Thursday, September 15, 2011

Magic and Mystery

My book has been getting better!  It's become rather complicated - a series of plots all combined in the first 150 pages.  There are many characters that all have their own adventures, but so far my favorite plot lines are those of Ivy and Mr. Garrit.  Ivy is on a mission to help her father, a magician who for some reason has gone mad.  Strange men in cloaks have been visiting her house, looking for a mysterious magical item, so she is attempting to find the missing object in order to bribe them to help save her father.  Her quest is an exciting mystery that is further explained in about every other chapter. In other chapters, the plot turns to Mr. Garrit and his goal of improving the fortunes of himself and his sister.  He planned to invest in a trading company that was supposed to bring back profits twenty times his original investment, but he did not have enough money to buy the share.  Through a series of strange events, he received the money from a highway man who seems to have a thing for his sister.  However, the money wasn't given freely.  Now, Mr. Garrit is following these strange directions from the criminal - delivering letters that are surely involved in a rebellion against the king.  Being a respectable citizen, Mr. Garrit decides to pay the highwayman back after weeks of doing his dirty work.  He goes to the company he invested in, only to discovered they have swindled him.  Now he is in the service of a criminal and helping in a revolution he doesn't want, all in order to increase his social status, earning a better life for his sister.

Both of my favorite characters share something in common - they each want to help those they love.  Personally, while my family can seriously get on my nerves, I want the best for them.  I worry about my little sister as she grows up and starts high school and hope that she is given all the good fortune she deserves.  Unlike my favorite characters, however, I am blessed to live in a family where I don't need to provide for everyone.  Ivy, in the fashion of Elinor from Sense and Sensibility, is essentially in charge of her family.  Lilly, the Marianne Dashwood of the family, and her mother are hopeless romantics.  With her father sick, Ivy is left to monitor the finances of the once wealthy family, keeping purchases in check and remaining sensible.  Mr. Garrit has a similar situation.  He is the son of a diseased, disgraced nobleman who owes money to every money lender in town.  While Mr. Garrit is an honest man, he is unable to get ahead in life to due to his illegitimate birth and his inability to get a loan because of the sins of his father.  Both characters take the weight of the world on their shoulders to support the people they care about.  I only hope that I will always have the sense to support my family in a similar, if less dramatic, way.

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