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Aunt Maria: To Grandmother's House We Go

There’s always that one family member that everyone struggles to get along with at family gatherings, but I can assure you that nobody can compare to Aunt Maria. Aunt Maria, by Dianne Wynne Jones, tells the story of a family going to visit their Aunt Maria off in the odd and isolated town of Cranbury Head. While there, the main character Mig uncovers the twisted, magical matriarchy of the town- headed by her very own Aunt Maria- and faces witchcraft, brainwashing, ghosts, and local legends.

I truly enjoyed reading this novel because of its wonderful cast of characters. Mig is a delightful and relatable protagonist, not afraid to act and be assertive. Her young age makes her fierce curiosity and strong emotions believable and real, and her point of view being executed through her journal entries makes for an interesting way to transition between chapters of the story. Mig’s brother Chris is a great character as well; his cleverness helps pull the plot along and prevents Mig from having to supply every clue and plot point, and his sassy outbursts at Aunt Maria provide an outlet for the audience’s frustration with her. Honestly, Chris is a good representation of the audience’s emotions; Aunt Maria is one heck of an irritating woman, and every time Chris spoke out, I was silently rooting for him. He and Mig make a good dynamic duo for this story. Betty, the mother of Mig and Chris, plays a secondary role but is a hero in her own way. She often acts as martyr, sparing Mig and Chris of the awful Aunt Maria for a couple of hours each day, but we still get to see her fiery side. Her strong personality and fervor for her family makes her my favorite character in the book, and in the very end she shows us her great courage and impassioned drive.
Dianne Wynne Jones does an amazing job characterizing her main villain, Aunt Maria, by not making her a cliche witch trope but by attributing mass amounts of frustrating qualities on her. Aunt Maria relies heavily on guilt tripping to get things done around the house and in society. She’s got the town wrapped around her finger by feigning this helpless, weak persona, when in reality she is fully capable of caring for herself. Guilt tripping is a pet peeve of mine, and seeing Aunt Maria so blatantly use it to control others was absolutely infuriating- which of course was the intention. By the end of the book, I felt no remorse for her or her goonies; they got what was coming to them. Jones knew exactly what she was doing and succeeded in creating a compelling antagonist out of an old grandmother.
Really, the only part of the book I wasn’t much a fan of was the magic- not because I didn’t like it, rather I was quite glad magic played a part- but because I didn’t understand it. I think it’s important when introducing magic into a story to have some sort of parameters about it. To what extent can the magic be used? Where did the magic come from? What exactly is it capable of? To me, the magic in Cranbury Head was loosely defined. Some aspects, like time travel, came out of nowhere and caught me off guard. It’s important to establish limits on magic in a story or else the plot could have been solved with a snap of the fingers and a magic word.

Aunt Maria is a bewitching tale that I recommend to anyone looking for an entertaining and easy read. I was invested in the story the whole way through, and the second half in particular flies by so quickly because of all the major discoveries and mysteries being uncovered. The writing is charming, and the characters are appealing and relatable! I'm really glad I got a chance to read Aunt Maria!

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