have fallen from her eyes and she now realizes she loves him, but wouldn't that choice have been more meaningful if life hadn't beaten her into the state of having no other option? If, instead, she matured a little and decided to grab hold of a chance for a loving, stable relationship?

I think the same observations I made about the first book apply here. L.M. Montgomery's life was plunged into depression by the mania of her husband. Just the fact that these books got written in the midst of the madness is a triumph and a testament to Montgomery's devotion to her craft. ( )

This has traditionally been one of my less favored Montgomery novels. However, I finally realized that Pat's obsession with Silver Bush is not supposed to be healthy. Read through that light, the novel takes on a new shape. Although in structure, it falls into the category of Montgomery's other novels, in theme it is more akin to the realism of the mid-twentieth century. This is a novel of a woman who turns away from opportunities at happiness again and again because she has convinced herself that life is only meaningful because of the house she lives in. Even the ending, which one could take as simply a happy ending, leaves one wondering if the simple explanation is correct or if Pat is only accepting it because everything else has been stripped away from her.

And Pat's obsession does not just destroy her own happiness. Her hatred of change feeds a denial of her sibling's ability to make their own life choices affects them. She temporarily ruins her relationship with her sister because she felt she had the right to decide who was good enough for Rae. And while Sid certainly deserves his own share of credit for his unhappy marriage, I suspect that May was not the only woman put off by the idea of coming to live in a house where Pat would always insist on being mistress.

In the end, I don't know whether or not the two Pat books are a successful pair of novels. I do, however, think that they provide a fascinating insight into Montgomery as a writer. ( )

Rereading an old favorite. Good things in here, terrible things in here. Still a stirring story, for all I’ve lost patience with marriage and old maid mores. Left me weeping and annoyed, but glad to read it again for all that. ( )

Montgomery really pushed the limits on this one with it's unlikable main character. ( )

L.M. Montgomery is a long time and all time favorite author of mine. She writes the perfect girls story with just the right mix of adventure, drama and happiness. I find her books a comfort to read and have re-read most of her works many times over the years. They are classics for a reason and that reason is they are great. These are true comfort books for me and books I enjoy re-reading again and again. ( )

i really want to like this book, but it spent 350 pages hitting me over the head with depression, and then dropped the two worst possible scenarios in the last two chapters. seriously, lmm? i guess the end redeemed it all somewhat, but for an lmm book, getting there was sometimes more painful that it should have been. ( )

As she grows into womanhood, Pat continues to love Silver Bush more than she could possibly love any man... or so she thinks. But change is coming, and even Pat’s determination can’t hold it back.

Ugh, this book is so unnecessary. I’m heading into a spoiler-filled rant here: If Pat had just married Jingle at the end of the first book, it would have been lovely. But no, she has to be all stubborn about never leaving Silver Bush. So, in the second half of this book, we see the destruction of everything she loves. Gentleman Tom leaves, Sid marries Pat’s worst enemy, Rae goes off to China, Judy dies, and then the freaking house burns down and Jingle comes back and literally proposes to her in the ashes. No matter how much I want this couple to get together, I cannot feel good about that.

I’ve always been bothered by that to some extent, but on this read I was also irked at Montgomery’s casual fat-shaming, which unfortunately runs through many of her works, but is particularly egregious here. Fatness is always a character flaw when it’s mentioned, never a neutral descriptor. Fat characters are lazy or stupid or crass (Mrs. Binnie, for instance, is all three, and because she weighs over 200 pounds, there’s apparently not a chair in Silver Bush that can hold her), and they serve as comic relief. Fat characters are undeserving of love (one of Pat’s old flames is later described as — horrors! — having gotten plump and middle-aged, so of course Pat spurns him again, and Rae flippantly jokes that one of her suitors might get fat with age, and then she couldn’t love him anymore). And don’t get me started on Mrs. Merridew. I’m maybe a touch bitter and sensitive on the topic, but I had a hard time getting through this reread. I love the first book in this duology, but maybe next time I will pretend that this one never happened. ( )

My, that's stupid! Year after year after year goes by (section headings remind the reader), with Pat loving Silver Bush and turning down every man who courts her. And things change, and she hates it, and the spiral gets tighter and tighter...and then (ok, I won't spoil it) the crisis comes, by chance, and she finally figures out that all her love of Silver Bush was just trying to cover up her real love. And happy ever after, as the book ends. It was so obvious what would happen, though I couldn't see how, that I had a distinct feeling through the last half or so of the book of "ok, ok, come on, get it done...". The first book was sweet and pointless. This one is just stupid. I won't be reading either of them again. ( )

At twenty years old, Pat Gardiner has very little interest in beaus, marriage, or leaving her beloved home, Silver Bush. As the years pass though, Pat must constantly face off against that constant enemy of change and determine if loving her home is all she really needs to get her through the rest of her life.

Regardless of her characters, there is something so satisfying about sinking into an L.M. Montgomery novel and immersing yourself in her language which evokes a place and time that seems untouchable. Technically part of a duology, it took me a bit to place who every character was and the book does include a major spoiler for the previous book but not much appears to be lost by reading the books out of order. Pat and all the other characters who build up her world are thoroughly charming and with episodes that will leave you laughing out loud as well as ones that will leave you sniffing back tears, the book is a delight from start to finish. ( )

This book could have had some good potential. I found it slow moving and difficult to keep my attention... ( )

MISTRESS PAT is Lucy Maud Montgomery’s second novel featuring Patricia Gardiner, the heroine of PAT OF SILVER BUSH. In MISTRESS PAT, Pat is now eighteen and being pursued by young men who hope to marry her. But Pat is single-mindedly committed to her home and family. Over the eleven years of the novel, the world around Pat changes, and family members arrive and depart. In the end, Pat must resolve the central struggle of her life: her determination to remain at Silver Bush.

MISTRESS PAT would be a fine selection for readers who have worked their way through Montgomery’s Anne novels and through the Little House series. It is a gentle, slow-moving book, quite unlike much of what is currently available for middle-grade and YA readers. Although the book follows Pat through her late teens and twenties, many plot points will feel relatable for readers in their early teens (as well as for adult readers). Do be aware, however, that the novel contains passages that reflect attitudes of the early twentieth century; some readers may need to discuss the sexism and racism expressed in these passages.

For strong readers, this novel is noteworthy for Montgomery’s beautiful rendering of the landscape of Silver Bush and for her dropping of literary allusions. There is much to cherish in Montgomery’s effusive language and abundant descriptions, although her style will read as elevated and old-fashioned for some tastes. But for anyone who feels the strong tug of hearth and home — and grief for lost friends — Pat’s experiences will certainly resonate. MISTRESS PAT is an enjoyable, immersive book that readers will be able to revisit rewardingly, and I’m happy to see it available in this attractive new edition. ( )

When I first read this book, back in August 2017, I did not have a Goodreads account yet. But I wanted to talk about how I felt after reading it, so I wrote some bits and pieces in my journal-diary which I will share here:

"I feel a lot like Patricia Gardiner; I can fully understand her. (I suppose I was talking about how she dislikes change.) But like in all books, she is rather pretty, and her true love comes for her in the end. There aren't any books where the heroine isn't pretty. That would make things better. I could be more hopeful then.
I do feel awfully sorry for David Kirk. Just like Dean Priest. Seems like there are plenty of men like them in the world. I would love to be able to fill the lonely aching abyss (I think I made up that phrase to describe an empty heart) of one such man. To bring love, joy, laughter into his eyes and face, and life... I just wish I had a Judy Plum to sit with and talk about things in the kitchen while eating "liddle bites". Life is no fairytale, but life can be made pleasant."

Now, after reading this book again, I feel mostly the same, except I don't grudge Pat her beauty or her true love. 😄

First, I love the name of the Gardiner home, Silver Bush. It stirs the imagination and makes the place memorable. (I wish our place was named something nice like that.) L.M.M always manages to give homes names that sound right and are unforgettable. Examples include Green Gables (of course!), Lantern Hill, Rose Cottage...

Second, I loved the side characters like Judy Plum, Tillytuck, Mama and Papa Gardiner, and of course, Rae. I also adored Hilary "Jingle" Gordon, but I loved and felt sorry for David Kirk. I can't understand why L.M.M. puts in beautiful characters like him just to have them end up lonely, almost always. It's heart-breaking. There's Dean Priest in the Emily of New Moon books, there's Capt. Harris in the Anne of Avonlea movie, there's Arthur Pettibone in the Road to Avonlea series, and the list goes on.

The only story in which the older, more subdued suitor actually made it to the altar, was [A Tangled Web]. That was one lucky character.

One thing that I don't like in the newer books of L.M.M. is the modernization. The girls start wearing dresses without backs, and there are tons of "beaus" all over the place, and motorcars becoming more common, and the words! pi-jaw!? I am glad that Pat remains traditional and modest, and down-to-earth. I can't help laughing over her rejection of her long line of suitors, though. And the reasons she has for rejecting some of them are so hilarious, like "He breathes through his mouth."

After the Fourth Year, the years pass by very quickly. I feel extremely sorry for Sid, for being dumped and for ending up with a Binnie... 😣 I felt exactly the same way I did for Mr. Quimby in [Wired Love: A Romance of Dots and Dashes].

I feel just like Rae when she says, "my ambition seems to have petered out... We're like that at Silver Bush, it seems, Pat. We're just domestic girls after all and want a home to potter over, with a nice husband and a few nice babies." I wish my dad would understand that!

It's really sad and heart-wrenching when Judy gets ill; I think I wiped tears away that whole time. The mood gets very sorrowful towards the end of the book, but the finale is enchanting, perfectly lovely, and a very good one. Finally, everyone gets the happiness they deserve. ( )

Although this is the second book of a set of two, I read it without reading the one before it. It is quite similar to other L.M. Montgomery books such as the Anne or Emily series. It follows the story of a young woman in her 20's living in rural PEI. The story is set over the course of 11 years and does a good job of reflecting the perception of time flying by more quickly as one gets older. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys L.M. Montgomery's works.

Originally published in 1935, this sequel to Pat of Silver Bush just happens to be the last of L.M. Montgomery's novels that I had not yet read, making the experience of completing it rather bittersweet. Continuing the story of Pat Gardiner, whose love for her home at Silver Bush, and for her circle of friends and family, is as strong as ever, it is spread out over eleven years, with an multi-part chapter devoted to each.

The domestic traditions of Silver Bush, the widening social and romantic lives of Pat and her sister Rae (formerly Cuddles), the magical stories of Judy Plum and the new hired man, Josiah Tillytuck, all combine to fill Pat's days with happiness. But always, something is missing. Is it simply foreboding at the inevitable changes, such as Sid's marriage, that lie ahead? Or does Pat need something that Silver Bush cannot supply?

There is much here to enjoy, from Montgomery's lovely passages devoted to the natural beauty of Prince Edward Island, to the emotionally resonant ups and downs of sisterhood. And of course, the heartwarming presence of the Silver Bush kitties is always a winner! But if I'm honest, Mistress Pat simply isn't Montgomery at her best. Despite having "grown up," Pat still moves from three-dimensional character to caricature, upon occasion. The slapdash resolution, which crowds a death, a terrible catastrophe, and an unexpected epiphany into the last twenty pages, somehow isn't very convincing. In another author, this might have earned a two-star demotion, as it is, this is one Montgomery title I probably won't revisit very often. ( )

Everything goes so wrong for Pat for so long that I never really got over it. This is L.M. Montgomery, though, so you know everything works out in the end. ( )

Mistress Pat picks up a shortly after the end of Pat of Silver Bush. At ease in her role as mistress of Silver Bush while her mother recovers from the surgery that left her terribly weakened, Pat spends her days in the company of her younger sister Rae, who refuses to go by the old nickname "Cuddles" now that she's all grown up, and the ever indomitable Judy Plum, whose stories continue to retain their fantastical charm for all Pat has grown too old to continue to believe in witches and fairies. Now 20, Pat has learned to accept the inevitability of change, though she still dreads its arrival. For Pat, there is still no better place than Silver Bush and no beau whose charms can compare with the charms of her beloved home. Beaus may come and go, their company making for a nice time, but Pat knows that it will take more than a good time with a cordial companion to make her want to get married and leave the familiarity of SIlver Bush.

Like the Green Gables series, the two Silver Bush novels cover a lengthy span of time. Mistress Pat alone spans an 11 year time period, and Pat is only around 7 when she is first introduced in Pat of Silver Bush. My calculations are terrible, but I believe Pat is 27 or 28 when the novel ends...perhaps even 30, there is much speculation on the great-aunts' part that Pat is permanently "on the shelf". However, I never felt like the story dragged; Pat is such a lively, spirited character with incredibly modern (dare I say feminist?) sensibilities that I felt like I was getting to know a dear friend's life story. Pat and Judy's friendship is as lovely as ever, and her relationship with the grown up Rae adds a new dimension to Pat's character as we get to see her interacting with an equally independent and modern sister. The Gardiners continue to be a funny and fussy bunch, but Pat can now manage her relatives without feeling the least bit downtrodden. There is a good dose of melodrama in the story, but it wouldn't be an LMM novel without it. Thwarted loves and misalliances abound, but they are in the background and serve to counter Pat's own level-headed attitude towards marriage. A few scenes are also quite saddening, particularly in the final chapters when Pat must face the inevitable loss of several dear friends. Nevertheless, Pat's is a hopeful and optimistic story, though bittersweet at times, and I feel very glad to have found copies of these two wonderful books.

Gricel @ things-she-read.org ( )

i really want to like this book, but it spent 350 pages hitting me over the head with depression, and then dropped the two worst possible scenarios in the last two chapters. seriously, lmm? i guess the end redeemed it all somewhat, but for an lmm book, getting there was sometimes more painful that it should have been. ( )

Mistress Pat continues the story of Pat of Silver Bush and covers an 11-year period in Pat's life. Readers familiar with Montgomery's other works will find many similar episodes in these pages, but they are none the less enjoyable for that.

In Montgomery's world, the greatest barrier to love seems to be the unwillingness of the woman to understand and acknowledge that her feelings for the man run deeper than friendship. Anne, Emily, and Pat all suffer from this. All three heroines share an almost-painful awareness of beauty and love of poetry. Pat is probably the least likeable of the three; she has few ambitions save her plans of living always at Silver Bush, and though she loves beauty she does not have any artistic pursuits such as writing. She is intelligent but does not care for school. In some ways her love for Silver Bush is like an obsession. One thing I did enjoy about Pat was her sharp wit with her suitors. I don't remember Anne or Emily being quite so acerbic, and it was rather funny in places. Though this paragraph hasn't been overly complimentary to Pat as a character, I do like her. But I understand why these books are much less known than the Anne and Emily stories.

Montgomery did pull one or two surprises in this story. I couldn't believe who Sid brought home as his wife, or the fate of Silver Bush at the end. But for the most part the story rolls on slowly over the eleven years, like it would have for quiet country people. I enjoyed my foray into that world and I recommend the Pat books to those looking for more of Montgomery's magic. ( )

Where I enjoyed Pat of Silver Bush at least to a mild degree, Mistress Pat left me wanting. I felt that I couldn't connect with Pat's urges and wishes and that her interest in having everything remain unchanged seemed to hint at an ostrich burying its head in the sand. She seemed through the whole book to be so afraid of things changing that she would do whatever it took to prevent it from happening, even to the point of trying to avoid the happiness of her siblings. I couldn't understand her at all. Probably the most redeeming quality of the book was the reality shown that very few things are perfect and nothing is eternal. Otherwise, I could leave Mistress Pat rather than taking it up again in the future. ( )

http://www.lonelymountain.net/books/jun05.html#montgomeryp ( )

Most people know about Anne of Green Gables, and most girls have probably read it at some point. It's one of my very favorite books, one that, humble "kidlit" as it is, has even changed my life in many ways. What most people maybe don't know is that L.M. Montgomery wrote around 20 other novels -- seven more in the Anne series, an Emily series (probably her second-best-known books), two Pat books, two Story Girl books, a few standalone children's books, and two books written for adults; all these books are well worth reading. Mistress Pat is the sequel to Pat of Silver Bush; these novels were written late in Montgomery's life, and are darker than the Annes -- notably, Mistress Pat is possibly the darkest of Montgomery's novels and was written under the influence of a deep depression which clouded the second half of her life. I definitely recommend this pair of books, although you will pretty much need to read Pat of Silver Bush first. Pat in the first book is in close contention for the position of my favorite Montgomery heroine. Also, this short series has the distinction of containing one of Montgomery's two actual knowable male characters, in the young Hilary. He'll disappoint you by pretty much disappearing till the end of the last page of the second book, however, as Montgomery's romantic heroes were wont to do once she got out of her depth with them. "Write what you know", for this author, sadly didn't include strong men or normal romantic relationships. ( )

Sequel to Pat of Silver Bush ( )