A Smart and Perceptive View of the
Unique Culture of Early Rural America Twelve Miles from a Lemon
by Mary Dodge
 Many myths about the past are prevalent in our day, especially concerning the supposedly servile nature and constrained role of women. Yet, abundant evidence exists that women had a freedom of speech equal to that of men. Indeed, women of the "Victorian" age were by no means so repressed that they could not express themselves in strong, critical terms in widely-read mainstream publications. One example of the female individualist of the 19th century is Mary Dodge, whose book Twelve Miles from a Lemon, demonstrates her confident demeanor, using unique prose that is often discriminating and idealistic, but then just as often sympathetic and compassionate. Dodge's book is full of outspoken observations, colorful descriptions and interesting commentary on a wide variety of "living in the country" rural matters. From remarkably unusual perspectives, both mundane and sophisticated topics are portrayed, such as food, travel, weather, roads, home-repair, social meetings, investment and commerce. There is no doubt that detailed facts are intermingled with bold imagination in Dodge's "memoir". But was she writing from real life, or is this fiction, or some combination of both? Her reports are issued in a kind of stream of consciousness vein, and in the book's naturally flowing pages, many different kinds of qualities are encountered. The reader will be brought into an intriguing world, recognizable and familiar in some ways, but strange and wonderful in others. Anyone looking for the profundities that lie behind the trees and hedges and cottages of country life will be gratified by the well-considered idealism found in Twelve Miles from a Lemon.
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Other similar titles: A Land Without Ruins, by Belle Kearney; Half a Century, by Jane Swisshelm; Dreams of Eden, by Amanda Douglas |
