Packing for the recent move took me through a mass of books, and since we are downsizing, not all of them could go to the new place. A very few made the trash heap as no more use to anybody. The rest divided closely into halves with one half going to the new place and the other half going in the moving sale. I regretted this, not quite to the point of giving up children, but I did hope that someone else would enjoy reading the ones I had abandoned.
I discovered and kept The Moonflower Vine for rereading during a much-needed break from unending packing boxes. If memory serves, I read it first during the time I lived back with my parents while I waited for Al to finish basic training in the Army and a couple of times after that because I liked it. At the time, it was a bestseller and came from Daddy’s book club membership. I wondered, since it had been many years since I read it, if it would still hold the same charm.
The plot takes place on a Missouri farm at the turn of the century and takes more turns than the rural road to our new house. Schoolteacher farmer Matthew Soames and his wife Callie make a home for their four daughters who live under his strict rules until they don’t. Each in her own way and time finds a way to break the cords of his puritanical rules to become themselves, yet each is bound to the bond of place and family that Callie and Matthew provide. Sections focus on Jessica, Matthew, Mathy, Leonie, and Callie. The entire narrative carries a religious question of whether God’s character is judgmental and vindictive or whether He is merciful and loving. (In case you are expecting a definitive answer, don’t.)
I was glad I kept this book and have enjoyed the return to the story where I only remembered the importance of the moonflower vine. I decided to check and see if it was still in print. It is, but in a new cover, with Amazon calling it “a timeless American classic rediscovered—an unforgettable saga of a heartland family.” The jacket to my copy is long gone with only the gold lettering on the spine to identify it, but that seems kind of right to me for a nostalgic read.
