The Diary of Miss Idilia

The Diary of Miss Idilia is classified as a ‘Memoir’ and certainly the facts are there and provide the basis for a terrific story, but the superfluous plot details, possibly from heavy editing, are all a little bit too convenient, too neat to represent realism. Nonetheless it is a tragic story, despite all its convenience: Miss Idilia, a 17-year old artist from Edinburgh, is on holiday with her family in the Rhineland, 1851. Whilst fending off her many suitors, she is attracted to one charming beau, and soon falls in love. This love distracts the couple though, whereby they miss their river boat and so follows a series of comic swashbuckling adventures, before they catch the boat again and are reunited with Idilia’s family. Thereafter the comedy ends and the story quickly and graphically turns tragic. The memoirs are based on Idilia’s diary, edited by her best friend, to an extent we can only assume. The original diary no longer exists, although the press articles can be traced. If you can suspend scepticism, the read is worthwhile in that it is such a blunt tragedy – you only need a modicum of imagination to be a little bit haunted by it. [Renée Rowland]