Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery
For as long as she could remember, Jane Stuart and her mother lived with her grandmother in a dreary mansion in Toronto. Jane always believed her father was dead–until she accidently learned he was alive and well and living on Prince Edward Island.
When Jane spends the summer at his cottage on Lantern Hill, doing all the wonderful things Grandmother deems unladylike, she dares to dream that there could be such a house back in Toronto . . . a house where she, Mother, and Father could live together without Grandmother directing their lives–a house that could be called home.
GUIDE
THEMES
A lonely girl falls under the spell of Prince Edward Island.
SETTING
Set in Toronto and Prince Edward Island, Canada.
SERIES
Nor part of a series.
Review
Jane of Lantern Hill was first published in 1937 while Montgomery was living in Toronto and is partly set in the city where Jane lives with her mother and grandmother. Jane’s life in Toronto is not a very happy one as her grandmother is very strict and it seems Jane can do nothing right in her eyes. A jealous woman, Jane’s grandmother never approved of her daughter’s marriage to Jane’s father and did everything she could to come between them. Believing her father to be dead, Jane is astounded when a letter arrives from him inviting her to spend the summer with him on Prince Edward Island. Initially, Jane is reluctant to go because her grandmother has not given her a very good impression of the man but she is advised to go by her uncles.
When Jane arrives on Prince Edward Island, she finds it a magical world full of kindred spirits and she cannot help falling in love with her father who exceeds all her expectations of what a father should be. Before long, Jane and her father settle into their new home, Lantern Hill, and Jane has great time keeping house. As the summer months go by, Jane learns to cook and becomes firm friends with most of her neighbours. The only dark shadow is the prospect of having to return to her grandmother’s house in Toronto but Jane is also curious as to why her parents separated. Little by little, the story is slowly revealed and Jane discovers that her grandmother was the root cause and hid all the letters her father sent to her mother begging her to come back to him.
Realising her parents still love each other, Jane hopes with all her heart that they can be reunited but her dreams are dashed when she receives a letter hinting that her father may be heading to Boston to secure a divorce. Upset, Jane heads to Prince Edward Island where her father assures her has no intention of getting a divorce but an exhausted Jane collapses with pneumonia. Fearing the worst, Jane’s father sends a telegram to Toronto and Robin rushes to Lantern Hill to be with her daughter. As Jane starts to recover, she is delighted to realise that her parents have reconciled and she looks forward to a new life with them.
Jane of Lantern Hill has quite a slow start but the story really picks up once Jane has made it to Prince Edward Island. You could almost imagine a movie version of the book being shot in black and white during the Toronto scenes, only for it to burst into vivid colour on Prince Edward Island. The writing gets a little too sentimental at times and you can definitely recognise a little bit of Anne Shirley in Jane, especially when she is searching for the perfect house with a little bit of magic to it and a home for her orphaned friend, Jodi. The ending is a little contrived as Jane’s illness is what brings her parents back together and they all live happily ever after.
