I can’t remember when I tried to read Among the Shadows: Tales from the Darker Side by L.M. Montgomery, but the “spooky” stories were so childish that I gave up quickly and got rid of the book. Thus, I wasn’t too eager to pick up another collection I own, At the Altar: Matrimonial Tales, thinking it would be sappy nonsense for childish dreamers like Anne Shirley. While At the Altar utterly lacks the complexity and depth of adult romantic relationships, I enjoyed reading it.
Rea Wilmshurst edited At the Altar and other L.M. Montgomery short story collections after learning that there were boxes of stories kept by the author’s family. She got permission to go through and organize the works, which led her to decide that organizing by a theme would be the most appropriate. Wilmshurst acknowledges that reading 19 or 20 stories about orphans or marriage proposals could be tiresome, but her feelings are that having the stories in one book lets readers see the way Montgomery would play on a theme.
It’s true; each of the matrimony stories in my book have the same pattern: miscommunication or grumpiness + being forced to acknowledges one’s feelings = let’s get married now! On the other hand, I’m always up for a curmudgeonly Montgomery character, male or female. The first story opens with a crotchety single aunt welcoming her niece for the summer. The niece is too close to a boy, and her family wants to prevent her from doing something stupid by shipping their daughter off “learn something” from the aunt. As the two ride through town toward the aunt’s home, she explains who’s who: “Here’s Ebenezer Milgrave coming. You take a good look at him. He used to be insane for years. He believed he was dead and used to rage at his wife because she wouldn’t bury him. I’d a-done it.” On and on she goes until we (and her niece) realize the aunt may be so angry because she missed a chance at love.
Other stories include children bringing together lovers who’ve pined for each other for years. People are escaping out of windows and on trains, they’re lying to direct a romance in a direction they prefer. Lots of interfering, you could say, but every story ends with “Awwww,” if you count that as an emotion.
Of course, Montgomery is obsessed with appearances, and every girl has the best creamy skin or raven hair or auburn curls, etc. Yet, I did not find it tiresome in At the Altar because the beautiful belles are described once and then we move on. There isn’t the continued obsession with looks like I’ve read in other Montgomery stories.
Only one moment in the book made me double take in disgust, and it is a line from “The Touch of Fate,” which takes place on a Canadian military outpost near a reservation. Mrs. Hill is white woman forced to the awful depths of Canada where her husband is stationed, so she starts trying to marry off the soldiers to make herself useful. When an unmarried, young white woman — Violet Thayer — arrives, Mrs. Hill “…counted it richly worth while merely to look at Miss Thayer after having seen nothing for weeks except flabby half-breed girls and blue-haired squaws.” Yeesh. I never forget L.M. Montgomery’s context when I’m reading her work, because she doesn’t let me.
Grab the Lapels 
I like your comparison to variations on a theme. Sometimes that is fun to see, in an author.
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LMM made a whole living out of it, so she’s quite skilled. I always think about the ancient Greek writers who felt every story to tell was already told.
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I’ve never read Montgomery and at this point probably never will. But it’s interesting how Wilmshurst decided to organize all the stories, it sounds like it was a good choice.
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My great-grandma bought me the entire Anne series, so I was introduced young. To be fair, I didn’t read the books until I was in my 30’s! I did love the Canadian mini series.
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I have a problem with short stories – I tend to rush through them like a novel and then get sick of them before the end of the book. I know it’s a problem on my end and not the fault of the authors. I’ve enjoyed her Anne novels and a few others but I doubt I’ll get to her story collections.
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Oddly, these stories are short enough that they read more like snacks. If I have a connection of longer short stories, I totally experience what you are describing.
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The answer to this is not to rush through them! Haha. Short stories are great for reading in little pockets of time. Can I gently suggest that rushing through them as one does a novel does them a huge injustice? I do read a whole book of them sometimes – but when I do I usually take a little break between stories – but often I’ll just read one at a time.
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Yes, of course you’re right! And I have enjoyed collections before. I just seem to have less patience in my reading life than I did once upon a time, a symptom of my digital distraction perhaps!
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Understand!
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Other than the Anne novels, which I still (mostly) love, I’ve not really loved any of Montgomery’s books. I liked The Blue Castle, and I have yet to read Emily of New Moon (which I’ve heard is her best), but I don’t think I’ll be rushing to pick this up!
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I also liked The Blue Castle and have heard the same thing about Emily. I think the cuteness of this collection would wear you down, Lou.
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Ugh yah that line you mentioned at the end is cringe for sure. I find it so startling to read, even when counting the context of the day.
I always feel like such a bad Canadian when I admit I’ve hardly read any of her books LOL
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You are! A curse upon your house! 😋
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Old time writers can’t help revealing what they really think about the superiority of the white (Anglo) race. I can’t imagine being given a set of books as a child and not starting on them until I was in my 30s, that’s truly shocking. (I’m with Laila on short story collections).
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Well, I think my great-grandma was trying to give me books traditionally read by children that she knew, but they were honestly too complicated for me. I look back, and the first sentence of Anne of Green Gables is a full paragraph long thanks to a variety of grammar gymnastics.
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[…] have only read her novels, but it’s a lot of you. Although one book about getting characters At the Altar sounds boring, Montgomery does have a way of playing variations on a theme, much like the great […]
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“Wilmshurst acknowledges that reading 19 or 20 stories about orphans or marriage proposals could be tiresome, but her feelings are that having the stories in one book lets readers see the way Montgomery would play on a theme.”I like short stories grouped by theme, though I admit they tend to me anthologies where you get different authorial voices.
Did you get an overall idea of Montgomery’s view on love and matrimony from how she played on the theme?
I know it’s sacrilege, but I’ve never been a Montgomery reader. I read Anne of Green Gables and maybe one other but that’s about it. Not sure why that is because I can imagine that at the age I read other similar book series, I would have been interested, but there must have been some reason. Anyhow, I had no idea about her focus on looks. That probably would have bothered me too.
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Well, Montgomery had a pretty sad marriage. She wed a priest who had mental health issues that kept him from working, so she wrote like crazy just to make money. It really shows in the Anne books that were written and published later to be set in between previous books written. Basically, she expanded on areas that readers were interested in just so she could make money, and it shows in the writing (lackluster).
I tend to dislike a collection that has a first-person narrator who basically sounds like the same character doing something similar over and over again. The books I’ve read in this vein often have to do with drinking, smoking, sexual relationships, etc.
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I guess she at least gave people pleasure while making money to survive.
And yes, me too!
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I’m not sure I could read a whole book on marriage. It’s probably a preconceived notion that most people have terrible advice for marriage. 🙂
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These folks hate each other and then blink at each other just right and get married. It’s totally silly.
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Or hate sex each other, get pregnant and decide they have to get married.
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I’m sure I read this collection but a very long time ago. LMM is obsessed with marriage – it’s always her happy ending. Which is a bit funny because it isn’t the romance that draws anyone to her books, I think.
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You know, that’s an interesting point. I never read her books because I think someone is going to get married. It’s also odd that her own marriage sounds largely miserable.
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[…] #ReadingValancy discussion post for those who have read The Blue CastleMelanie, At the Altar, short story collectionNaomi/Consumed by Ink, readalongs of The Blue Castle and Jane of Lantern […]
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