The Book...

Library, week 22

1. Write about a character stumbling upon a library book that changes the course of their life, for better or worse.

It was the book that would change her life; something she didn’t even know existed, yet it was a Holy Grail that would change the course of everything. Beth had always been a bit of an Anglophile; watched the Royal Weddings like others viewed the Super Bowl, dressed like Princess Diana in the 80’s when her peers tried to copy Madonna, and preferred tea from a proper cup and saucer since she had her own tea set as a child. Yes, she liked all things English. And she grew up knowing that her family had been woven into the tapestry of British history, but it never dawned on her that there would be a proper book! Since she was small, she knew what her most famous ancestor looked like from a copy of a painting, she vaguely remembered the tartan [as she would later learn her Scottish roots], and spent a lot of time having high tea even with her non-English family, to encourage this Anglomania. But it wasn’t until she would receive an inheritance, with English-style wills, that she would have the freedom to research her ancestry. As a single working mother, there was no time, but with a safety net, she could now give her children all they needed, and change the course of her own life, which she felt in her heart had its roots in England. And it all started when her hands touched the ancient navy blue cover of the library book about her ancestors…

Beth was a glam girl, but had to be sensible, working several jobs to make ends meet for her kids. Her penchant for beauty had her working in cosmetics, her love of ballet had her teaching lessons, her talent for art had her painting and doing art shows. When she started working for a law firm, she made good enough money to support her family on the one job, but got quickly board without beauty and art, so she carried on, just teaching dance after work and beauty or art shows on the weekend. Once you have exposure to the better things, [not to mention the freebies you get in the cosmetic industry] it’s hard to go back. So, she carried on, and since she taught dance with her daughters while her son played basketball, it was still more quality time, and financial stability. The inheritance was out of the blue; one day she proudly had several hundred hard-earned dollars in her bank, now she had tens of thousands! Beth bought everything valued as an American for a better life; a house, a car, nicer clothes for her and the kids...but something was missing. Quickly, she realized both the house and the car were lemons, and she kicked herself as the money would have been better served for travel or more life experiences. This would be an expensive lesson to live down. Fancy clothes didn’t fulfill her, either, as she was pretty good with second-hand and discount shopping, anyway.

At the law firm, Beth had to learn computers, and fast. Her older chi;dren taught her, and her dad gave her a home computer. She could do research. Since there was this nagging feeling that there was something she wanted that was not in her backyard, she looked again at her family history. Much to her surprise, there was an actual book on the family...The Three Branches of the Family...they were that important! It was old and rare, and had to be ordered. The library transferred it in, and the book she held with trembling hands was in bad shape; held together with a rubber band and many pages loose and falling out. It was precious. Beth went to town, devouring the pictures and trying to study the old-fashioned way of writing. Her logic was simple; if the last copy of this book was mid-1800’s, then if there was a picture, she figured the building would still be standing. Isn’t stuff older in England? In America, if it was from the 1970’s, it would be bulldozed for the Millennium to make it shinier and newer.  She reckoned they didn’t do that as much, and went with that hunch.

Since there were several branches of the family to explore, she figured she would write these buildings, cold call. Much to her surprise, she got letters back! Of course the addresses weren’t complete, she didn’t know the postcodes, but kindly mailmen got them in the hands of elders that could help. One was from Gosfield Hall in Essex; an elderly couple living there as a now retirement home loved ancestry, and wrote her, and a couple married during the war got back to her from the village of Lillingstone Lovell, where the family had been bequeathed a mansion from King Henry VIII!

Beth now had funds to travel. She wanted to see as much of the country as she could, but mostly to see these ancestral homes. She had no interest in London at the minute, so she didn’t make plans there, and got off the Tube in Kensington, since she knew Princess Diana had lived there, she reckoned it would be a good place to stay. The appointments were the burgeoning promise, and she had to hot those. She could only schedule a few days.while the kids were on visitation. So, she merely took a long weekend, which is a lot on a body traveling 8,000 miles and back in a short time. But Beth was still young, and the hope of discovering her roots and perhaps herself, were worth it. Gosfield Hall in Essex was the first. She met the old couple, who made her come back at another time, since they weren’t prepared for her. Beth knew nothing of English custom, and was used to people popping in and out. When she came back the next day and they were dressed and ready, Beth made another mistake when they offered her a drink...when she realized they meant alcoholic, she babbled ‘But it’s only 11:00 am!’ That’s a mistake she never repeated again; being a tea-totaller, she found a tipple and stuck to it when offered, regardless of the hour. She got to see the Tudor mansion, its hand-carved wood panels, French silver mirrors, and the carvings that Fly Boys had put in the rafters during the war. It was fascinating. The architecture was a bit dry, but part had been redone by Louis XIII, with more ornate gold leaf and marble...that was more her taste! 

The other village was far away, and the couple the letter had landed with was married during WWII; classic love story, they had to get married quickly so he could get shipped out. They lived in an actual thatched roof cottage from the 1400’s. They loved their village, and showing her around. The estate, it turned out, was only a ruin, where the dents could be seen. On another trip, her young daughter would Easter egg hunt around them. Beth would keep in touch with both couples, and she started a charity for apprentices in the village..something her ancestors had done. These would be the first of many trips.One of the things Beth noticed was that her hunch was right; people treated her differently, because of her ancestry. She was not the poor, struggling single mother, she was a descendant of a respected family. And she liked it.

The last place had no one get back to, for reasons she would find out later as it was empty and derelict. The once magnificent mansion in Yorkshire. Her name was the name of the village; this was where her people came from. She noticed especially there, that people heard her name and treated her with a different kind of respect. She hired a taxi, and it took her by the house; the largest stately home in England! She researched that there had been pools, ponds, and hundreds of acres. She found the ruin where effigies of her ancestors were; she learned from the first mansion that her relatives weren’t buried in the churchyard; they were in the building in places of honor. She checked out the village and felt she belonged. This would be the first of many trips.

When Beth got back from her whirlwind trip, she found out something disturbing. To save weight in her luggage, she didn’t bring the family book, but had been making copies and studying pages. She only took a few that she thought were relevant, and left the rest in her briefcase under her desk. Only it was missing! She found out that, much to her horror, the cleaning people took ALL the content of her briefcase and shredded it! Including the book and the copies. There was no other copy of the book, and the one she had was falling apart as it was. With only a handful of copies, it seemed her life was dashed. The building management apologized, sent her flowers and money, but nothing could replace it. She didn’t end up working at the firm that long after, as she truly sensed her life was not to be shackled there.

Decades passed, and many trips back and forth across the pond. She had received many visas over the years as well, even ending up spending time with her children there, eventually raising the youngest in the UK when the others had grown. Twenty-plus years went by, and Beth was in an unhappy marriage. She decided to see if she could get that book again...and she did! She made some copies, but her husband wouldn’t let her keep in, even though it meant the world to her. She did find a recent copy in paperback and ordered it...and took it abroad as she went back to work for her ancestral home in Yorkshire. She made friends and found peace, and even met the love of her life. Twenty four years later, a still beautiful and much wiser Beth found her happy ending...and she found it in a book that wasn’t meant to be a fairy tale.