Part 2 of Trilogy - An ambitious young woman, Meg Plumb, struggles to lead her own life and searches for her own identity in the shadow of her extraordinary Plumb family. In book 1 – ‘Plumb’ the reader is introduced to the intolerant, irritable Presbyterian clergyman George Plumb, a memorable character with an unyielding and stern personality and a strong belief in his own principles, he is half saint, half monster, and destructive in his utter self-absorption of his pacifist and rationalist opinion. His beliefs lead to sacrifices made by both himself and his family, which develop to fractured relationships with his late wife, and their twelve children (Meg being one of them) long after he passes.
George’s youngest daughter, Meg, narrates this novel Meg. I found this hard reading - too poetic - too dozy, Meg got on my nerves, as she was too whimsical, submissive, and dreamy. However, I can relate to Meg, as a child - young woman, when you live this life you create a fantasy world to take yourself out of it. What I did like about the book was the insight that it gave the reader into the diversity / dysfunction of family life that is portrayed to the public as the good all round Christian family, but in reality there is a lot of damage that is done (if you become a victim to it). I could relate to this upbringing (authoritarian - judgmental - subservient), however it was not all bad, as an adult you have choices and can take the learning you choose from your upbringing and grow from it. ( )

I found this hard reading - too poetic - too dozy, Meg the main character got on my nerves as she was too whimiscal, submissive, dreamy. However I can relate to Meg, as a child - young woman, when you live this life you create a fantasy world to take yourself out of it. What I did like about the book was the insight that it gave the reader into the diversity / dysfunction of family life that is portrayed to the public as the good all round Christian family,but in reality there is a lot of damage that is done (if you become a victim to it). I could relate to this upbringing (authoritarion - judgemental - subservient), however it was not all bad, as an adult I have been able to take the learning that I choose and grow from it. ( )

Good but make sure you read it directly after Plumb. I left almost 18 months in between the two and I found it hard going to catch up with the large cast of characters. ( )