Abigail (Stevenson Family Saga)

Followers of the Stevenson novels must have let forth a massive groan on discovering the title of this last in the series, for we have seen Abigail from the day of her birth two books ago growing up and presenting as the most unpleasant of the Stevenson brood. She is revealed as brilliant (which of the Stevenson children is not?), headstrong (ditto), destined for a degree of greatness (double ditto), and regarded by the family as a sort of time bomb. She mellows somewhat with the passage of time, but still displays on occasion an unfortunate tendency, possibly inherited from her father, to gross selfishness and towering stupidity for the sake of her own (feminist) independence. This is not critcism. Of such character flaws are major plot engines made. It is probably my happily married woman's prejudice that makes me see her as one who throws away happiness with both hands through listening to her own fears and man-hating "friends", and who has still missed out on the best years later after her fears have been dismissed and her friends' wounds have been healed--ironically by men. I could not develop a liking for Abigail as a character, but that is irrelevant, for her odyssey has great merit as a story. Her true inheritance is from her uncle Daniel, the revolutionary, whose personal relationships were also sacrificed under the smashing wheels of a juggernaut idealism. I only wish there had been more about other members of her family. We get a look at the world of writing and publishing, art, expatriate life in Rome, a slice from the fall of the Paris Commune and the dawning Womens' Rights movement. A word about the author. MacDonald has been hailed as "the heir to Delderfield". My humble opinion is that the former far surpasses the latter. I find MacDonald's characters better drawn, clearer, more real and more interesting. Delderfield was less successful at juxtaposing comedy and tragedy; his efforts had a rather jarring result. I am entertained by the authenticity with which MacDonald takes us on a tour of the time and place he is writing and his sharp insights into human thought and behavior. I am engaged by his crackling wit, and his ever piquant style. I am enthralled with his liberal sprinklings of irresistible humor and unabashed sex. I have read and will read everything of his that I can lay hands on. If I could write and were allowed to choose one author to take as my pattern, it would be Malcolm MacDonald.