By: Elizabeth Redhead Kriston
My first true love was Father Ralph. I wanted to be Meggie Cleary as she romped on a tropical island with her forbidden lover. Because of that lifelong love affair between those two people who could never really have one another, I fell in love with Colleen McCullough’s work. The epic miniseries, The Thorn Birds, aired on television for the first time in 1983, and it shaped my unrealistic ideals of love.
It was fantastic!
Being a young Catholic girl who grappled with her faith and the rules of the church, especially where priests were concerned, this epic story of family and illicit love set against the backdrop of the venerable and powerful Catholic tradition was delicious. Watching the sweet and neglected Meggie Cleary grow-up to be a beautiful but broken woman who fell in love with the handsome and sexy Father Ralph was just my type of scandalous love story.
Over the course of several nights, hunkered down in front of our 18” color TV in my Holly Hobby flannel nightgown my mom handmade while munching on Jiffy pop, I relished watching Meggie morph into a formidable woman who learned to live her life on her own managing her inherited empire with strength and dignity. I was encouraged by her courage to be herself, to stand-up for herself, and to not take crap from anyone, not even Barbara Stanwick who played the cruel and jealous Mary Carson.
It took years for me to sit down and read the novel from which the miniseries was based. I was not disappointed. The book, as in most cases, was even better than the miniseries. For unknown reasons, I have not read another book written by McCullough since.
That is until I found a novelette by McCullough at a yard sale recently. The Ladies of Missalonghi was not the epic tale I found with the Thorn Birds. However, this short but sweet novel was a delight to read.
In the midst of the #MeToo movement, this book, written decades prior and occurring in pre-World War I times, is surprisingly feminist. The book details the life of an extended family in one small village in Australia. The tale reveals that the men of the family have been taking advantage of the woman for decades. Forcing them to live in poverty while the menfolk steal their money and land.
The women are not unintelligent or incapable, rather they are submissive and ruled by tradition. They trust the men and do not openly question or challenge the obvious inequities. They are happy enough to just get along with the bare minimum.
All of this changes when two strangers come to town and enter the life homely but lively Missy. Missy is a dreamer and a spinster who wants more from her drab, brown life. She wants color and adventure. She craves beauty and love. Her mother and aunt discourage her dreams, compelling Missy to muddle along tolerating her lackluster life.
Una enters Missy’s life at just the right time. Una, through books and conversation, keeps Missy’s dreams alive. She encourages her to be strong, to be different, to acquire all she wants.
John Smith appears and stirs Missy’s heart. She decides to marry John before she even knows him thanks to the ideas that Una firmly planted in her mind.
Missy awakens to the realities of her own desires and the fact that the men of her family have been swindling and oppressing the women. Missy digs-in and speaks out. She takes action and changes the lives of every single person in the town.
McCullough manages to create a male character who lifts up women rather than holding them down and back. While I appreciate the way McCullough celebrates women, she narrowly manages to make sure that the women make the changes for themselves rather than relying on one kind man to rescue you them from the dregs of poverty and misogyny.
McCullough weaves in a few scenes and lines that make my skin crawl, but overall, especially considering the era she wrote this novel and the era in which she set the novel, she did an excellent job celebrating all that woman can do. The women never appear frail, weak, and needy. The women are stoic, kind, and generous. The women are self-sufficient, creative, and talented. The women are educated. Their only real character flaw is that they trust men implicitly and refuse to confront them despite their concerns.
If you are looking for a sweet romance with a twist a mystery and an element of surprise. If you crave a book that manages to make you feel good and even empowers you, this page-turner, The Ladies of Missalonghi, is a nice way to spend a pleasant afternoon reading under a tree or at the beach.
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