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Friendship: The Two Sams
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Author:  Fiona Mc [ Sat Dec 05, 2009 10:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Friendship: The Two Sams
The Two Sams at the Chalet School was first published in 1967 and is one of the last books EBD ever published. (Althea and Prefects were the only books published after The Two Sam’s at the Chalet School). It was published once in Hardback by Chambers in 1967, and once in paperback by Armada in 1993 before being republished by GGBP in 2008. It was until last year one of the harder Chalet School books to find to buy.

It is the winter term of the final year at the Chalet School and there are only two new girls enrolled, Samantha Van der Byl of Inter V and Samaris Davies of Upper IVb. The two meet briefly on the first day but become firm friends, finding a natural alliance being the only two new girls for the term. The school is initially overjoyed by the news Nina Rutherford is offering a prize for an essay entitled: “My life and what I hope to do with it.” It is shortly after this they are given the news of Nina’s car accident. Samaris badly affected by the news turns to Samantha for comfort and the initial casual friendship develops. Samantha has a ski-ing accident resulting from not knowing the school rules regarding certain ski slopes and turns to Samaris for comfort. Samaris finds herself at odds with her own form, who are known throughout the school as being a slack form and only interested in games, whereas she is a keen student willing to work hard. The pair are taken to see Nina, which upsets many an old girl, wishing they had been chosen for the honour and Samantha ends up being cold shouldered by two thirds of her form in the ensuing argument. Phil Maynard forms an attachment to Samaris and Joey asks for Hilda’s help in allowing Samaris to visit her seriously ill child. It is one of the few times a pupil helps Joey and not the other way round. And finally, Samantha curious about the similarities between hers and Samaris’s names, writes to her father, who is able to tell the girls that in fact they are distant cousins.


The main theme going to be discussed with this book is friendships, namely the friendship between the two Sams’.
So how did people find the friendship between Samantha and Samaris?
Did you find it developed naturally or did it seem forced?
How did it compare with other friendships between girls of different ages such as Joey/Grizel, Joey/Juliet, Clem/Mary Lou, Len/Jack, Len/Prunella, Joey/Robin, Mary Lou/triplets and Margot/Emerence? (And any others, I might have forgotten.)
How realistic did you find the closeness of the friendship being explained that the two girls were in fact long lost relations?
It is interesting to note that no where else in all her works does EBD explain a close friendship as being because the girls are relatives, although she does have some close relationships later become adopted sister such as Joey and Juliet, and Joey and the Robin. It is also interesting to note that while close friendships between girls of such disparate ages and forms is readily accepted by the characters themselves, this is one friendship that seems to be questioned by the characters themselves and conversely EBD herself. Does anyone have ideas as to why EBD felt she had to give a reason to why the two girls were friends with each other but never did with any other character?
Finally, I think it’s interesting to note the friendship between Prunella and Len seems to be the last naturally developing friendship between two girls of different ages that EBD writes about. The relationship between Len and Jack is accepted throughout the school as Len helping Jack rather than a genuine friendship between the two girls. There is never a thought expressed on Len’s part that she would like to get to know Jack more as there is when she first meets Jane in Jane of the Chalet School.

Please discuss this and any other points relating to the theme of friendship at the Chalet School especially with the book Two Sams in mind.
Author:  emma t [ Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Friendship: The Two Sams
'Two Sams' is quite possibly one of the books I don't really like throughout the entire seriel; though I cannot put my finger on it as to why!
To be honest; I do think that this friendship is quite forced throughout the book. It seems far fetched that two girls would be sent to the same school bearing the same name at exactly the same time; to become friends right from the start. Where they named for the grandmothers if I right in thinking?

When the truth is finally uncovered; they say that the closeness they feel for each other is beacause they are kin; did they look like each other? Could the relationship have been discovered sooner if someone had seen a likeness to each other or another family member? I suppose had this been the case the story would have been over with sooner rather than later. It was thus with Adrienne and Robin (when Adrienne's hair was singed off in the fire) and a likeness was discovered.
Author:  Alison H [ Sun Dec 06, 2009 12:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Friendship: The Two Sams
I like the friendship between the two of them, and I think as far as the actual friendship goes it's the best "different age" friendship other than Mary-Lou and Clem's. Margot and Emerence's friendship never really seems like a "different age" friendship because they're usually in the same form despite the three year age gap. The friendship seems to start because they're in the same boat by virtue of being the only two new girls who arrive at a particular time, but that's realistic enough.

They're both nice characters, and both a bit different. Samaris dares to be different by working hard when the rest of her form don't, and her relationship with Phil is interesting. & I love the way Samantha tells Kathie Ferrars that it's a bit much being told that her native way of speaking is incorrect, and when she says that she has no ambitions beyond being a housewife and that that's what happens to most girls anyway it at least makes her stand out from the crowd.

Unfortunately, what could have been a decent book is, for me, spoilt by the ridiculous long-lost relative storyline. It might not have seemed so bad had we not already had a) Adrienne and Robin and b) the Richardsons and the Rosomons turning out to be long-lost relatives, but we had! And what on earth was the whole thing about the similar names about?!! If two people've got the same surname, you might wonder if they're related, but why on earth would you think people should be friends or must be relations just because their first names both begin with Sam :roll: ? Had they shared an unusual surname I might just about have bought it, but as it is it just seems silly.

I don't like the car accident storyline, but that was recently discussed in detail in the thread about death. & it really annoys me that Con, after all the stuff in Theodora about how much she'd grown up, is turned back into the person who walks around in a daydream - and why was it up to a 17-year-old girl to supervise fellow pupils on a dangerous ski slope anyway? & I really dislike Joey's comments to Samaris about how her parents should have had more children - what does she know about Samaris's parents and their circumstances? I do really like the references to Joey taking gifts from the CS to Vater Stefan's parish in Innsbruck: it's good to see that brought to the fore again.
Author:  Cosimo's Jackal [ Sun Dec 06, 2009 10:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Friendship: The Two Sams
The long-lost relatives plot is completely ridiculous, all the more so because it's so unnecessary! There are lots of obvious reasons why the two Sams should like one another - they are the only two new girls, they're thrown together in the hall on their first day, they go to new girls' tea at Freudesheim together, Samantha suggests a potential career for Samaris at her father's Kentucky ranch, and Samaris seems to be the only one not to nag Samantha after her ski-ing accident. That's surely more than enough to 'explain' the fact that they feel drawn to one another, if it needs an explanation?

Having said that, it's a nice friendship, and likeably devoid of the bizarre possessiveness and jealousy that seems to grip various friendships in the later Swiss books, like Jack's pathological possessiveness about Len. I particularly like Samantha, who is very much her own woman - is clearly not too gone on CS piety, and resents (quite rightly!) being told her US English is incorrect, and being ticked off by everyone for disobeying a ski-ing rule that no one informed her about. (Though I only just noticed on this re-read that, despite a broken collarbone and being debarred from winter sports for the rest of term, Samantha and Samaris both ski with Joey to see Nina at the San only a few weeks later, when the ban must still have been in place and her broken bone hardly healed!)

Some of the other relationships established in this one seem to me much more in need of explanation than the two Sams' friendship. The mass jealousy and resentment at the Sams being taken to visit Nina is a bit overdone, but I can kind of see why people are baffled. Lots of new girls have heard of Nina, and having heard her play twice seems like a fairly arbitrary reason to take a particular new girl to visit her when she's recovering from a serious head injury! It's easier to see why a small child might take a sudden fancy to a teenage girl, but Phil has only seen Samaris once, quite some time ago, before she apparently wants her badly enough for Joey to demand that Hilda send her over in the middle of a school day! After which her bad flute playing apparently magically restores Phil's spirits and appetite, rather like Robin's 'Red Sarafan' recalling Joey from her deathbed!
Author:  JB [ Sun Dec 06, 2009 11:40 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Friendship: The Two Sams
What a lovely Christmas drabble, Alison. Looking forward to the next instalment.

ETA - Thanks to Lesley for pointing out i posted this in the wrong thread. :oops:
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Sun Dec 06, 2009 1:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Friendship: The Two Sams
I quite like the scenes with Phil; am I right in saying that it's the only time in the series Joey is nearly refused? It's certainly the only one that stands out! I do like some of the arguments that are put against it (don't have my book to hand to quote, I'm afraid).

The friendship always seems natural to me, though I agree that the relative plot line seems rather arbitary! I do like this one, though. It goes beyond what has become the standard plot line of the time, viz. new girl needing to be reformed.
Author:  emma t [ Sun Dec 06, 2009 3:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Friendship: The Two Sams
The scenes with Phil are lovely; I have to admit that! I suppose that in such a close knit community as The Chalet School; friendships between younger and older girls are likely to develop, especially considering that prefects accompany them on trips to various places (the same would be said for the friendships between the prefects and the younger mistresses, being only a few years apart from each other).

But for the two Sams to have been taken to see Nina when they have never met her could be that Nina needed something fresh to take her mind off the accident; for Samaris (?)is into her music; and it's a good way to help Nina recover; though I can see why the rest of the school would be disgruntled by the fact that they are put before themselves! :|

As for why Ebd would question this friendship above all others; I am not so sure why she would do - maybe it is because she wanted her readers to think that age in friendships does not matter; though if that is the case; then it would have been pointed out long agon in the earlier books :wink:
Author:  Sunglass [ Sun Dec 06, 2009 3:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Friendship: The Two Sams
Alison H wrote:
it really annoys me that Con, after all the stuff in Theodora about how much she'd grown up, is turned back into the person who walks around in a daydream - and why was it up to a 17-year-old girl to supervise fellow pupils on a dangerous ski slope anyway?


It's really inappropriate for any schoolgirl to be put in the position of being responsible for the safety of younger girls at a risky sport, especially when we're told that almost all the mistresses are there on duty. And it's not as though Con is so lost in her sonnet she doesn't notice an obviously inexpert girl doing something risky. She's alert enough to notice that Samaris isn't as good a skier as Samantha, and keeps her under her own supervision, and she keeps her head after Samantha falls. Plus it's not just Con that thinks Samantha is an excellent skier, everyone is looking at her with admiration, including other experienced skiers. Skiing is simply risky - even good skiers can have falls, so it seems a bit much for Hilda to guilt-trip the prefects into feeling they might have caused a fatality, and suggest that. at 17/18 they are potentially unfit mothers! :shock:

But - to go back on topic - from a friendship point of view, it strikes me as a bit EBD-ish that everyone takes the side of the school authorities over those of their fellow CS girls and friends - when it seems to me it would be more realistic for at least some of the girls to grumble about Miss Annersley's decision, rather than attack their friends and classmates. Especially Samantha's form, when she wasn't to know there was a test she was supposed to have taken before skiing the run. Rather than all that nonsense about motorboats in Prefects, this would have been an excellent opportunity for EBD to explore Middles being resentful, arguably with some cause.

Also on the theme of friendship in a related way - it strikes me that the bonds of friendship between Joey and Hilda blur school matters in an inappropriate way twice in this novel. I really think it's unfair that part of Hilda's punishment for Con over the ski incident is to report herself to her mother 'who will be as sorry and disappointed in you as I am' - this wouldn't happen with any other girl, and school incidents shouldn't become home ones like this. And also, Joey's request to have Samaris released from lessons mid-morning because her ill child has a fancy to her see is also out of line - but at least Hilda for once sees this, and points out that Samaris was sent to the CS for an education.
Author:  Nightwing [ Sun Dec 06, 2009 8:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Friendship: The Two Sams
Sunglass wrote:
And also, Joey's request to have Samaris released from lessons mid-morning because her ill child has a fancy to her see is also out of line - but at least Hilda for once sees this, and points out that Samaris was sent to the CS for an education.


I like that part - I find it very realistic both that Joey would make the request, given that she's so worried about Phil, and that Hilda would turn her down. I don't understand why Hilda would threaten COn with her mother's reaction, though - it seems out of character for Hilda, as well as just plain unfair. As it is, Jo learns more about her children's behaviour than most parents, but at least most of the time it's 'off the record'.
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Sun Dec 06, 2009 8:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Friendship: The Two Sams
Sunglass wrote:
But - to go back on topic...


I just thought that I should point out that these discussions are for any part of the book that you wish to raise! We just thought that it would be something different if we tried to focus the introduction on a specific theme, and link the books in that way. So please do discuss the skiing incident at will!

Personally, I think that it's all rather blown up, but then at the same time I can see where Miss A. is coming from. If all the staff that could be spared were on duty and still the prefects were needed, they'd clearly done it before and should have been aware of their duties. Though it does just seem to be one of those times that EBD feels the need to point out the fact that nobody should be as dreamy as Con (I know! And so does anyone whose ever tried to sustain conversation with me for more than five minutes), possibly through personal experience?
Author:  mohini [ Mon Dec 07, 2009 8:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Friendship: The Two Sams
I feel the friendship between the two Sams is possible considering they were together in their initial moments in school.And there can be an instant bonding between 2 people.
On topic of friendship, the one which I never understood was between Len and Prunella. Apart from the fact that Prunella called Len by her full name, there is no communication shown between the girls.
Jo/Juliet, Jo /Robin Trips/MaryLou , Mary-Lou /Clem friendships are understandable.
Even cousins are known to be friends- Julie Lucy and Nancy Chester, Barbara and Vi Lucy or even Trips and Jossette. These friendships can develop as the girls are together for a time.
The lost cousins story line seems typically bookish and Oh well I am reading a story book. So it did not faze me much.
Something interesting or new to think about seems to be Joey's fave idea. But it does not always work. I wonder if I was Nina, what would I prefer, meeting people I know , or meeting strangers. And that too when in hospital where you feel so helpless and vulnerable.
Author:  Sunglass [ Mon Dec 07, 2009 8:28 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Friendship: The Two Sams
ChubbyMonkey wrote:
Though it does just seem to be one of those times that EBD feels the need to point out the fact that nobody should be as dreamy as Con (I know! And so does anyone whose ever tried to sustain conversation with me for more than five minutes), possibly through personal experience?


But I don't think you'd think daydreaming was 'selfish' and morally 'wrong', as Hilda tells Con, though...? (Unless you are massively hard on yourself!)That's what seems a bit much to me. Certainly, if one accepts that the prefects are basically under-mistresses in this kind of situation, Con should keep her mind on the job, because other people's safety is at risk - though I can't see how one would get this by an angry parent trying to establish whether their little X was properly supervised when she broke a bone!

A bit like the Marilyn Evans situation earlier on, I have a hard time getting my head around a situation where one schoolgirl is supposed to put school disciplinary/organisational issues before her work (whether that is schoolwork or what she plans to make a career from, like Con's writing). I could understand Hilda's reproaches more easily if Con was actually a member of staff, who'd been slacking on the job, but when it comes down to it, she isn't.

All this discussion of skiing at the Platz makes me realise how unclear I am on exactly the layout etc of the skiing area, which seems to be partly flattish meadow, partly ski-run between trees. Despite the fact that (presumably?) the Mary-Lou/Emerence toboggan incident took place in the same area, I don't remember the 'difficult' not-for-novices ski-run being mentioned before. (I supposed they could have had it made in the interim?) Although, for a difficult run of some length, Samantha seems to manage to climb up to the top of it in her skis fairly quickly, too.

But one does feel like pointing out to Hilda that a much more serious winter sports injury (two, if you include Emerence's injury along with Mary-Lou's) occurred when several members of staff were present to supervise, and had clearly established the rules of where you could go... Plus it's sometimes occurred to me that Mary-Lou was arguably quite irresponsible to run up the toboggan slope towards an out-of-control sledge...?
Author:  JB [ Mon Dec 07, 2009 8:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Friendship: The Two Sams
I find this a weak book. It’s a series of episodes without much plot to pull them together and really demonstrates EBD’s weakening powers. I don’t feel we get the same picture of school life we do in earlier books and, particularly at the beginning, there’s too much detail about the daily routine without anything actually happening.

I do like the friendship between the two Sams and find it natural in a way but also a little forced in the way their own forms interact with them, ie the girls are less friendly than usual at the CS. The plot line about Samaris being told that they want a girl who works hard in their form is reminiscent of another non-Chalet EBD (poss Carnation), but it didn’t ring true for me at the CS. Part of the problem is that by this time in the series, the minor characters aren’t sufficiently well-defined so it’s hard to see them as other than a list of names.

In terms of comparison to other friendships with age differences, the closest equivalent is Len and Prunella as this is another friendship that develops within school (although, sadly, it’s a bit of a one book wonder). Apart from Margot and Emerence (where as someone else has said, it doesn’t feel like there’s an age gap), the other friendships given as examples were either begun out of school or develop when a girl becomes part of another’s family. Perhaps this is why EBD felt she has to question the friendship?

The mention of Mary Lou and triplets in this list interested me because my immediate reaction was that they aren’t friends in the same way. Mary Lou lived near them for a brief period (a year) when they would have met during the holidays but, within school, she seems to be Joey’s friend rather than the triplets.

I don’t think it adds anything for the two Sams to be related, particularly coming as it does on top of the Richardsons, Melanie Lucas, Adrienne and Erica! I wonder if EBD felt that the plots here weren’t always strong enough by themselves and if that’s why she added all these relationships.

I think it very unfair that Samantha is blamed for not knowing the rule about skiing. How on earth would she know that when she sees other girls using that run and none of the prefects say that she shouldn’t? Equally, I don’t think the prefects should have been in the trouble they were. It’s up to the staff to supervise skiing – if a serious accident were to occur, I can’t see a parent accepting the excuse that it was down to another pupil to take charge.

The Nina storyline was a bit annoying. Given that she left school 4 years ago, how many of Samaris’s form would actually have known her? In an earlier book, EBD would have made this hang together so much better.

I was amused by Samantha’s comment that her ambition is to marry – and at the reaction of the other girls. It is, after all, what happens to most of them, even if they set out with career ambitions. Wanda’s ambition to become an air hostess showed how much things have changed since her aunts were at school – they were closely chaperoned, not expected to work and married young.

Joey is very rude when Samaris says that she knows Sophie Hamel, Joey ask if Sophie’s as fat as ever. This would be bad enough if she were asking a mutual friend but I found it particularly out of order from an adult to a child.
Author:  Cosimo's Jackal [ Mon Dec 07, 2009 9:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Friendship: The Two Sams
JB wrote:
ie the girls are less friendly than usual at the CS.


That's true, and it's not just the girls - in the first couple of lines we're told Samaris is met from the train by a Miss Smith
Quote:
who was quite pleasant but who, she could see, regarded her as something of a nuisance for having to be met specially


Plus when Samantha arrives, the first thing she says is
Quote:
“I guess we’re a bit of a bother, coming like this,” she said in a pleasant voice only faintly tinged by an American accent. “I know, for a friend of Mama’s told her, that the school don’t like new girls this term.


I remember finding that quite shocking in the friendly world of the CS, especially when it's compounded by the girls' lack of friendliness later on! I know EBD partly does it to throw the two Sams more together, but it's still a bit of a departure!

JB wrote:

The mention of Mary Lou and triplets in this list interested me because my immediate reaction was that they aren’t friends in the same way. Mary Lou lived near them for a brief period (a year) when they would have met during the holidays but, within school, she seems to be Joey’s friend rather than the triplets.


I agree - it's funny how we never really see that shift happening. There's something of a leap during the St Briavel's years (when the triplets/Joey aren't all always around) from Mary-Lou and the triplets paddling in the pond together in Three,to the Swiss books where Mary-Lou and Joey are the ones with some kind of equal-ish relationship, whereas the triplets tend to appeal to her as a more or less adult figure in times of crisis, and she doesn't hesitate to lecture them soundly from her position of authority. She seems to have become much older than them, compared to the original age gap in Three where they were all small kids together.

JB wrote:
Joey is very rude when Samaris says that she knows Sophie Hamel, Joey ask if Sophie’s as fat as ever. This would be bad enough if she were asking a mutual friend but I found it particularly out of order from an adult to a child.


Yes, it's terribly rude, and also puts Samaris in an awkward position where she's supposed to report on the appearance of an adult acquaintance to another, newer adult acquaintance! But EBD clearly doesn't intend us to think Joey is behaving badly here, which in some ways is odd, given her own preference for traditional codes of behaviour between children and adults. (Remember Herr Mensch being horrified at Joey and Grizel's comments on Frau Berlin's fatness when Joey was Samaris's age? Yet here's Joey encouraging Samaris to comment on Sophie's!) It also seems strange that Joey would claim Sophie as a very old friend while also denigrating her appearance and letting Samaris know that she'd been something of a figure of fun at school. Also, I have no memory of anyone ever calling Sophie 'Fatty' at school - EBD herself used to refer to her as 'big', but I don't remember any remarks from any of the girls...?

Of course, relative fatness wasn't seen as a problem in the early Tyrol days, but in Two Sams, it's clearly a source of some anxiety. As well as Sophie, we're told several times that Samaris is short and plump, and she's teased by one of the other girls for being too heavy to be a ballet dancer, before one of the mistresses weighs in and tells her it's puppy-fat.
Author:  JB [ Mon Dec 07, 2009 10:02 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Friendship: The Two Sams
Quote:

Quote:
“I guess we’re a bit of a bother, coming like this,” she said in a pleasant voice only faintly tinged by an American accent. “I know, for a friend of Mama’s told her, that the school don’t like new girls this term.


... and then most books concentrate on new girls who've arrived that term! I counted this up at the weekend and, once the school's moved to St Briavels, the only two spring terms which aren't about new girls are Excitements and Triplets.
Author:  Alison H [ Mon Dec 07, 2009 11:02 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Friendship: The Two Sams
Cosimo's Jackal wrote:
. As well as Sophie, we're told several times that Samaris is short and plump, and she's teased by one of the other girls for being too heavy to be a ballet dancer, before one of the mistresses weighs in and tells her it's puppy-fat.


GO books always go on about puppy fat. I used to cling to the hope that, like Caroline Scott in No Castanets at the Wells, I would magically become slim once I got to my mid-teens. 20 years later, I'm still waiting!!
Author:  mohini [ Mon Dec 07, 2009 12:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Friendship: The Two Sams
JB wrote:
Quote:
Joey is very rude when Samaris says that she knows Sophie Hamel, Joey ask if Sophie’s as fat as ever. This would be bad enough if she were asking a mutual friend but I found it particularly out of order from an adult to a child.


But isn't that typical Jo? How else can she make other girls feel as if she is as old as a school girl.
Doesn't she do the same thing again and again? And then say that she never hid her sins.
Author:  Kacca [ Tue Dec 08, 2009 4:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Friendship: The Two Sams
But I can imagine Jo being completely horrified if a recently met adult spoke to one of her girls in that way. It's such an unladylike question. It horrified me anyway.

This is one of those books that really annoy me. The related bit infuriates me (it was so not needed) and Con's anguish and treatment over the skiing incident jars badly. But what really redeems the book for me is the friendship between Samantha and Samaris. I find it really natural and delightful.

It's quite difficult to compare this friendship with others of diferent age girls for me. This probably feels the most real. Mary-Lou and Clem's friendship does have an age imbalance, Clem is the older and wiser and Mary-Lou the young worshipper of her friend. After Three their friendship is referred to rather than shown in any way.

I haven't read Does it Again, so have only heard reference to Len and Prunella's friendship. I've never really seen it in action. To me the only different-age friendship (apart from those in the Tirol books when the school was small) that ring true is the friendship that develops between Joey and Mary-Lou. This seems reasonable to me because it is difficult for children to maintain friendships if they are not sharing lessons or games but becomes more likely as we grow and mature.

Of course it does happen and happens beautifully between the two Sams which is why I can't stand the whole making them related storyline.
Author:  Sunglass [ Tue Dec 08, 2009 9:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Friendship: The Two Sams
Slightly OT, but it does come up in Two Sams, when various people tell the Sams, inevitably, that Joey 'will be all over' their unusual names. Every single time a character with a half-way out of the ordinary name arrives in CS circles, someone - often, but not always, the triplets - says the same thing, and implies Joey will use it in a book.

But does she ever actually do that? She has book titles with the relatively ordinary names Cecily, Audrey, Nancy, Tessa, Dora and Ruth, and the only time I can remember her actually talking about character names, she's talking in Joey Goes to the Oberland about how she teased Madge, who complained about her character names being too fancy, by calling all her characters 'plain' names like Dora and Mary and Jane.

Is the 'Mamma will love your name' thing simply EBD's way of introducing Joey as novelist to a new girl? Or are we to imagine that there are hosts of minor characters called Samaris and Samantha and Solange and Rosamund and whatever other names Joey is said to be likely to get excited about? (Someone should have suggested it as a way of raising money at a Sale - the prize being Joey names a character after you...)
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