A Sea-Grape Tree by Rosamond Lehmann

Author:Rosamond Lehmann
Language: ara, eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2015-05-28T21:12:32+00:00

Postscript

My last novel was A Sea-Grape Tree, published in 1976, a sequel to The Ballad and the Source. I have, in my mind, a third novel in the sequence, which will now never be written, which draws together the threads of the first two books. But first, for those readers who may wish to be reminded of these novels, I shall attempt to reintroduce, briefly, some of the characters.

The Ballad and the Source spans the years of the Great War. The story unfolds through the eyes of Rebecca Landon, a ten-year-old, who lives with her family in the quiet of the English countryside. Through Rebecca we meet the scandalous Jardine family, who have returned to the country and live near the Landons: the enigmatic Sibyl, and her grandchildren Malcolm and Maisie (who is to be become, for Rebecca, ‘the first woman friend I ever had’). It is, however, Mrs Jardine who is the central character of the novel, a woman with a passionate, stormy past, who is to haunt Rebecca throughout her life.

Sixteen years later we encounter Rebecca again in A Sea-Grape Tree. Deserted by her un-named, married lover, she travels alone to a magical island in the Tropics. Here she meets Johnny who tells Rebecca that Sibyl Jardine is buried on the island. The other residents include Miss Stay, presiding genius and advanced psychic; Captain and Mrs (Ellie) Cunningham; Tony de Pas, the local plantation owner; Kit and Trevor, artistic lovers; and the once dashing Johnny, Mrs Jardine’s last adored protégé, paralysed from the waist down in the First World War, his servant Louis, and his wife and nurse Jackie. Rebecca (or ‘Anonyma’ as she is known on the mysterious Isle) has a passionate affair with the reclusive Johnny, and as a token of his trust he gives her a medallion: inside is the address of the girl, Sylvia, he was to have married before his accident. Rebecca leaves the Isle with two promises: the first is to Miss Stay, to care for her ‘lamb’, Ellie Cunningham, ‘should occasion offer’; the second to Johnny, to pass the medallion to his former love should anything happen to him. But what echoes in her mind long after she leaves is neither of these two charges—it is the conversation she has had with the vibrant spirit of Mrs Jardine, who is still haunting the island and all its inhabitants. Her sinister shadow is finally lifted.

A Sea-Grape Tree is generally considered an unsatisfactory work. It would ill become me to argue for it; but perhaps I might just venture to say that Anonyma’s conversation with Sibyl Jardine was intended to be a telepathic one. Telepathy between the incarnate and the discarnate is much less uncommon than is generally supposed. Sibyl is made to speak as she spoke on earth, as in The Ballad and the Source, in a somewhat didactic or mandarin style; but I see the experiment was rash and courted irritation, head-shaking, even mockery from a few critics ever willing and never afraid to wound.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.