From: chichild at sfpl.lib.ca.us <chichild>
Date: Sat, 8 Jul 1995 09:29:30 -0700

I just linked up with CCBC, so I missed the first discussions! But I will jump in with comments on Mrs. Winterbottom. In some ways, she seemed an anachronism to me, a 50's "Mrs. Cleaver" mom--but I know this was deliberate, and I appreciated it. As her story unfolded (and yes, I figured it out almost immediately, but I do not think for a moment that two 13 year old girls would have assumed that the young man at the door was the illegitimate child of the one girl's extremely conventional mother! Indeed, I saw Mrs. W's life choices after the trauma of having this child, and placing him for adoption, to make perfect sense: she met and married a conservative man who wanted a conventional, stay-at-home wife and a well-organized, well?lanced (low?t, high-fiber) life. And Mrs. W was bound and determined to give her family that kind of a home--perhaps to blot out the shame she carried over her earlier indiscretion?

Her name makes perfect sense to me-?ept as she was at this charade of life, at heart she was lifeless and unfulfilled, definitely at the bottom of winter. Thank goodness those portentious messages began arriving at her door!

I'm afraid to touch Mrs. Cadaver's name, however--I'll wait to be inspired by the comments of others!

Carla Kozak Children's librarian, Chinatown Branch, San Fran. Pub. Lib. (SFPL) chichild at sfpl.lib.ca.us
Received on Sat 08 Jul 1995 11:29:30 AM CDT