<p>I don’t recall Vida having a name as a child either.</p>
<p>Shortly after Margaret receives the letter from Vida Winter asking that she come to meet with her, Margaret and her dad discuss the etymology of “Vida” and “Winter.” As it turns out, the name probably wasn’t chosen lightly. Vida referred to the twins by name, progressed to “we” without divulging that “we” meant a third girl, and then included “I” into the tale. She never mentioned herself by any name. No idea what anyone who knew of her existence called her.</p>
<p>
Right. Vida loved Emmaline and protected both her and the baby. I just can’t see Vida letting Emmaline think her baby perished in the fire. Having the baby she sought to save from the fire would have given Emmaline a reason to live. Instead, Aurelius needed to be kept safe from Adeline who meant to kill the infant. Had Emmaline been saved and Adeline died, there would have been no reason to leave Aurelius elsewhere.</p>
<p>I really enjoyed the Thirteenth Tale and just now realized I mixed this thread up with another. </p>
<p>One question I had: when Margaret is first learning about Vida’s life doesn’t it come out that her twin died in the fire? Vida (Adeline) had a burn on her hand from trying to save Emmeline. Yet it was quite obvious at the end of the book that many people witnessed both ‘twins’ surviving (really Vida and Adeline - I agree with above posts). Can anyone explain this discrepancy - I may well have missed something.</p>
<p>I finally finished the book! YAY!!</p>
<p>How do you quote a mesage? Anyway, seiclan, Vida didn’t have a name. She just took on the name “Adeline” when she escaped the fire. Or at least, they didn’t MENTION Vida having a name. SimpleRules, did you finish the book? Just want to know- I have an answer to your question but I don’t want to spoil anything if you didn’t。 :)</p>
<p>How do they know that it wasn’t ADELINE who escaped the fire with Vida, instead of Emmeline? Vida couldn’t see anything, right? So at the end, it’s very ambiguous.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[ quote = " shmluza " ] Message 
[ / quote ]</p>
<p>Take out the spaces inside the beginning and ending brackets, ex:
[QUOTE=shmluza]
and you’ve got a quote.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE=ignatius]
Take out the spaces inside the beginning and ending brackets, ex:
Wow that’s a mouthful!</p>
<p>oops :) :) Thanks anyway.</p>
<p>
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<p>Margaret jumps to conclusions before she has all the facts (and therefore, so does the reader.) At the beginning of Vida’s story, Margaret thinks that there were only two girls, Adeline and Emmaline, and that Emmaline died in the fire and Adeline survived and changed her name to Vida. Later, Margaret discovers that there were actually three girls: Vida and Adeline (who survived the fire) and Emmaline (who died). The townspeople are unaware of the existence of a third girl (Vida), so they believe the two survivors are Adeline and Emmaline. Because the townspeople think there are only two girls at Angelfield, they don’t bother to search the rubble for anyone else. That’s why Emmaline’s body is not found (for many years).</p>
<p>shmluza, here are the instructions for quoting, underlining, bolding, and just about anything else you could think of:</p>
<p>[College</a> Confidential - BB Code List](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/misc.php?do=bbcode]College”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/misc.php?do=bbcode)</p>
<p>Thanks. :)</p>
<p>
It’s not very cear if Emmaline or Adeline escaped the fire. Vida couldn’t see, but she grabbed one of their hands. And aso, whoever-it-is’s
body
isn’t found, only their
bones
. I personally think that Adeline’s bones were found and Emmeline got out- when Mr. Love (Aurelius?) went to see whoever-it-is, she acted like she loved him. Of course, that’s what I think. As I said before, it’s very ambiguous.</p>
<p>I tend to think that Emmaline was the one who died in the fire, but you’re right, it is ambiguous. The last thing Vida says on the subject is: </p>
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</p>
<p>I suppose one could argue that even if Emmaline survived, Vida might have decided that the baby Aurelius was better off with Mrs. Love—otherwise, there would be too many questions to answer and explanations to give about the father, etc.</p>
<p>I’m sure that eventually Vida herself knew whom she had saved—after the shock of the fire wore off and she could really look at the body type of the surviving twin—but Vida doesn’t live long enough to share those details with Margaret, so we, as readers, can only guess.</p>
<p>^^^ And all of this is one of the reasons I enjoyed the book so much. There are several parts of the story the author left intentionally vague, which the reader can interpret one way or another. At least for me, it makes the story linger in my mind well past the last page.</p>
<p>I did finish it and thanks for the response - that does make sense now. I was seeing it as a hole in the plot but you are right, the reader jumps to the same conclusion that Margaret does - that only one twin survives the fire but it is implied, not stated.</p>
<p>I interpreted it as Adeline had survived, not Emmeline, for a number of reasons. One is that it was suggested that Vida had to cancel things to deal with the remaining twin - I immediately pictured Adeline needing this type of attention.</p>
<p>Great book - great suggestion. How fun - do you pick a new book for January?</p>
<p>Sorry, I don’t feel I’m expressing myself too well - apparently too much lime sherbet punch last night - I finally have worked my way to crackers and ginger ale today!</p>
<p>^ Glad you enjoyed your New Year’s Eve! 
We will be reading The Help next. We won’t discuss until the second weekend of February (Saturday, February 13th). We did a book every month during the summer, but then switched to alternate months (October, December and February so far). It seems to work better that way–less of a rush and more time to either read at a leisurely pace or read other non-book club books during the “off” time. </p>
<p>Lots of posters have already read The Help and are very enthused about it:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/839908-help-february-cc-book-club-selection.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/839908-help-february-cc-book-club-selection.html</a></p>
<p>Thanks Mary13 - The sad thing was the punch was non-alcoholic! So far ushering in the New Year with the flu, a car at the dealers with a mysterious windshield wiper problem, and a broken furnace - and it is just a bit chilly in the Midwest right now. Just got a call from S who is upstairs under his covers wanting to know when the furnace guys are coming…soon I hope!</p>
<p>I think I might just need to read The Help - apparently needing some :)</p>
<p>I didn’t start reading the book until after Christmas. Just finished it today. I enjoyed it a lot.</p>
<p>On the deceased twin issue: Remember that they were conjoined twins and one “had” to die so that the other could live. If I had made such a decision, I might be tempted to keep it a secret from the surviving twin.</p>
<p>^ Yes, I can see that. In the old days, it seems like there was less sharing about sensitive family issues. (Remember when adoptions were almost always a secret?) Still, once it became clear that Margaret knew about her twin, you’d think her parents would have been open to talking about it a little bit. But it was always the proverbial “elephant in the room.”</p>
<p>I thought I’d be the last to finish the book; I’m glad that others lagged a bit too, so that the discussion continued.</p>
<p>Anyway … the surgery on the conjoined twins resulting in the death of one and then the secrecy - or rather the inability - to acknowledge the resultant sorrow - made me accept Margaret’s issues regarding her twin somewhat. I still had a “move on” feeling when Margaret longed for her twin, but decided the circumstances surrounding the birth and death could legitimately prevent her from doing so.</p>