The Ladies of Missalonghi

One of the worst cases of plagiarism it has been my misfortune to stumble across, Colleen McCullough's The Ladies of Missalonghi reads like an Australianized version of L.M. Montgomery's Canadian classic, The Blue Castle. Lest my fellow readers think that I am overzealous in defending the honor of a book that I freely acknowledge as one of the recurring pleasures of my adolescence, I will offer a point-by-point comparison...

The Blue Castle:

Valancy Stirling, spinster, lives with her mother and her Cousin Stickles...

Part of the Stirlings, a large extended clan that founded & dominates the town of Deerwood...

As poor relations, they must scrape by the best they can,
and Valancy is pitied for being an undesirable Old Maid...

Valancy's show more secret "guilty" pleasure: Nature Books from the local library...

Valancy suffers from mysterious and recurring pain in her chest...

Rakish outsider named Barney Snaith appears in town, is thought to be an "escaped convict..."

B.S. has a history of being ill-used by his lady love...

Valancy eventually rebels against the stricture of her joyless life, leaves her mother's house, and marries B.S., all while believing herself to be dying...

The Ladies of Missalonghi:

Missy Wright, spinster, lives with her mother and her Aunt Olivia...

Part of the Hurlingfords, a large extended clan that founded and dominates the town of Byron...

As poor relations, they scrape by the best they can, and Missy is pitied for being a plain Old Maid...

Missy's "guilty" pleasure: reading romantic novels from the lending library...

Missy suffers from a mysterious and recurring pain in her side...

Rakish outsider named John Smith appears in town, is thought to be a "jailbird..."

J.S. has a history of being ill-used by his lady love...

Missy eventually rebels against the constraints of her "starved" life, leaves her mother's house, and marries J.S., all while pretending to be dying...

I could go on (there are PLENTY of other examples), but I think the reader takes my point?

McCullough does manage to do a FEW things differently from Montgomery, cutting out the entire sub-plot of the sick friend that the heroine (Valancy) nurses, despite the social stigma of associating with a "fallen" woman. Worthy deeds are apparently more Montgomery's stock-in-trade, whereas McCullough contents herself by "sexing" things up a bit, with a few throwaway lines that the heroine herself doesn't really understand. What's so funny, she wonders, about referring to a young man as "limp?" Also notable is the moment when John Smith considers roughing Missy up a bit in bed, "not rape her exactly, just force her a little"(149), in order to dissuade her from marriage. What could be more appealing in a romantic hero, especially one modeled on my beloved Barney Snaith...?

Somebody, please pass me a blowtorch... show less

I've passed copies of this wonderful little gem out to all of my favorite women. It's a great story of a woman going after what she wants. And the end was such a magical surprise the first time that I turned back to the first page and read it all again.

This is The Thornbirds poor cousin. McCullough's blockbuster stuck with me over 40 years, so when this was recommended, I was interested. Much smaller in size and scope, The Ladies.... still has a bit of shock value to it. Australian setting, but reads like British regency - same snobby attitudes about class and wealth just transported down under. The town of Byron is inhabited and run by various branches of Hurlingfords - all with land and business interests (the bottling plant, the general store, the bank, etc., and for the 1920s time period, all men. Women have stature based on their husbands or their prospects. So one old maid, one widow, and one mousy young woman don't have much pull. Octavia, her sister Drusilla and Drusilla's show more very plain daughter Missy all live together in a home 'provided' by their controlling kin and eke out a living on needle skills and the charity of other family members. Missy is very quiet and shy and loves to read when she is not doing household chores or sewing. Romance is her favorite genre and a sassy cousin newly moved to town is helping in the library and sneaks her all the latest spicy reads, which Missy devours. When a handsome, rough-around-the edges stranger comes to town, Missy is smitten and begins to find her nerve and her spine. John Smith is the subject of many rumors, but Missy only finds him to be kind and content with his lot, which the social climbing Hurlingfords can't comprehend. However, he is also not interested in marriage or in mingling, so Missy has a hard time running into him until she starts taking walks in the 'bush' of the valley property he purchased. The more gumption she acquires the more she provokes her extended family until she uncovers their scheme of bilking the helpless women in the family of their stock shares and property. She cleverly fights back and in upending things gains the courage to pursue John Smith herself, also with a clever ruse. The outcome could probably figure into one of the novels she loves so well. A little slow to start, but had me turning pages quickly toward the end. Refreshingly old-fashioned. show less

The Ladies of Missalonghi is enjoyable to a point, but it had to be plagiarized from L. M. Montgomery's The Blue Castle. There's simply no other way to explain the similarities. McCullough is an able writer so it doesn't make sense that she'd copy a story so blatantly, but she clearly did. Maybe it was intended as a tribute of sorts? The story is well written and I read it in one sitting, but there are a few disquieting things that are somehow supposed to be palatable to the reader. I will probably not reread this.

I liked most of the story, and enjoyed the fairytale-like quality of it. But I couldn't help thinking about the whole plagiarism thing all the time that I was reading it. There were unquestionable similarities between this and [The Blue Castle], although McCullough did take the story in some different directions. For instance: the supernatural element; the outright criminal behaviour of Missy's family; and more emphasis on the theme of women's powerlessness. And there was the rather disturbing point of Missy's basing her marriage on an outright lie. I wish I could have judged the book on its own merits, instead of weighing everything against the original.

I don't know yet whether the matter of Missy's lie will prove to be a deal breaker show more for me in The Ladies of Missalonghi. I liked the rest of the story a lot, but that was such a fundamental issue. I guess that is one of the differences between Montgomery and McCullough—L. M. Montgomery wanted to leave her readers happy, but McCullough didn't mind leaving them with a touch of uneasiness. show less

There have been accusations that this plot was taken from a particular Canadian book. ButColleen McCullough is one of the most original writers that I know. Her first novel (I'm pretty sure) was 'Tim.' I have not seen anything like Tim before or since. I doubt if 'The Ladies' was plagiarised at all - only that it was very common in the 1920s for widows and spinsters to live together, and in poverty (spinsters were very common in Australia after the WW1 due to the shortage of men.) As an Australian writer, she may never have come across the Canadian book that is spoken of.

The plot? Missy finds her existence so drab through no fault of her own that she seizes her idea, chooses to disregard the deceit involved, and finds her happiness. I show more loved the ending, and if it's like a fairy-tale with the villains getting what they deserved, then that's fine with me.

I think that many women of her generation (and mine) carry a deep anger at the treatment of women, and especially of those who have never been pretty. This story comes from that anger, and I was so pleased for Missy when she found a good life in spite of all that was set against her. This is a 5-star book. show less

Colleen McCullough shows her narrative strength in this short novel that tells the story of a family of patriarchs who are outwitted by one of their own. Wonderfully rich characters with just a little magic woven in.