Saturday, January 12, 2013

Places in Jane Shaw: The Drumadoon

In Chapter 9 of Highland Holiday, faced with the challenge of writing a play, Sara retires to the Drumadoon in search of inspiration. From the top, she can see the sea and the golf course. "She found a little grassy hollow which just fitted her, and was sheltered from the wind." She then sees her little twin brothers Robin and Rufus walking to the caves and "she diverted herself for a few moments by rolling lumps of turf and bits of heather down on her brothers". She then goes through some ideas for her play. But the inevitable happens: "And the sun became very hot, and she struggled for a little, but finally she put her head back against the prickly, springy heather which smelt so nice, like honey... and went to sleep." Here we get four pages filled with nothing but Sara's scatterbrained train of thought as her mind drifts from Vanessa and Joyce playing golf, to Caroline and Jane and her brothers and then the play. Some people have found Highland Holiday to be overdrawn and long-winded, but I enjoy this plot and the fact that it is not rushed and lets us see the essence of the characters. And, surprisingly, Sara actually does end up writing a play called The Witch of Boguille.

No comments:

Post a Comment