Diverse examples of a mother’s love play an important role in A Distant Prospect.
We learn much about mothers and daughters in flashback.
Image source: http://thegraphicsfairy.com/vintage-clip-art-mother-and-daughter/
(Public domain)
Lucy and Phoebe have both lost their mothers, in tragic and mysterious circumstances respectively. Yet we come to know in moving revelations about the deep love which their mothers showed to them, and to their fathers. Both Lucy and Phoebe grieve their loss, but can they ever be expected to forgive past wrongs that robbed them of their mothers?
Pim Connolly’s mother is busy in the background of her large family, but Aunt Rose provides one of the warmest examples of motherly concern and kindness when Lucy and Pim travel to vist her in Moss Vale.
Lucy eventually finds that her inquisitive neighbour Mrs Murphy turns out to have a story of motherhood and loss to pull at the heartstrings, and learns a new appreciation for her kindness.
Finally, it is music teacher Mrs Epstein who provides a unifying thread of motherhood to all of the quartet members, according to their need, and the extent of her involvement is gradually revealed in the latter chapters.
Little wonder that so many readers report that they and their mothers both loved A Distant Prospect. It offers so many examples of mothers’ gentle strength, self-sacrifice, wisdom and kindness, even in the face of life’s tragedies, suffering and hardships.
