In Spite of Killer Bees and A Very Fine Line- Julie Johnston
I read two books by this fine author recently and both of them are worthy of a spot on your shelf. A Very Fine Line is the story of Rosalind who lives with her mother and sisters in Ontario in the 1940’s. Through her old-maid great aunts, she discovers that she is the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter and therefore endowed with the gift of second sight. She is torn between abhorrence and curiosity as to how she might use this for her benefit. Her mother wants her to have nothing to do with this superstition and Rosalind has to come to terms with how this strange revelation might fit into her life. Johnston’s writing is described as polished and this makes her novels fascinating and would be of great interest to our female readers.
In Spite of Killer Bees is an amazing story of three sisters whose father has died in prison and whose mother has deserted them. To their amazement, they find that they have inherited their estranged grandfather’s large mansion-like home and they think there will be a pot of money to go with it. To their consternation, they find that they can only keep the home if they convince their great-aunt to come and live with them there. Three very unique sisters, Johnston has developed these characters masterfully with an unusual enough plot line to make one want to keep turning the pages.
Middle Years, Realistic Fiction, YA | Comments (2)2 Responses to “In Spite of Killer Bees and A Very Fine Line- Julie Johnston”
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I read A Very Fine Line but haven’t read in Spite of Killer Bees. Your review makes me want to get right at it! I think Julie Johnston also wrote Adam and Eve and Pinch Me which is an excellent book set in the 40s also, I believe. I sometimes wonder if we adults like books set mid century more that most of our YA readers but I know well written books like Julie Johnston’s will be read by all of the girl “readers” – fair enough as the boys have the likes of John Wilson.
Thanks for all your recent comments. I have wondered too about the time of these novels but I think they’re intriguing enough for kids to overlook that. They still feel contemporary.