The Glass Lake By Maeve Binchy
Book Review - The Glass Lake by Maeve Binchy.
The Initial setting for this setting book is small backwater village in Ireland. Set in the 1950s it highlights the rules of moral decency, the importance of the Church and its effect on everyday life.
It spans a period of approximately 10 years and follows the life of the main character Kit Mahon through her teenage years. Kit is a normal school girl with an on off friendship with her best friend Clio, who makes her question life. She starts to notice oddities about her mother Helena who does not seem happy with her lot in life.
One stormy night Helena goes missing and is presumed dead after the family boat is found upturned on the lake that she dispiritedly toured daily. The unspoken view of the villagers was that Helena had taken her own life, the ultimate sin in the eyes of the lord.
Kit has to deal not only with the loss of her mother, but the unbearable thought that her mother may have taken her own life, and the impact of this on her father and younger brother. Numerous characters within the community support the family including Kit’s secret pen pal Lena.
Kit’s correspondence with Lena gives her strength. Lena takes an avid interest in Kit’s life which brings them together in a tangled web full of emotion and deceit. It is this relationship that keeps the pages turning till Kit emerges as a strong confident woman, who no longer has to worry about the past.
Initially I found this book slow to start; the descriptions of the village inhabitants were lengthy. However, as the story unfolded the occupants made the locations real.
At times the number of characters made it a little tedious at times. However it fully described the ins and outs of village life and the regime they lived within. Initially my favourite character was the hermit nun, Sister Madeline who lived on the edge of the lake, caring for sick animals. Everyone confided in her, including Kit.
In one part Sister Madeline
The Initial setting for this setting book is small backwater village in Ireland. Set in the 1950s it highlights the rules of moral decency, the importance of the Church and its effect on everyday life.
It spans a period of approximately 10 years and follows the life of the main character Kit Mahon through her teenage years. Kit is a normal school girl with an on off friendship with her best friend Clio, who makes her question life. She starts to notice oddities about her mother Helena who does not seem happy with her lot in life.
One stormy night Helena goes missing and is presumed dead after the family boat is found upturned on the lake that she dispiritedly toured daily. The unspoken view of the villagers was that Helena had taken her own life, the ultimate sin in the eyes of the lord.
Kit has to deal not only with the loss of her mother, but the unbearable thought that her mother may have taken her own life, and the impact of this on her father and younger brother. Numerous characters within the community support the family including Kit’s secret pen pal Lena.
Kit’s correspondence with Lena gives her strength. Lena takes an avid interest in Kit’s life which brings them together in a tangled web full of emotion and deceit. It is this relationship that keeps the pages turning till Kit emerges as a strong confident woman, who no longer has to worry about the past.
Initially I found this book slow to start; the descriptions of the village inhabitants were lengthy. However, as the story unfolded the occupants made the locations real.
At times the number of characters made it a little tedious at times. However it fully described the ins and outs of village life and the regime they lived within. Initially my favourite character was the hermit nun, Sister Madeline who lived on the edge of the lake, caring for sick animals. Everyone confided in her, including Kit.
In one part Sister Madeline