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for Joyce of Ingleside

1/9 c6 2Kim Blythe
That is a great big step forward that Walter took in admitting that he was in love with the idea of Faith and that he realises now that Jem and Faith are meant to be together...

It is wonderful that he took Joyce advice, in starting to walk and talk with Una more ! Even though it isn't love that Walter feels for Una yet, he his starting to open his mind and heart to start loving someone else !

I do believe and hope that you called your story ''Joyce of Ingleside'' for a reason, and that reason might be that Joyce will come back to live at Ingleside, or somewhere else on the island, alone and single and happy being a writer, or, still being a writer and married to Ken, Lorenzo or some other mysterious man we haven't met yet...
1/9 c5 Kim Blythe
What is wrong with Lorenzo ? Him and Joy finally sharing a kiss, and him saying nothing afterwards, living Joyce with plenty of questions she wanted to ask him, and many things she wanted to say to him, but she didn't, because he stayed silent...

And Gia who asked the fatal question to Joyce, that she have to choose between Ken or Lorenzo, and Joy is not sure about any of those things right now...

And I agree, love is the answer !

What an adorable name for this adorable little puppy they found abandoned on the streets ''Bacio'' !
1/8 c4 Kim Blythe
Now we know what, or rather, who as stolen Joyce's heart and made her call Italy, home !

An handsome man called Lorenzo Cadesso !
1/6 c11 Andrea1984
Walter and Una and Joy and Luca. Why not. It's your story.

I hope the best for both pairings, but there is the war.

Cu

Andrea
1/3 c3 Kim Blythe
So it is Jem and Jerry that went off to war first...

I very much loved it, how Joy said to Ken that he is talking fantasy here, when he said to her that one day, someone will appear at her doorstep, that she might not believe it now, but, he will come and sweep her off her feet, Ken is sure of that and that Joy will need to allow him to enter her heart and that it won't change who she is who she can be...

That group hug that Joy needed to have will all of her boys, right before Jem mounted that train, was a moment of sadness and great joy at the same time !

The sight of dog monday crying was almost to painful to witness...

But, to me, the most painful moment was, the one when Ken turned around, not knowing how he could stand another day knowing that miss Joyce Blythe didn't open her heart to him...
1/3 c2 Kim Blythe
Joyce and Jem's dancing together, what a bright sight and funny spectacle to witness !

I wonder who that mystery girl was dancing with Shirley ?!

This felt so perfect, the way Joyce talked to Ken about them not being perfect and right for each other, and with them only being infatuated with each other, but, how they will always love each other, like a brother and sister do !

I loved how Joyce suggested to Ken to go dance with Rilla, after everything felt right again with the both of them !

Oh no, England declared war Germany...

Walter will volunteer...

Jem will volunteer...

Shirley will, Ken will and so does every boy and men that Joyce knows that are of the age of enlisting in this war...

Now, my question is, will Joyce be volunteering as well ?
1/3 c1 Kim Blythe
Oh what a refreshing first chapter !

Joyce just coming back from Italy, to her very own and dear Glen St-Mary, right into her parents arms, and then, right in the middle of the crowded arms of her five brothers and sisters at Ingleside !

I loved how Jem calls Joyce and Walter ''The two Shakespeare's'' and how they have a never stop writing thing going on since they were children !

Oh, you've made Ken be the one to be in love with Joyce, but, Joyce is not returning he's feelings... Just like Walter is in love with Faith, but we all know that Faith and Jem are a match made in heaven...

Now, now, I just cannot read the next chapter, to see how that dance will go on !
1/2 c11 3Lavinia Maxwell
I'm in total shock that Joy Blythe got married.
1/2 c10 Lavinia Maxwell
My heart breaks for Anne Blythe. It must be very hard having 2 sons and family friend's son at war. Not knowing what will happen to your babies and Ken
12/30/2020 c10 YodaChick
Lovely update, look forward to the next chapter.
12/29/2020 c10 16Alinyaalethia
I can see why you couldn’t write this rushing about work! That first section has a lovely languorous quality to it as this little cobbled together family indulges in each other’s company. But I forgot - welcome back! It’s do lovely yo have a Bathsheba chapter to brighten the day. It pairs very well with the sunny, wintry, afternoon. No doubt like good Italian wine :)

I love this first bit with Joy focusing on Joy and discovering she has never done that before. Isn’t it true that to really grow and settle we must first know ourselves? How ride can she ever make up her mind? And Bacio wants to help her, naturally. Dogs are lovely, that way. There’s a giddiness to them running around Tuscany that makes me envious - they have all the countryside before them and here I’ve hardly left the house this last year. I loved how wild that section read. You felt the exhilaration if it.

And then later with Alma for dinner at the wooden table. They jerk her young and she brings wisdom, and it really feels like an Italian Patty’s Place with Alma as Aunt Jimsie, but more playful, you know? What struck me here is how beautifully you balance Joy between her choices in love. Ken is home and her family and a link to her old life, but Luca is Italy and the rolling countryside and a quieter kind of adventure -of course she is torn! They represent a choice she was internally wrestling with even before love came into it.

But I get ahead again. I love what Joy has to say about hope, that was beautiful. And the description of the day like a postcard. Even in Italy we never forget Joy is Anne’s girl. And what they have to say about the war is so well observed. Alma is right that all our decisions must look mad to others, but to Joy who feels so deeply of course the whole war is mad. And I wonder if she would see World War Teo differently, but this is really a political grievance that escalated from her perspective and now it is hurting her loved ones. In this I feel especially how easily she makes friends with men, even loves them in her way, and under all of that this palpable frustration that all she can do us make it make sense through her writing. It’s a powerful gift to have but it doesn’t feel like it when you are in the middle of a cataclysm like this.

So it glows perfectly into her letter to Anne where Joy tales against the world, and a bit against Walter not because she’s angry at him but because she’s terrified for him. Some things are worse than death and the do,I testing of the foul he and surely Luca must go if they go to war has to be one of those things. I love too how she remembers Anne reassuring her young self she could always come to her in her dark moments. Rilla worries the war will break Anne but Joy confiding like this says she feels that is wrong, that even as she comes to her mother as an equal she still trusts her to put everything right in the dark nights of the soul. And probably Anne can’t bear it either, but she dill bear it if it makes Joy’s life easier to bear.

And I LOVE the nod to the green hat of Rilla’s and not to be angry. Sometimes something lively that us tangible really is the best cure against despair he I love how Joy sees that in her baby sister and wants her to enjoy that feeling free of guilt. It’s extraveganr and it will grow her up too fast but if it helps her weather the storm then she needs it.

What Joy says at the end about needing more human company speaks to how she is changing too. She’s so full of ideas and life that naturally she wants someone to throw them at when inspiration strikes at three in the morning.

All in all such a treat to find you here at the top of the reading pile again. Very happy holidays from Canada and thank you god the gift of a chapter.
8/22/2020 c9 Andrea1984
Ken writes to Joy. I hope, he is will at this moment.
Will he be a soldier or not ?

Cu

Andrea
8/22/2020 c9 Alinyaalethia
Funny thing, but I was just about to get in touch with you :) We were up at the lake and it was sold and windy and all I could think was how much your Joy would have adored it :)

But on to the chapter. I just love the way you write of all the smells like perfumes coming out of the houses. There’s a real coziness and warmth to that that adds to our sense of Joy’s community beyond Gia. And I’m not at all surprised they are still very Christmassy - boys those girls are so full of zest for life I sort of expect them to celebrate Christmas until Easter or the good weather forces them to celebrate something else, you know? And especially with the war on it gives them a little extra bit of comfort and happiness to hold on to.

I love too the way you write about Bacio having a human mother. That really just what that relationship is, as you well know. And I’m delighted by the picture of this little black dog following Joy everywhere, even if it’s just across the room :) Throughout the chapter she’s a beacon of constant affection for Joy, and she needs that I think because you just know whoever she falls in or out of love with or whatever she says and does, this dog will go on cuddling her and washing her face, even if the world is angry with her. (I mustn’t forget Bianca! It’s been a while since I’ve had s kitten, but I can just imagine this one diving off of furniture and chasing Bacio and the two of them having all these wild, fun games just the two if them. It’s much fun to think about.)

As ever you move us through time expertly, so we switch into March quite effortlessly. I’m so pleased to finally meet Luca! He’s lovely, of course, and like Joy here I go back and forth about what I want for the two of them. You paint a very cosy picture of them with their blankets and cocoa. In some respects that reminds me of Hester and Vance cuddled under a shared blanket. But at the same time they’re talking about much more complicated things. It doesn’t surprise me at all that Joy doesn’t immediately subscribe to God. Luca is exactly right about her wanting to figure everything out for herself. But I love what he says too, that she has found a bit of God in the beauty she surrounds herself with. I particularly like your descriptions of the places she has visited. Loveable rain and elegance of London was a stand out but I’ve been some of the other places she lists too, and those descriptions were just as apt. You know, here she reminds me of Anne being as happy to pray to a cherry tree as to God. Joy just speaks nature much easier than the Hugh philosophy of church proper.

Strange as it is, I’m a little glad that bell interrupted them. The last kiss you gave Joy was Lorenzo’s, and that went do amok that I think there’s part of her that’s reluctant to be kissed until she knows it will definitely work out. No one can know that for sure, of course, but tell that to Joy! As Luca says, she always wants to figure things out first.

All this and I have yet to get to Ken’s letter. It’s a wonderfully honest letter, and I think that’s one of the things I must live about your Ken and Joy. They aren’t always neat and orderly with each other, they don’t always fit into the expected boxes. But without fail they are honest and that’s a hugely important thing. Ken doesn’t even apologise for ‘hell’ featuring in the letter, and you know, I don’t think Joy expects him to. Other people might but they write and talk freely, right down to his always holding a special place for her in his heart.

I think you write her anger perfectly. Furious at him, at his family, herself, even the world for needing him to go in the first place. I love to that he anticipates the fast pace of her life and feels he can order her to take a day to go nothing. That’s just as important as the knitting and baking - Joy needs to still be there when they return to her.

And I simply love this last bit as Joy feels nothing, but even then is smiling. And how it might be a death or a birth - I’m reminded of Journey of the Magi, and I don’t know if you know it, but the poem feels just perfect for Joy here. Full of cold and noise and smells and hurt, but also great beauty. And she’s starting to find that sometimes one can be the price if the other. Just excellent writing all round! And I’m only sorry I couldn’t get to it yesterday.
8/4/2020 c1 5E Blythe
Oh wow this is awesome! I've always wondered what Anne and Gil's oldest daughter would've been like. This is how I imagined her! Great job!
7/4/2020 c8 TLWtlw
I'm hoping that maybe Joy can keep Walter convinced not to enlist and maybe he and Una can have a chance at happiness.
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