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. ( )