Magnolias

by Jacquelyn Cook

 

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Magnolias is a compilation of four stories published earlier by Jacquelyn Cook. Just as a seed must endure the pain of change to bring forth a flower, so must Lily Edwards' family experience transformation. From the cupola of her Eufaula, Alabama, mansion, Lily Edwards dreams of a mysterious steamboat captain. But The River Between them is flooded with difficulties--arising from her duty and station in life in the opulent 1850's.

At age twenty-seven, Lily's aunt Emma believes her opportunity for love - even God's love - has passed. The Wind Along the River, however, is shifting as Emma falls in love with a Confederate naval officer who promises marriage - just as soon as the South wins the war.

By 1874, Lily's brother, Foy is a dashing young man on the wrong side of Reconstruction. When a dazzling redhead with a humourous penchant for trouble visits Eufaula, will she burn Foy's heart - along with the family business - in a River of Fire?

Meanwhile, Beyond the Searching River in Georgia, Sherman's March to the Sea separated Libba Ramsey from her family as a child - and now she cannot give her love to either of her suitors until she solves the mystery of who she is and where she came from.

Drift along with this family as the South's old ways are ushered out to make room for the new. How will God help them hold on to the good of the past while embracing a vastly different future?(c) back cover, Magnolias

This was a deeply romantic southern book full of romance like one might expect from a novel set during the 1850's in the deep American South. The characters are typical southern belles and gallant gentlemen who will duel for the honour of their loved one or bet their life's work on the fidelity of their love. The heat and heavy perfumery of lush gardens depicted as a constant in this book are typical in a romance set in this genre and this climate. The perfume of the gardens and the humidity almost become characters in their own right as they increase the emotional turmoil that each of the women face in their search for love.

This novel is steeped in the traditions of the 1850's when wealth equaled importance and social connections. Social engagements were what occupied the lives of the women in these stories as well as courting rituals, coy flirtations, and a ritualistic belief in God. Marriages were generally arranged in order to best meet the financial needs of the family. If a woman wasn't married by the age of twenty, she was on the fast track to becoming an old maid. These women had no other choice but to serve as servants for elderly relatives or chaperones for the young ones experiencing love. How bitter it must have been to have to watch and chaperone two young people in love when one feels that your chance to marry has come and gone and you will never have children of your own to love. I deeply sympathized with the main character, Emma, and rejoiced to see that she was able to defy contemporary thought of the day and found her own love at the ripe old age of 28. :) grin

The main characters were admirable southern belles who each had problems to overcome in order to find their one true love. The first character had to defy her parents' wishes for her to marry through an arrangement of their own in order to marry her true love - a roguish steam boat captain. I thought it was disappointing that this "rogue" turned out to be a wealthy land owner who happens to enjoy navigating one of his own steam boats and therefore, he meets the acceptable qualities of wealth, social standing, and family breeding so important to the wealthy families of that day. I would have liked it much more had he not fit into their stereotypical expectations so easily. I wonder if darling Lily would have accepted him if he had no money to keep her in that which she was used to all her pampered life. However, it wasn't that difficult to suspend my disbelief and roll along with the quaint love story.

I found the character of Emma to be much more "real" and empathetic. She had a real questioning of God and his role in her life which she struggled with for quite some time. It wasn't a short battle and then capitulation to Christianity, but it happened over a great length of time. Her final confession of faith near the end of the story was a bit too romantic for my tastes, but alas! what does one expect from this type of heavy southern romance if not fanciful and steamy southern romance scenes?

The story of Foy finding his true love in the fiery red head was a realistic portrayal of the dangers of marrying someone who doesn't share your faith. This story could easily be a modern one and still the characters might experience the same let down of expectations and struggles with each other over money and faith in God.

The fourth novel is the one I was waiting for as I often wondered what had become of the naval officer Jonathan's first daughter by his first wife. I was pleased to be carried along with Libba as she struggled to find out exactly who she was. However, I was greatly disappointed to find out that the great captain's second wife was described to look exactly like his first who had died tragically in childbirth years before when young Libba was born! Somehow those few sentences discounted the fact the Emma was loved and cherished because she was her own person and deserved to be loved and cherished. Instead, it implies that Jonathan married Emma because she reminded him of his first wife who's death broke his heart years earlier. Yuck! I would certainly not want to be married because I reminded my husband of his first wife!! Certainly if I was an "old maid" as then I would always question whether I was married because of my own merits or simply because I resembled the first wife, his one true love. This makes me mad!! I almost cried and put down the book forever when I read this part! My feminist head reared its' ugly head for a few moments. "It's only a story, Tracy."

If you are a great romance lover, enjoy the setting of the romantic deep south during the 1850's, this is definitely a must read for you! If you are looking for a series of four books combined within one cover, containing interesting characters, traditional southern morals and expectations, including all kinds of chivalry, duels, betting, gambling, eating rich foods, and dressing in elegantly styled gowns, this book is also for you. Intertwined through out all four stories is a faith in God that impacts each of their lives as God works in them, creating miracles and new life around each corner in the river bend.