Brightly Shining

 

Brightly Shining / Ingvild Rishoi
trans. from the Norwegian by Caroline Waight
NY: Grove, 2024, c2021.
192 p.

This is another beautiful Christmas book, physically, with a gorgeous cover. But don't let it fool you; this isn't a book for happy Christmas vibes. It's a melancholy, dark read about two young sisters and their alcoholic father. 

Inspired by The Little Match Girl, you can guess that this won't be a cheery tale. Ronja is 10, and she's telling the tale from her viewpoint. Her older sister Melissa, 16, is her rock, and the person who holds their home together. Their mother is dead and their father is an alcoholic - he is great when he's dry, but that is so infrequent as to be another dream. 

Ronja is friends with her school's caretaker, who gives her a lead for a job for her dad, selling Christmas trees. He takes it and all is well, until he falls into drink again. Then Melissa begs, and takes over his tree-selling position to keep the family going. Ronja doesn't like being far from Melissa so starts hanging out at the tree lot after school. But the owner isn't too keen on that. 

In a happy Christmas tale, their father would quit drinking in a Christmas miracle and all would be glorious. But that doesn't happen here. Melissa and Ronja have to make their own decisions and take their own path. The ending is not entirely conclusive; many reviews online say that it's an open ending. I feel it is pretty dark if you take the inspiration into account, and am not sure what I think about the structure of the book if my interpretation is correct. It's a hard read, heartbreaking with moments of light and joy amidst the overall depressing story. I liked it but found it hard going, especially the ending. 

Merry Christmas!

Photo by Anthony Cantin on Unsplash

Merry Christmas week to all who celebrate!

 I wish you all great reading and time to relax ~ and lots of good food and fun too!

 

Mystery in White

 

Mystery in White / J. Jefferson Farjeon
Scottsdale, AZ: Poisoned Pen Press, 2016, c1937.
237 p.

This is my Christmas read this year! This was republished fairly recently, and I thought it looked like a good choice for some fun holiday reading. I was right - it had snowstorms, Christmas, mysterious strangers, murder, spirits and seemingly abandoned country houses with fires going and tea laid. And a ragtag group of characters thrown together when their train gets stuck in an enormous snowfall. 

There are a brother and sister, an old man who investigates hauntings, a pimply clerk going to visit his maiden aunt, a beautiful young woman, a pompous blowhard, and an unexpected add-on from another compartment - a bit of a shady character. They discuss leaving the train and hiking through the snow to the next station, not so far away, but are rather anxious about the idea, until the old man sees something and leaps out of the train. Then one by one they feel obliged to follow, to make sure the old man makes it. They all make it, but not to the station, rather to a large country house with an unlocked front door after they are lost in the storm. They enter to find fires going, tea laid out, and no-one there. But they are desperate so they pile in, and this becomes a kind of locked room mystery. 

I found the development of the plot to this point (a chapter or so in) quite quick and action-oriented. It slows down a fair bit once they are all in the house, with a bit too much guilty reflection on using the house going on, like seriously, who would be mad that you came in out of a blizzard and sought shelter? But otherwise, there is a great atmosphere developed in the house with a portrait that seems to glare down at them, and a foreboding sense of doom in one of the upper bedrooms, and a kitchen knife out of place on the floor... 

Add to this very realistic characters who are selfish, neurotic, guarded, anxious, and of course there's some good old sexism thrown in too. The plot eventually makes sense, with some extra information finally revealed, and it's interesting if a bit sensational. But the psychology of all the characters and how they watch each other and have private thoughts about one another is the delight of this book. The people are so very peopley. 

Christmas is a bit incidental, except that it happens on Christmas Eve into Christmas Day, and Lydia (the sister) is determined to bring a bit of Christmas spirit into the dreary proceedings. I really enjoyed it and thought it was a well made mystery, definitely of its time, with a slightly corny edge but lots of fun nonetheless. It combines the snowed in train trope with some 'ghost story for Christmas' vibe and has a bit of sparkle too. I thought it was a fun seasonal read! 

A Lot Like Christmas

 

A Lot Like Christmas / Connie Willis 
NY: Random House, c2017.
544 p.

I enjoy Connie Willis' books, and so decided on her 2017 collection of seasonal short stories for my holiday reading this year. A Lot Like Christmas is an expanded version of an earlier collection, Miracle and Other Christmas Stories (which I read in 2013). There are 5 new stories in this book, but it's been such a long time since I read the first one that I enjoyed rereading all the stories which I vaguely recalled, as well. 

The five new stories are all a delight. There are more aliens in these ones, foreshadowing her recent book Road to Roswell, perhaps! I think my favourite one was the longish story All Seated on the Ground (which won a Hugo). It has aliens, Christmas carols, and entertaining characters. There's one about a world in which the main character works for a company that creates huge themed Christmas displays, to impress others; another tips the hat to Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The new stories were uniformly appealing. The only story I felt was a dud, and I felt this way the first time I read it, was In Coppelius' Toyshop. Too 80s & mean feeling, and I still don't like it! 

Another element to enjoy in this book is Willis' intro, talking about why she writes Christmas stories and what makes a good one. Plus the list of Christmas movies to watch and books to read in the back has been expanded since the first edition, and there are even more great suggestions to keep you busy with holiday entertainment. Highly recommended if you're looking for some unusual and thought-provoking Christmas reading that is also a lot of fun. 

Merry Christmas to All!

Merry Christmas 

to all my readers who celebrate! 

May your holidays be peaceful and full of the quiet sounds 

of turning pages and crackling fireplaces, and pens scratching

out reading lists for 2023!

 

Happy Christmas Eve!

 

Happy Christmas Eve -- it's a lovely time to be still and reflective. In this excerpt from the story Christmas Eve in Dorothy Richardson's collection Journey to Paradise, a group of disparate girls in a boarding house find some glory in the night despite themselves. They are all asked to go up to the room of a German girl who has bought herself a small Christmas tree, just for a few minutes -- 

The curtains were all thrown up over their rails leaving the room clear. Someone had pushed back the beds so that there was space on the linoleum-covered floor  for all the stand about the little tree. Its many candles glowed sharply in the cold air. Fraulein Braun stood near the tree as we all gathered in a rough circle. 

"What are we to do, Fraulein?" asked Miss Spencer briskly to cover a giggle from little Green.

"Are all here?" asked Fraulein in her deep voice.

"Everyone in the house, Fraulein."

Fraulein drew back into the awkward circle between Edith and the little Hindu who was standing with reverently bent head and her little hands clasped downwards before her. At the end of a moment Fraulein's rich voice rose and filled he large cold room.

'Sh - ti- il - le Nacht  / Hei - li - ge Nacht'

As she sang the room seemed to grow less cold. The sharp separate rays of the little candles changed to one rosy golden blur. 

When Fraulein's voice ceased there was silence. Miss Spencer looked about with a cheerful questioning face. She could be heard urging someone to do something. In a moment she would speak. I was aware of a stirring at my side and felt the flush that made Cook's face uniform with her nose. Her impulse had animated more than one but it was her old unused voice that broke the silence with song in which presently all joined as they could: 

'While shepherds watched their flocks by night

  All seated on the ground

The Angel of the Lord came down, 

  And glory shone around.'

Murder Under the Christmas Tree

Murder Under the Christmas Tree / ed. by Cecily Gayford
London, UK: Profile Books, c2016.
288 p.

 

This collection was a fun and seasonal read. Somehow at Christmas I like to read classic mysteries so this collection of 10 by a variety of authors really hit the spot. It includes the following: 

The Necklace of Pearls by Dorothy L. Sayers

The Name on the Window by Edmund Crispin

A Traditional Christmas by Val McDermid

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Invisible Man by G.K. Chesterton

Cinders by Ian Rankin

Death on the Air by Ngaio March

Persons or Things Unknown by Carter Dixon

The Case is Altered by Margery Allingham

The Price of Light by Ellis Peters

I had already read a couple of these -- the Sherlock Holmes one of course, and the Dorothy Sayers one in an earlier Wimsey collection. But I enjoyed rereading, and discovering some of the others that were new to me. They are not all super Christmassy, but a few stood out. I don't usually read modern crime writers like McDermid, but her story in this collection was an enjoyable read that I found both tricky and fascinating both for the murder and for the characterizations she was able to bring out in just a few pages. 

I found the Allingham pretty weak, even though I have liked her novels in the past, and the Dixon was kind of forgettable for me. The one I was sure I wouldn't love was the Peters - medieval stories aren't generally my favourite. But this Brother Cadfael story was surprisingly apt for our times, and made a great conclusion to the book. 

I'd recommend this one if you are looking for some Christmassy stories to read during the holidays. There's likely something in it for everyone, and it's always nice to revisit some old classics if you've encountered them before. Happy Holiday reading! 

The Story of Holly and Ivy

 

The Story of Holly and Ivy / Rumer Godden
NY: MacMillan, 2005, c1958.
64 p.

My favourite of all of Rumer Godden's stories about dolls, this small Christmas story follows Holly, a 6 yr old orphan being sent to a country home for the Christmas holiday as everyone else in her orphanage has been spoken for by local families. She tells herself that she's going to visit her grandmother in the country, and gets off the train randomly in a small town with the name that she has made up for her grandmother's village. 

She enjoys herself in the afternoon, walking the Christmas market and gazing into the window of the toy store, but as night falls she knows she can't be found by the policeman making his rounds. She scurries into an alleyway and finds a warm shed on the back of a bakery to curl up in. 

She can't help going back to the toy store in the night, though, to gaze at the doll she wants more than anything, and there she finds a key on the ground that she puts into her pocket. 

In the early morning, she is found by a policeman outside the shop, along with the shop boy who is anxious to find the key he dropped. And this coincidence leads to a surprising and heartwarming conclusion in which everyone gets everything they had wanted, with no bureaucratic claptrap to interfere with it all. Simpler times! 

This is a story that feels heavy with Christmas magic to me, though, and it's one I love. The picture book edition, illustrated by Barbara Cooney, is especially delightful if you can find it. The illustrations are just so perfect. 

That concludes my Christmas reading; on to other books and reviews shortly.

The Fairy Doll

 

The Fairy Doll / Rumer Godden
NY: MacMillan, 2007, c1956.
52 p.

Over Christmas I revisited some stories by an author I really enjoy, Rumer Godden. I remember reading some of her doll stories when I was a child, and so I got out a collection and reread a couple of Christmas themed ones, which were charming, though a wee bit dated in some ways. 

The Fairy Doll is the tale of Elizabeth, the youngest of a family, who is treated impatiently because she is clumsy and not as quick witted as the older children. When Great Granny comes to visit, however, she suggests that Elizabeth needs her own Fairy to help her, and gives her the Fairy Doll from the top of the Christmas tree. All year long Elizabeth is helped in her struggles by a 'ting' in her mind showing her what to do, thanks to the Fairy Doll, and gets better at school, at her errands and finally learns to ride her bicycle. 

But then tragedy - the Fairy Doll is lost! But Elizabeth keeps on doing better at life. Was it just herself all along? This is a sweet story about the power of self-confidence and the realities of getting older. There are odd little moments, as when 6 yr old Elizabeth is sent alone to the shops to pick up items for Mother and gets muddled, and is mocked for this by her siblings when she gets home. A different time indeed! 

If you haven't read any of these "doll stories" before, Christmas is a good time to do it. They are sweet but not overly sentimental; I think Rumer Godden isn't capable of pure syrup. I enjoyed this story but my favourite is still The Story of Holly & Ivy, another seasonal tale. 

Merry Christmas!

 

Photo by Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash

Merry Christmas to all my readers here! 
 Enjoy your holidays reading, resting, & relaxing. 

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.”

― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Merry Christmas to All!

Happiest of Holidays

to all my loyal readers! 

Wishing you a peaceful season

filled with books, love, and togetherness

Happy Christmas Eve!

Happy Christmas Eve!

"Aren't we grand tonight?" she laughed. "We might be expecting company, so fine we are. When I was little, it was Santa Claus himself who came round on this night, and weren't we excited! I do love Christmas Eve."...

"It's lovely, Mary. You've made it grand. I've never seen it so nice before. You can make a feast when there's an empty pantry. You make everything pretty you handle."

She leaped to her feet with joy at his words, and danced round the room, putting the final touches to the holly and ivy that decked the walls. Along the edge of the stone mantelpiece hung a chain of scarlet berries which she had threaded that afternoon, and in each brass pitcher and pan she stuck a spray of greenery. 

There were not many pictures in the little room -- a wool-work embroidered picture of Christ blessing the children, a cross-stitch sampler, and a painting of a cart-horse. Round the frames she had twisted garlands of holly and sprays of ivy, and sprigs of berries decked the looking-glass and the dresser.

From the middle of the ceiling hung the Kissing-bunch. It was a large bunch of holly with the choicest berries, all trimmed neatly in to a round smooth ball of greenery. It was suspended by a string from a hook, and underneath it a visitor must take a kiss. Such was the custom of those times, when Christmas trees were hardly known.

"It's as lovely a Kissing-bunch as ever I remember," said Simon, gazing up at it. The ball glittered in the firelight. The rosy apples and yellow oranges hanging in the bunch gleamed, and the silver bells, gilded walnuts and little flags of paper stuck in the Kissing-bunch made a brightness that seemed to shine out like a lamp.

Simon rose to his full height and drawing his little wife close to him he kissed her under the prickly bunch. "Thank you for making so many pleasures out of nothing,"said he. 

~from Christmas Stories by Alison Uttley

Winterson's Christmas Days

Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days / Jeanette Winterson
London: Grove Press, 2017, c2016.
292 p.

I was happy to have read this book this year in my run-up to the holidays. I do like Winterson's work, and this little collection of stories is very much part of her own story. 

It's made up of a mixture of short fairy tales, realistic stories, and some traditionally eerie bits too. And at the end of each is a little explanation of why and how the story was written or some connection it has to her own life. Plus then there is a recipe to try (though I can't recommend the recipes to vegetarian readers; the pickings are slim there!) 

It's a strange combination, which wasn't fully convincing. I found some of the stories interesting, skipped others, and spent most of my reading time perusing the conversations following each of them rather than the short tales themselves. 

Some of the text is recognizable to those who've read her other works, particularly the memoirs. And some of it is simply of interest for the thoughtful musing that's going on. One of my own favourite bits is when she talks about her long friendship with writer Ruth Rendell, and how they spent Christmas together for many years. It was warm and holiday spiritish to read. And then there was this quote about one of my own favourite themes, the workings of memory:

Remembering isn't like visiting a museum: Look! There's the long-gone object in a glass case. Memory isn't an archive. Even a simple memory is a cluster. Something that seemed so insignificant at the time suddenly becomes the key when we remember it at a particular time later.We're not liars or self-deceivers -- OK, we are all liars and self-deceivers, but it's a fact that our memories change as we do. 

Anyhow, it's an unusual and interesting read set up for the season - Winterson explains the twelve days of Christmas and this book could certainly be read in that sequence if you followed it. I did find it a little bit fragmentary and had a sense that it was a very personal book, almost a commonplace book collecting her stories and thoughts around the holiday season. And recipes of course! So it wasn't a gripping read, but one to dip into here and there, again and again. 



You can find here An excellent review in The Guardian about the odd gallimaufrey that this book is.

Stories for Christmas

Stories for Christmas / Alison Uttley; chosen by Kathleen Lines
London: Faber & Faber, c1977.
128 p.

This is a collection of twelve stories set at Christmas, excerpted from a variety of Uttley's children's books. Perfect for reading over the 12 days of Christmas.

Uttley's books are charming, very, very English, and full of whimsy and things such as talking animals and animated inanimate objects. 

In this collection, her focus on the high point of the calendar being the Christmas season, mostly as a religious festival, is clear. As the introduction says, "Christmas was the climax of winter for the country people during Alison Uttley's childhood. Ribbon and ornaments were carefully kept from year to year, holly and ivy and other greenery were gatheried in the woods for decoration; few presents were bought, for most were handmade, and the traditional Christmas food was cooked or made at home. It is natrual then that many of Alison Uttley's stories should be about the festival and the preparations for it. Many of them begin on Christmas Eve, 'that night of mystery when strange things can happen'."

Some of the stories are about gift giving and joyous gatherings; some are quiet and magical; some are focused on the miraculous nature of the Christmas story, while others feature the enchantment of a fairy tale season with fairies and such appearing. There is some humour, some sentiment, and a lot of seasonal enjoyment to be had. 

Since the stories are gathered from a variety of books, the tone and interest varies. I liked the more adult focused ones, while younger readers might love Sam Pig and his piggy siblings best. However, I still think that my favourite Christmas content from Alison Uttley comes from her book A Country Child, which I've shared before. 

But to open the heart to miracles and the joy of the season, this collection was a charming and delightful choice. I enjoyed its quiet celebratory tone and all the different takes on Christmas.

Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Book!

Merry Christmas

to all my loyal readers! 

Wishing you a peaceful season

filled with books, love, and good government

Photo by rawpixel.com on Unsplash

Happy Ukrainian Christmas!

Happy Ukrainian Christmas to all!

On this day of celebration, I'll be reading some Ukrainian Canadian literature

 and eating lots of good food -- always important for a proper Ukrainian celebration!

Best Wishes to everyone who celebrates :) 

(sample menu ideas if you're interested)

Merry Christmas to All!

May there be great feasting & relaxation for all my readers, 

and of course, many books under the tree! 

Happy Holidays to all

Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas!

 

They plunged their hands into the stockings again. And they pulled out two long, long, sticks of candy. It was peppermint candy, striped red and white. They looked and looked at that beautiful candy, and Laura licked her stick, just one lick. But Mary was not so greedy. She didn’t even take one lick of her stick.

Those stockings weren’t empty yet. Mary and Laura pulled out two small packages. They unwrapped them, and each found a little heart-shaped cake. Over their delicate brown tops was sprinkled white sugar. The sparkling grains lay like tiny drifts of snow.

May you all find your stockings full of delicious and lovely gifts today!

One Sweet Quarrel

One Sweet Quarrel / Deirdre McNamer
Amazon Encore, 2013, c1994.
314 p.

This is another of Nancy Pearl's Book Lust Rediscovery series; titles originally published between 1960-2000, and brought back into availability thanks to Nancy Pearl's efforts. 

This book tells the story of three very different siblings born near the turn of the 20th century: Carlton, Jerry, and Daisy Malone. Brought up in the Midwest, as adults they spread out. Jerry heads to Montana to homestead, and on the heels of his arrival he also finds himself a bride. Daisy tries her luck as a singer in Manhattan, eventually reuniting with Jerry in Montana. Neither of them is that keen on Carlton, who stayed behind at home and made money. 

The joy of the story is in the manner of telling. It goes back and forth, showing us these characters both old and young, told in letters and in regular narrative, moving between Montana and other possible lives. McNamer skims from moment to moment, filling in the colours of the story's outlines bit by bit. The story progresses, but as it does it also reflects and explains and explores the characters' thoughts and motives. It is a satisfying read, especially for the patient reader who loves a landscape and a history that are slowly expanded with each page.   

There is a restlessness to the main characters, whether that's to make something of themselves as performers, or to succeed at land speculation in the West. This energy moves the story, and leads to some of the more outlandish events, like the attempt to invigorate small Shelby, Montana by hosting a World Heavyweight Championship in 1923. (spoiler alert: things don't go quite as planned).

In between the various occurrences, though, there are many beautiful moments of connection, and some lovely writing. It never gets precious, rather, there is the saving grace of Midwest realism, leavened with wry humour. The plot points exist, but the characters drive the story. It was an enjoyable and thoughtful read, one I'd recommend to anyone interested in stories of the western experience. Or to those who love great settings and great characters. 

One of the parts I loved, was, of course, a Christmas scene. This is a quiet family Christmas; Jerry's family in Montana, who are broke, but seem to be enjoying their holiday nevertheless. 

There are four of them gathered around a table with a red cloth on it and a small roast duck at its center. It is Christmas 1919, the one they believe to be their last in Montana... There is a small tree over on the hutch -- the train brought a stack of them one day from the mountains -- and it is draped with chains of paper rings and topped with a battered angel. The bare electric bulb that hangs from the ceiling is dark. There are candles on the table and in one corner the kerosene light. The light is fluttering and warm on their faces...

They eat peach preserves sent by George and his wife in Seattle; wild rice from Aunt Mina and Uncle Charles in the Twin Cities; cheese from Vivian's mother; tinned crackers from Daisy Lou....

The presents were always opened Christmas Eve so the house would have a day's warmth in it and the children would sleep through the night. Such meager gifts this year. Everyone so broke. 

Maudie had yearned for a new doll with a nightgown and a traveling dress that she had seen in a neighbor's Sears catalogue. She got a small, cheaper one, and Vivian made all the clothes for it from scraps. She didn't like to sew, and it showed. There were signs of impatience on the little dresses, undone hems that made her ashamed when she saw them, though she had spent hours on the tiny scraps at night when she was half asleep.

Francis got a wooden replica of a World War airplane, made by Foster, a young guy who worked at the mercantile. Each child got an orange. And pencils from Daisy with their initials on them. And a one-dollar bill from their Uncle Carleton, which made the biggest impression of all and caused their parents to feel, for a bleak few moments, like bystanders.

The children got their mother a 1920 calendar from the mercantile. They had loved its size and color and had insisted on it, though Jerry had suggested a muffler instead. The calendar showed slim young women in fur coats, fur muffs, ice skating on a pond surrounded by pines. Thatched English cottages with chimney smoke like treble clefs. Lawns. Croquet. Parade horses with red plumes. A girl in a swing under a huge spreading maple, her blonde hair brushing the ground. 

Jerry got from the children and Vivian a small cardboard case to hold his pens and pencils and silver letter opener. 

Vivian's mother had sent handkerchiefs for everyone and a packet of well-wrapped fudge. Four pieces of it sat on a saucer like a prize.

This description reminded me of some of the Christmases in the Little House series, another western family making do. I thought this book was a great rediscovery, and I am so glad to have found it.

Mary Webb's Golden Arrow

The Golden Arrow / Mary Webb 
London: Jonathan Cape, 1932, c1916.
352 p.

I've been a fan of Mary Webb's, ever since I read The House in Dormer Forest way back in university days.
I even have the full set of an old, cloth-bound collection of her work.

So I don't know why it took me this long to finally read The Golden Arrow, but I am glad I did. I was drawn in by the existential crises of one or two of the main characters, and by the country humour of others. And of course, the setting is excellently done. I don't know if Mary Webb's Shropshire can be topped for the balance of realism and idealism.

Mary Webb apparently wrote this over 3 weeks, inspired by the theme and the characters, some of whom were based on people she knew. John Arden, for example, is said to have been inspired by Webb's own father. 

The story seems simple: Deborah and Joe Arden are siblings living in a small village. They're both at a marriageable age. Neighbour Lily has her eye on Joe. And into this mix comes a young minister, Stephen, who only has eyes for Deborah. Unfortunately for all that is proper, he is also in the process of losing his faith.

This set-up spools out into questions of love and what is right or wrong about relationships like those of the young pairs. Marriage or cohabiting are both pondered and practiced; it seems quite modern in a way. It's only the nature of different people and different ways of loving that cause the difficulties. And among all this emotional variation, there is picturesque writing and characterizations of all the people in their small circle. The sometimes ponderous descriptions and tragic characters are lightened in this novel by a fair leavening of humour and sarcasm, especially by Mrs. Arden, but also as a matter of local habit.

It's notable that the heaviness of some of Mary Webb's style both here and in other, darker books - as well as the general sort of rural tales at this time -  led to the satirical response by Stella Gibson in "Cold Comfort Farm". Nevertheless, I enjoy Webb's writing and have copied out some thoughtful passages. 

The Christmas scene comes in about 3/4 of the way through, when Deborah has come home to her parents after Stephen has decided to shake off this constraining domestic life and leave her. She is very depressed, but has dressed and come downstairs for Christmas Day. Tradition continues and carries them through the day, and it ends up soothing her spirit in unexpected ways. There's a quiet beauty to this, even among the humour and ribald jokes and dailyness of it all.

Faint tinklings -- quick and small as a robin's 'chink-chink' -- came up the dark slopes above Slepe on Christmas evening. The handbell ringers were coming Christmassing, as they did every year when the weather allowed them. ...
The gate clicked and John went to the door. 
"Well, neighbours!" he said, "you're kindly welcome. What'm you going to give us?"
The postmaster, as head of the band, and bass bell, said he'd thought of  'Ox and ass', which every one knew to mean 'Good Christian men, rejoice'; though why the ringers always named it after a line in the second verse, no one asked.
"And a very suitable 'un," said Mrs. Arden, "for if we 'anna got an ox we'n two cows, and our Joe's an ass if ever there was one."
When the merriment subsided they grouped themselves in a semicircle, Job Cadwallader having been urgently entreated to come in at the right moment and not half a note too late as he always did; the postmaster cleared his throat and said in the tone of one inciting a mob to evil-doing --
"The chime."
...
The antique tune, sweetly and emphatically uttered by the bells, slipped out over the great plateau, pearl-tinted in the light of the stars and the rising moon. The sense of the words was in the air -- they were so well known by all -- and they brought the strange joy with which some old Christian hymns touch the human heart, a joy alien to those here - and to most human beings -- who are pagan at the core....
Afterwards John asked for "Lead, kindly Light," with a sorrowful glance at the silent figure by the fire.
"Oh! Laws me!" said Patty, "that gloomy thing agen! What a man! What do we want wi' encircling gloom and angels' faces, when we'm just going to sit down to Christmas beef an' pickle?"
"And beer," said the blacksmith, outside, in tones that would have been persuasive if they had not been stentorian.
"Ringing first," said the leader firmly....

"Well, thank you kindly!" said John at the end. "And, now come you all in, and have a drop and some pies."
They came in, shuffling, broadly smiling. The blacksmith was in high feather.
"Well, Joe!" he shouted. "What's one and one make?"
"Two. What a soft riddle!" said Joe.
"Three!" roared the blacksmith, with depths of meaning, and the less discreet laughed. 
"Very mild for the season," said the postmaster, to cover this remark. "A mild, dropping time."

This is a quiet, lovely story, with many characters who are all different yet all surrounded by the same social conventions which must be faced individually. As shown in the quote above, there is some homely, country humour included, at the same time that the philosophy of love and belonging and religious instinct is also debated by Webb. I really liked this book; the character of Lily is bright and silly, and yet charming, and Deborah so dutiful and deep, even if her adoration of Stephen seems excessive at times. And Mrs. Arden is the perfect foil for both of these young women, with her practical care and getting-on-with-things approach. It's a good read for a slower time of year, so you can read at the proper pace of the story, and enjoy your time in rural England.

To find out more about Mary Webb, you can visit the Mary Webb Society.