The CBB
http://www.the-cbb.co.uk/

Families: The Temples
http://www.the-cbb.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5513
Author:  Róisín [ Thu Jan 08, 2009 3:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Families: The Temples
Captain Temple married Giovanna and had two daughters - Elizabeth and Anne. When Giovanna died, he married Janie's mother and they had Janie. The second Mrs Temple died when Janie was nine. When the captain is at sea, between 1918 and 1924, the three girls lived in France in the care of Madame Ozanne. After this, they return to England to live with their father on his retirement from the Navy.

On the death of Captain Temple, the next chapter starts in the lives of the three girls. They move to Guernsey where they believe their small income will stretch farther. Elizabeth and Anne undertake to teach Janie themselves.

So what do you think of the Temples? Please concentrate on the time when they were Temples (ie before they all married). Do you think the sisters got along? Did they make the right decision to move to Guernsey? Did Captain Temple do enough for them/ did he prepare enough for the day when they would be without him? Might there have been any tension between the half-sisters, or between the first two girls and the second Mrs Temple?

Please join in below :D
Author:  JB [ Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Families: The Temples
There doesn't seem to have been any friction, largely I suppose because the second Mrs Temple nursed Anne through a serious illness. Anne and Elizabeth were grateful to her and this gratitude shows in their care for Janie after her mother's death.

Like so many parents in this universe, he did not plan ahead for his daughters after his death. If he was in the navy and the girls were boarded with Javotte, i'm assuming they didn't own a house in England and so I wouldn't have thought their living expenses were so high that the Captain couldn't save for the future.

I like the interaction of the girls, although the way they speak to each in other in English with French phrasing does drive me nuts. Or are we supposed to think they are actually speaking French but that it's written as English?

Elizabeth is extremely practical at this stage in their lives and can be firm with Janie/Pauline when she needs to be. I particularly like Anne though - she has a lot of spirit.

Maids of la Rochelle seems a much more old-fashioned book than those which follow it in the series.

Moving to Guernsey worked out pretty well for them. Would it really have been so much cheaper than, say, an English village?
Author:  Fiona Mc [ Thu Jan 08, 2009 10:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Families: The Temples
I really liked this time and loved their interactions with Pauline/Miss Ozanne. Anne certainly was more spirited and much more likeable than what she became later and Elizabeth well abled to handle Janie and Pauline's naughtiness. Whether or not Guernsey was cheaper I don't know but they were certainly poorer in this book than Anne became later on when Peter lost all his money. I love Janie. And I took their phrases of french to be a result of living in France for a few years
Author:  JS [ Fri Jan 09, 2009 9:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Families: The Temples
Haven't read the La Rochelle series for ages, but liked all three girls. It was a shame that Anne got such a raw deal (ie made out to be an unreasonable character) in the later books, for example in her dealings with Beth and Barbara. But in the early books, both sisters are lovely. I also prefer Janie here than in her later versions.

Quote:
Moving to Guernsey worked out pretty well for them. Would it really have been so much cheaper than, say, an English village?


Can't remember any actual examples but it was a fairly common trope in 19th century drama to send unsatisfactory characters off to Jersey - the idea being that booze was cheap so they could drink themselves to death quite quickly and get out of the hero and heroine's hair.
All times are UTC
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
http://www.phpbb.com/