Pat of Silver Bush

" series. It portrays a girl named Patricia Gardiner, who hates changes of any kind and loves her home, Silver Bush, more than anything else in the world. She is very devoted to her family: her father and mother, her brothers Joe and Sid, and her sisters Winnie and Rachel(Cuddles). The book begins when Pat is 7 years old and ends when she is 18.

Throughout the text, various members of Pat's family are lost from Silver Bush (Aunt Hazel to marriage, Joe to the sea, Winnie to marriage). Pat is sustained through these losses due to her enduring love for her home. She is "unlike other children" and has few close friends. She maintains a strong relationship with Hilary "Jingle" Gordon and later befriends Elizabeth "Bets" Wilcox, who eventually dies. Like most of Montgomery's texts, Pat is a domestic tale. Unlike Anne or Emily, the only other Montgomery heroines whose stories are told in multiple texts, Pat is not ambitious or a writer. She also has a conventional family and home life, unlike the others, who are orphans.

In the beginning, Judy, the family's cook, and like a second mother to the Gardiner children, announces that there will be a new baby in the family. The baby is "Growing in the Parsley Beds," and she's going to "Pick it on the full moon." At first, Pat doesn't want a new baby. She doesn't want any change in her home, but when the baby girl arrives, Pat loves her as if she were her own. The family tries to give her a new name, but everyone wants a different one. In the end, though, they take to calling her Cuddles.

This book has a sequel, "Mistress Pat", which describes her later years.

The Gardiner Family

Joe: The oldest child, Joe is not interested in farming and ultimately runs off to sea.

Winnie: The oldest girl, Winnie is a beauty. Pat has a difficult time dealing with her marriage and her movement out of the family home.

Sid: Pat's closest sibling both in age and relationship. He is interested in farming and has a childhood 'crush' on Pat's friend Bets.

Pat: The heroine of the novel. Loyal and loving, overly sensitive to any perceived slight to her home.

Rachel: The youngest child. "Cuddles" is inquisitive and rather pert.

Aunt Hazel: Pat's beloved aunt, who marries early in the book.

Judy Plum: Technically a maid in the household, Judy acts more as a parental authority. She speaks with an Irish brogue and tells the children stories, makes them "liddle bites," and generally mothers all members of the household.

External links

* [http://lmm.confederationcentre.com/english/covers/pat.html Plot introduction and book covers]
* [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0201061h.html Online text of Project Gutenberg]
* [http://www.tickledorange.com/LMM/ An L.M. Montgomery Resource Page] Resource on L.M. Montgomery and her novels
* [http://lmmresearch.org/ The L.M. Montgomery Research Group] This scholarly site includes a blog, an extensive bibliography of reference materials, and a complete filmography of all adaptations of Montgomery texts.