Alvindale Idea

June 21, 2000

(Originally written October 29, 1993. At the time I was really considering doing some serious writing, but I haven't had time to really do it.)

This is an idea for a novel titled Alvindale. The name is the name of a ficticious house that existed approximately 1820 in England. This is written to be contemporary with the novel Jane Eire.

There are several characters, including the main character who I will call Nancy as a working name. This is not her real name. She is an INFJ "servant" of an overbearing mistress, an ISTJ, and is approximately 16 to 18 years old. The mistress has two daughters, both ISTJ. Actually, the two daughters figure into the novel more than the mother, who has mainly a passing role. In addition, there is a simpleton woman Elsa, who lives in the village just down the road. She is an ESFP, and is not a central character until later, as we shall see.

As the story begins, the mistress is the head of Alvindale, with her two daughters, who are about the same age as Nancy. Nancy takes refuge in her occasional trips into town on business, where she is friends with Elsa. On one of these trips she meets a guy, who is the son of a merchant in the town. (She just happened to be buying something.) (Actually, this forms a subplot to the novel---the friendship of Nancy and her bo. This is not the main story.) He is an ENTJ, and he enjoys building castles in the air with Nancy.

As it turns out in the end, a letter is discovered which tells of days long gone by. It seems that the owner of Alvindale, and his young wife, were going away for a few days, and they left their young daughter in the care of the housekeeper. They were delayed due to illness, and while they were gone, the owner died. His wife, herself very ill, returned home to Alvindale. In the interim, the housekeeper (attempting to ``fix'' the INFJ) had taken over the house. When the true mistress returned, very sick, and on a cold and wet day, the housekeeper (who now calls herself ``mistress'') turned here away. From the house she had gone into the small village, and had taken refuge in the house of a kind member of the community. The fever, however, had robbed her of her memory, and she had become the simpleton that was now Elsa. The daughter, in case you haven't guessed, was Nancy.

In the end, since it is now known that Elsa is the true mistress of Alvindale, she moves in. In a jesture of good will, Elsa forgives everyone, saying, "What's done is done and can't be undone," which turns out to be more punishment for the former mistress than any form of revenge, for now she is, once again, the servant at Alvindale, and servant to Elsa, and Nancy. In her own eyes, she has been demoted, and has no hope of ever getting the power she once had.

We don't want to forget the boy that Nancy meets. In the end they marry, and the castles in the sky become real castles.