Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

Rebecca's mom has more than she can handle with seven kids and a farm after her husband dies, and so off Rebecca goes to live with her two maiden aunts in the brick house in town. Rebecca goes to school, and she gets a great education there, with an influential teacher to guide her. She befriends a rich benefactor as well as an elderly couple and all of these people—the aunts, the teacher, the rich man, the elderly couple—all of them influence her in strong and positive directions.

I loved this story. I think I'd expected something sappy sweet but it was nothing like that, with Rebecca a believable character coming from a poor background and developing into a lovable and strong young woman.

Some wonderful quotes:

“To become sensible of oneness with the Divine heart before any sense of separation has been felt, this is surely the most beautiful way for the child to find God.”

“Look at the pebbles in the bottom of the pool, Miss Emily, so round and smooth and shining.” “Yes, but where did they get that beautiful polish, that satin skin, that lovely shape, Rebecca? Not in the still pool lying on the sands. It was never there that their angles were rubbed off and their rough surfaces polished, but in the strife and warfare of running waters. They have jostled against other pebbles, dashed against sharp rocks, and now we look at them and call them beautiful.”





“He is wrong; my talent is not a great one, but no talent is wholly wasted unless its owner chooses to hide it in a napkin. Remember that of your own gifts, Rebecca; they may not be praised of men, but they may cheer, console, inspire, perhaps, when and where you least expect. The brimming glass that overflows its own rim moistens the earth about it.”

“He is wrong; my talent is not a great one, but no talent is wholly wasted unless its owner chooses to hide it in a napkin. Remember that of your own gifts, Rebecca; they may not be praised of men, but they may cheer, console, inspire, perhaps, when and where you least expect. The brimming glass that overflows its own rim moistens the earth about it.”

4 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews

Summary
Rebecca, the daughter of a large, poor family, is clever but willful. When her better-off aunts offer to raise and educate her older sister, they get Rebecca instead, who introduces a little unexpected tumult into their lives.

Review
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is one of those books that I always knew was around, growing up, but later couldn't recall whether I'd read. As I got older, I tended to confuse it with Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, which also wasn't sure whether I'd read. I suppose that if I had read them, the distinction might have been clearer. In any case, the book didn't ring any bells on this reading.

I'm sorry I didn't (probably) read it when I was younger, since some of the prose is delightfully funny. There's nothing greatly surprising about the plot – clever, wayward girl grows up smart and sweet – but the language itself was unexpected. It reminded me, in some ways, of Jane Austen's wry, sly humor, though it also has similarities to Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, and that's more the general territory of the book.

One reason I'd have preferred to read it young is that some of the elements haven't worn as well as you might hope. While the book thankfully never spells it out, in its latter half it seems indubitably destined toward a resolution that was common and perhaps even sensible in its day, but looks awfully uncomfortable now. Still, it isn't spelled out, so we're free to imagine a more modern outlook if we like (and I did). Wiggin did apparently write a sequel of sorts (New Chronicles of Rebecca), that appears to fill in gaps in and around this book's storyline, and happily doesn't address the issue of my concern.

In short, somewhat dated, but a fun book for children, with a protagonist who's lauded much more for cleverness than looks.