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The Lilac Sunbonnet

27/2/2020

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An instant bestseller when published (following serialisation) in 1894, ‘The Lilac Sunbonnet’ is an unashamed domestic romance. It has been sadly misunderstood latterly and is well worth more close inspection. It is important to appreciate the role of humour in the work. The narrator takes an ironic stance from the very beginning: ‘the young man was sufficient of a hero. And not too much.’  This view of the hero was to become stock in trade for Crockett.  While in ‘The Raiders’ we see Patrick Heron as his own retrospective ironic narrator, in ‘The Lilac Sunbonnet,’ the narrator stands outside the story but the deftness of ironic touch is the same. Crockett asks us, from the very beginning, to invest an ironic interest in seeing the young man taught a good lesson in love. 
Crockett writes of romance using a Romance style, offering a clever representation of the way young lovers behave. As such it explores emotion and the impossibility of using religion to control emotion. The prologue starts in media res, with an introduction to Ralph Peden as he meets Jess Kissock. This is not an irrelevancy to the main story, it is a vital part of an almost medieval interlacing pattern. This clever stylistic device allows the author to show parallels and patterns which reinforce his central notion that love is natural and God is love. Here Crockett has used the episodic form of serialised fiction and heightened it. And yet, he never loses the skill of the romancer. The story cracks along, drawing the reader with it. Crockett reveals the profound effect that even the most seemingly insignificant act by one character has on another, thus further illustrating the significance of love. The episodic patterning and interlacing of events builds to give the reader a deeper exploration of love than the basic boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl plot structure might suggest. At each stage of the journey, love is explored from a range of perspectives. The main story may be carried by the hero and heroine, but the minor characters add colour, depth and imagination to it. Crockett shows that nature is at the heart of both religion and love. He uses imagery effectively, especially natural imagery and there is and underplayed but underlying sexual tension and passion revealed in the most ordinary of things. All in all, if you come to this novel with an open mind, you may be surprised by the strength and depth you discover within. 

VOLUME 14 OF THE GALLOWAY COLLECTION. BUY THE BOOK ONLINE HERE
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    THE COMPLETE CROCKETT

      1886    Dulce Cor  
    1893    The Stickit Minister 
    1894    Mad Sir Uchtred
    1894    The Play Actress
    1894    The Raiders
    1894    The Lilac Sunbonnet
    1895    Bog Myrtle and Peat
    1895    A Galloway Herd
    1895    Men of the Moss Hags
    1896    Cleg Kelly
    1896    The Grey Man
    1896    Sweetheart Travellers 
    1897    Lads' Love
    1897    Lochinvar
    1897    Sir Toady Lion
    1898    The Red Axe
    1898    The Standard Bearer
    1899    The Black Douglas
    1899    Kit Kennedy
    1899    Ione March
    1900    Joan of the Sword Hand
    1900    Stickit Minister's Wooing
    1900    Little Anna Mark
    1901    Cinderella
    1901    The Firebrand
    1901    Love Idylls
    1901    The Silver Skull
    1902    The Dark o' the Moon
    1902    Flower o' the Corn
    1903    Adventurer in Spain
    1903    The Banner of Blue
    1904    Love of Miss Anne
    1904    Strong Mac
    1904    Raiderland
    ​
    1904    Red Cap Tales
    1905    Maid Margaret
    1905    The Cherry Ribband
    1905    Kid McGhie
    1905    Sir Toady Crusoe
    1906    White Plumes of Navarre
    1907    Me and Myn
    1907    Little Esson
    1907    Vida
    1908    Deep Moat Grange
    1908    Princess Penniless
    1908    Bloom o' the Heather 
    1908    Red Cap Adventures 
    1909    The Dew of Their Youth
    1909    Men of the Mountain
    1909    My Two Edinburghs
    1909    Rose of the Wilderness
    1910    Young Nick and Old Nick
    1911    The Lady of a 100 Dresses 
    1911    Love in Pernicketty Town
    1911    The Smugglers
    1912    Anne of the Barricades
    1912    Sweethearts at Home
    1912    The Moss Troopers
    1913    Sandy's Love
    1913    A Tatter of Scarlet
    1914    Silver Sand
    1915    Hal o' the Ironsides
    1917    The Azure Hand
    1920    The White Pope
    1926    Rogues' Island
    2016   Peter the Renegade 

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