Loved loved loved this book! Only reason I didn't give it five is, not sure it's one of my all-time faves - I reserve the option to give it five stars at some later date. Other reviewers have summarized the story. I will put a couple of passages, because I think they are lovely. At the beginning, the author talks about innocence being in short supply nowadays. She then discusses expulsion from Eden, and the fact that the garden is not destroyed and that it is guarded only from the east. So, others can come in: "But there are those who enter, on sufferance of the angel, and choose not to know that after a short, blissful time, they too will be driven out." At the end (not a spoiler), discussing the moon: "There has been a change in the moon. Its light is not its own and never was. But what of that? Remote and unassailable, it shed enchantment. We looked up and saw pure silver. Now the facts are brought home to us. The moon is dust and dead rock and no longer as it was. But still it shines. And sure as spring comes on, it will shine again - through that same garden, somewhere, here or there. And soon." I liked this book! I kind of wanted to live in that time and in that town (until I remembered that my big mouth, my non-Christian religion and my drinking habit would have made me an outcast). The teacher in me was beside myself that Allen would be this careless. You are their teacher and you need to be friendly without being a friend. And you can NEVER think of them romantically!!!! When they are on the other side of the desk, they can be the best looking person ever but they still ugly. But the reader in me was charmed by the sweet language and the simple story of lonely people finding each other.I do think that this raises an issue that has occurred to me on occasion: young teachers in high school and post-secondary schools. Right now, there is such a teacher glut that it is rarer and rarer to see a 22 or 23 year old teacher but it does happen. I have long questioned the wisdom of having a 23 year old teaching 17 year olds simply because 23 year olds don't always have the best judgment. Many (most?) do not have the best judgment...not all of course as some have better judgment than the 41 year old typing these words. But personally, I can say that I have seen female young 20s wearing their "club outfits" with cleavage a poppin. I have seen male young 20s being way too touchy with girls, having closed door "meetings" with girls and being extremely flirty. To be sure, 30+ year old teachers may do this as well; however, you do have more of a sense of yourself that comes with age. Me, I could never have been a teacher in my 20s...not because I would have worn stripper shoes but because I just didn't have the temperament or knowledge of the outside world to be effective. At any rate, Allen definitely had the heart of a teacher if not the sense to separate herself from her students. (Loneliness does drive one to do stupid things though). I also loved her views of marriage, particularly at the airheaded Maxine's wedding. I could also see Maxine's future: huge house, multiple kids, no money (unless she could get family money) of her own. It might have been deliriously happy or it might have been terribly sad but the lack of choice--and her inability to even consider other choices--made me very glad to be alive and grown in 2013 and not 1941-2!
What do You think about In Frühlingsnächten (2012)?
Another rediscovered work from the author of the Moonflower Vine, and a Missouri native.
—Danica10637
awesome!! very old-fashioned and kind of dramatic. But I love her writingstyle!
—lennette
Sweeter and slighter than The Moonflower Vine but worth reading all the same.
—Caleb
Enjoyed the story, but preferred Carlson's The Moonflower Vine.
—ALEXIS
