The Laughing Stranger
by Vina Delmar
1953
pages: 250
by Vina Delmar
1953
pages: 250
This is a story of a star-crossed family with all of the misfortune in life, and only the fortune of monetary wealth.
Based during the time of the Civil War on the coast of New Jersey, young Elizabeth Carpenter takes you through a year’s period of their life, recounting the full story of their encounters with the laughing stranger. Elizabeth, despite her circumstances, is a well versed, well mannered young lady. I wish more people in the world had a character like hers.
This book was an accidental read for me. I got it from the bookshelf in my local laundry mat, and kept it around. I was curious a few days ago what the story could be, and was immediately sucked in!
This book I guess is technically a love story, and I usually don’t read those!! It turns out that the love story has much more to it than just gushy romance, but it involves the character and integrity of people, or lack there of!
Because of Elizabeth’s circumstances, she has found a way to entertain herself with witty games and dream of the impossible. Until one day her dream is shattered. Sitting with her father, Powell, he says to her “It is the emptiness that troubles you now, Liz. The aching question of what to put in place of a dream. Shall I tell you what to put there, darling? It’s very simple. Just put another dream”. She answers, “there are no other dreams.” “Not for me.” He smiled in a way she had not seen him smile before. “I am an authority on the subject,” he said. “And I assure you there are always other dreams.” She shook her head. “For others perhaps. For me, no.”
I will share this, it wasn’t the end for young Elizabeth. She thought she’d live on in life with a disappointed heart, but something happened to fill her heart more than she ever could have imagined. This ended up being so encouraging to me on a personal level. Sometimes things don’t work out how we’d like to see them work out, but in the end, sometimes even more magical events can happen in our lives! I was feeling a bit like Elizabeth, wondering if my future would be one of trials and tribulations with my dreams quickly going by the wayside. I’m still kind of feeling like Elizabeth, that there are dreams for others, but none for me.
Coincidentally, upon completion of The Laughing Stranger, I saw on my bookshelf “Dreams Underfoot” by Charles de Lint. I tried reading this book before, and it just didn’t get moving for me. Probably because some inspiration was needed. :) Thanks to Elizabeth Carpenter of “The Laughing Stranger”, I am now contemplating my thoughts and feelings towards my own dreams. As I read the Introduction to Dreams Underfoot, I found my inspiration! A small portion of the intro reads,
Based during the time of the Civil War on the coast of New Jersey, young Elizabeth Carpenter takes you through a year’s period of their life, recounting the full story of their encounters with the laughing stranger. Elizabeth, despite her circumstances, is a well versed, well mannered young lady. I wish more people in the world had a character like hers.
This book was an accidental read for me. I got it from the bookshelf in my local laundry mat, and kept it around. I was curious a few days ago what the story could be, and was immediately sucked in!
This book I guess is technically a love story, and I usually don’t read those!! It turns out that the love story has much more to it than just gushy romance, but it involves the character and integrity of people, or lack there of!
Because of Elizabeth’s circumstances, she has found a way to entertain herself with witty games and dream of the impossible. Until one day her dream is shattered. Sitting with her father, Powell, he says to her “It is the emptiness that troubles you now, Liz. The aching question of what to put in place of a dream. Shall I tell you what to put there, darling? It’s very simple. Just put another dream”. She answers, “there are no other dreams.” “Not for me.” He smiled in a way she had not seen him smile before. “I am an authority on the subject,” he said. “And I assure you there are always other dreams.” She shook her head. “For others perhaps. For me, no.”
I will share this, it wasn’t the end for young Elizabeth. She thought she’d live on in life with a disappointed heart, but something happened to fill her heart more than she ever could have imagined. This ended up being so encouraging to me on a personal level. Sometimes things don’t work out how we’d like to see them work out, but in the end, sometimes even more magical events can happen in our lives! I was feeling a bit like Elizabeth, wondering if my future would be one of trials and tribulations with my dreams quickly going by the wayside. I’m still kind of feeling like Elizabeth, that there are dreams for others, but none for me.
Coincidentally, upon completion of The Laughing Stranger, I saw on my bookshelf “Dreams Underfoot” by Charles de Lint. I tried reading this book before, and it just didn’t get moving for me. Probably because some inspiration was needed. :) Thanks to Elizabeth Carpenter of “The Laughing Stranger”, I am now contemplating my thoughts and feelings towards my own dreams. As I read the Introduction to Dreams Underfoot, I found my inspiration! A small portion of the intro reads,
“’Using archetype and symbolic language’, writes folklore scholar and author Jane Yolen, ‘[fantasy tales] externalize for the listener conflicts and situations that cannot be spoken of or explained or as yet analyzed. They give substance to dreams…[and] lead us to the understanding of the deepest longings and most daring visions of humankind. The images from the ancients speak to us in modern tongue though we may not always grasp the ‘meanings’ consciously. Like dreams, the meanings slip away, leaving us shaken into new awarenesses. We are moved by them, even when –or perhaps because – we do not understand them on a conscious level. They are penumbral, partially lit, and it is the dark side that
has the most power. So when the modern mythmaker, the writer of literary fairy tales, dares to touch the old magic and try to make it work in new ways, it must be done with the surest of touches.’’’
W.B. Yeats once wrote “Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams”. I hope Mr. de Lint does tread softly, because I look forward to being moved by his writing, and discovering the dreams that are under my feet.
