Tomorrow is the big day. The Eyre Hall Trilogy is officially complete and available for purchase and download on Amazon as a Kindle ebook.
My proof for the paperback version of Midsummer at Eyre Hall arrived today. I’ll be checking it through carefully, and it will be available to purchase in print before the end of the month.
Today’s post is about happy endings.
In this final post, I’m going to tell you about one of my greatest challenges. I needed to make sure the end of The Eyre Hall Trilogy was not disappointing for readers who had read the previous books. After their emotional investment and the time spent reading, I wouldn’t want to let them down.
The main dilemma regarding the ending: it could be happy or not.
As I briefly discussed in my previous post, a happy ending is not mandatory in a romance, or in a gothic romance, or even in a Victorian gothic romance, but in the end, that’s what has happened in The Eyre Hall Trilogy.
Why did I think of an unhappy ending in the first place?
Well, I didn’t want to be accused of promoting false expectations or chosing the easy way to end my trilogy on a marriage or birth, after all, the end, the real end of our lives, is pretty depressing.
I finally decided to stop at a happy moment, mainly because it was my daughter’s request and Camus’ influence, so I followed Welles advice and found the right place to stop in order to have an optimistic ending.
Before we continue, let’s take a few minutes to discuss happiness. What is happiness? What is a happy ending?
According to Camus, life becomes absurd once we realise that from the moment we are born, we are walking towards our inevitable death.
Life is absurd, but we can make one of two important choices: to live or to die.
We can exert our freedom and refuse to play the absurd game by committing suicide, or we can freely accept the absurdity of life and chose to be happy.
So, if we choose to be happy, we accept our transient nature and implicitly agree to make the most of our time here.
Now, back to The Eyre Hall Trilogy. Why is it a happy ending?
Mainly because the main characters, the characters the reader cares most about, are in harmony with the life they lead at the moment the narrative stops. They have made their choices, fought for what they wanted, and they have achieved what they desired, so they are happy at the end.
On the other hand, not all the plot lines are tied up optimistically, and not all the characters are living in harmony. John, Annette and Susan made some unwise decisions which they will have to live with. There is a shadow looming over Michael due to some risky decisions he made, and of course, Jane is getting older towards the end of the novel, and although she is in good health, in Victorian England life expectancy was low, but I wrote ‘The End‘ before she died.
The final moment in Midsummer at Eyre Hall is full of harmony, but the characters, the reader, and the writer are well aware that this is a photograph of a fleeting moment. In any case, I hope you enjoy this temporary representation of happiness.
*****
The following is an extract from Twelfth Night at Eyre Hall, where Charles Dickens and Jane Eyre are discussing the difficulty of ending a novel. Mr. Dickens is visiting Jane and they are chatting by the fireplace at Eyre Hall, after dinner. He calls her Miss Elliot, beause it was the pen name Jane used at that time.
It’s one of my favourite intertextual scenes in the novel; the author I most admire chatting to my favourite fictional character about literature. A magnificent moment.
****
“The time has come to end this wonderful evening. I would not like to tire you, or I shall not be invited again.”
“Endings are so sad in real life, and so hard to write in fiction. How does an artist know a work of art has reached its end? And what is a good ending to a great story?”
“Indeed. It is no secret that I struggle with every ending.”
“I prefer happy endings, as you know, Mr. Dickens. Readers prefer a satisfactory conclusion. It makes the reading more rewarding.”
“Perhaps you are right, my dear Miss Elliot, but I am afraid it is not always possible.”
“Who should we bear in mind when writing the end, the reader or the story?”
“The reader always. We write for our readers. I had a more pessimistic ending for Great Expectations, but my dear friend Wilkie Collins persuaded me, or shall we say convinced me, that my readers would prefer a more positive ending, so I left the door open for Pip and Estella.”
“And are you pleased with this modification?”
“Yes. I have no doubt the story will be more acceptable with the altered ending. After all, I think Wilkie was right. It is for the better.”
“I must admit, it is one of my favourite novels, and I am glad you decided to present a happy ending. Would you read the last chapter before we retire?”
“It would be a pleasure, Miss Elliot.”
She handed me a copy of Great Expectations. I opened the last chapter and read the ending she wanted to hear.
“‘I took her hand in mine, and we went out of the ruined place; and, as the morning mists had risen long ago when I first left the forge, so the evening mists were rising now, and in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed to me, I saw no shadow of another parting from her.’ ”
Seconds later, I closed the book and watched a single tear slide down her cheek.
“Thank you, Mr. Dickens. That is the most perfect ending anyone has ever written.”
I wanted to add that it was a mere illusion, because there can be no happy ending to any story. We will have to surrender everything we have, in the end, and we will leave this planet as naked and helpless as we came, but I was silent. Why spoil the magic moment?
*****
What kind of endings do you prefer in the novels you read or write?
Rereading Jane Eyre 
Looking forward to exploring the books. Enjoyed this topic. Happy to read your posts.
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Thank you, Lori.
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I like closure, whether that be a happy ending or not. So many films and books seem to leave things unresolved and that’s annoying.
With regards to needing a happy ending; a few years ago I read a set of five books and loved them, only to have the worst thing possible happen at the end. Why did this character have to die? It didn’t seem at all necessary and I felt really let down by the author. It spoilt my whole reading experience – I could barely finish the last few pages and have no plans to review these books. I don’t normally react so strongly to such endings, I must have really loved the books to still feel like this several years later!
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You’re right. That’s a thought provoking comment, Suzanne. Closure is the key. I suppose you don’t have to tie up every single plot line, after all it’s a novel not an ecuation, but the main plot needs to be resolved, as far as it can be.
I agree as a reader that the death of a main character should be avoided I was tempted
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What a way to end a trilogy – discussing an ending. Brilliant! I enjoyed reading it.
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It’s good to know that a literary giant such as Dickens also struggled with his endings… They are nerve-racking!
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