After her mother drops dead, Pandora Crumbe becomes an unofficial auxiliary of the Morningquest clan, a family of prodigies. But as much as Pandora loves the Morningquests, she and they are not salutary influences on one another.

The big narrative arc of Morningquest depends on Pandora's slow disillusionment with a family that she is eager to idolize, a disillusionment complicated by a maturing, clear-sighted affection for the family, so that the big clanging moments of the novel come when Pandora realizes (again and again) just how badly she has "misread" the dynamics of the Morningquest family.

Or this is Morningquest's intention, at least. It does not manage it, because neither the reader nor Pandora is ever given a chance to fall in love with the Morningquests. The book is narrated by an older Pandora, looking back with all the cynicism of hindsight, and her curdled suspicions alert the reader to the terrible, terrible substance that lurks behind the Morningquest exterior. (After being told by the adorable Morningquest matriarch that Pandora's mother wanted her to attend a particular university, the book itself asks, portentuous with paranoia, "Had that conversation really taken place?" [30]) We never see Pandora establish any childhood bonds with the Morningquests; we only hear about their endearing accomplishments second-hand. All evidence of their humanity happens off-stage.

And thus, when the Morningquests start committing their many sins and suicides, Pandora gasps and the reader yawns. It does not help that Morningquest embraces a mode of excessive melodrama; after a while, it becomes unclear if there exists any taboo or commandment that the Morningquests have not trespassed. (Bestiality, I guess? Necrophilia?) The novel's rising assault of gratuitous sensationalism upon the reader is numbing. ( )

So glad to finally have read the book which I have had for over 10 years. The story brings you the relationship of Pandora, an only child with a cold father, and a lonely mother with no family history, who brings her at age 16 to visit a neighboring family of 7 children, fascinating and famous conductor father, and glamorous and generous mother. Lady Mariana gathers her into the family when her mother suddenly dies. The years pass on, Pandora becomes a successful artist, and her life remains connected to the Morningquests. She admits near the end that she didn't really know their real selves and it took a lifetime to do so, with disappointments and enduring love, and loss. The story of her life will continue at the end, but she turns away from England to live in hope of another relationship with a man lost to her and perhaps to be found. Sad, and hopeful story ! ( )

http://www.lonelymountain.net/books/feb08.html#aikenm ( )

Joan Aikens unterhaltsamer Roman spielt Anfang der sechziger Jahre in der englischen Provinz. Hier, im Nest Floxby Crucis, lebt Pandora, künstlerisch hochbegabt, mit ihrer Mutter. Als die Musikerfamilie Morningquest das in der Nähe liegende Gut Anderland kauft, ändert sich das eintönige Dasein des jungen Mädchens. Frau Morningquest, Jugendfreundin von Pandoras Mutter, ist eine bekannte Sopranistin. Sie, ihre sechs Kinder und andere im Haushalt lebende Familienmitglieder vermitteln Pandora die Wärme, die ihr immer gefehlt hat. Als Pandoras Mutter stirbt, wird "Anderland" das Zuhause der Verwaisten. Und nach und nach erfährt sie jetzt auch etwas über ihre eigene Herkunft, die die Mutter immer im Dunkeln gelassen hat.