Here I Stay (1983)

 


    A Total Eclipse of the Heart

Andrea Torgesen is used to life being a battle. The death of their parents in an accident left her the sole guardian of her little brother Jimmie at nineteen. And now twelve years later, her much adored Jimmie has been in a life-altering near-death car wreck, which has left him almost catatonic with depression. The only thing that catches his interest is the prospect of turning an old house left to them by a distant relative into a bed-and-breakfast. As the house and grounds blossom under their hands and they find a place in the nearby community, it seems like a good decision. When Jimmie develops an overwhelming fascination with the private graveyard on their property and an obsession with the abandoned tower room, their long-term guest Martin starts to get alarmed, though. But Andy refuses to see anything ominous in the history of the old house, or believe it might be reaching long fingers out of the past to her brother...

The internet tells me Here I Stay is not a favorite among other MPM fans, but I think that's unfair. Someone in the House and Black Rainbow, her most recent Michael's works, are often met with criticism as well, and I wonder if that might not the result of a new interrogative, introspective quality that's apparent here as well. 

Because, lets' be frank, Andy, the heroine proffered for our amusement, is difficult. She's hard and unsympathetic, gruff, money-motivated with no apparent sense of humor and a selfish, smothering love for her brother that's so suffocating to read about I can't imagine living with it. No reader could like her at her first introduction. In fact, it took me until about the middle of the book to start to warm up to her. She's been battered badly by life, and she's responded by becoming painfully practical and fixating on her brother. Understanding her history, and charting the way it echoes those of the previous inhabitants of Springers' Grove Inn makes for a surprisingly powerful narrative.

Because Here is not about the traditional Michaels things--a haunting, a mystery to solve, a romance. Sure, all those things play their part, even if they do linger in the background. Here focuses on Andy learning to live, to let go, to move on. And that's a process all things play a part in--her love interest Martin, her new friendship with Reba Miller in town, her business. It takes time for her to heal, but it's an interesting story to follow, as long as one is not reading for the traditional thrills and chills of a Michaels book.

Someone is about refusing to accept easy, artificial happiness at the expense of liberty. Here is about understanding that love can't be held prisoner. Those aren't easy themes that allow for easy happy endings. They might end on notes that feel like depressingly strong downbeats, but they have a powerful significance we would ignore at our peril.

Rating: ****

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