A Tangled Web

A Tangled Web

First edition
Author	L. M. Montgomery
Country	Canada
Language	English
Publisher	McClelland and Stewart
Publication date	1931
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	324 pp

A Tangled Web is a novel by L. M. Montgomery. It is one of the few books she published that was written mainly for adults. It centers on a community consisting mainly of two families, the Penhallows and the Darks. Over three generations, 60 members of the Penhallow family have married 60 members of the Dark family, creating a tangled web of relationships and emotions.

The book was not as financially successful as Montgomery's earlier works as it was released after the Wall Street crash of 1929. Parts of the book were adapted from a short story that L.M. Montgomery had released earlier: "A House Divided Against Itself" which appeared in The Canadian Home Journal in March 1930. The Penhallow family is also mentioned in "The Winning of Lucinda" from Chronicles of Avonlea (1912).

Rebecca Dark (nee Penhallow) learns she is dying. A widow with no surviving children, she has been considered the unofficial head of the clan (the extended Dark & Penhallow families) for some time and is known to all of them as Aunt Becky. She has held periodic afternoon gatherings of her clan, which she calls levees, at her home over the years. The clan have a love-hate relationship with her levees, because they fear her sharp tongue, but derive a perverse enjoyment of seeing other members writhing under her digs and slams. She decides to hold a final levee where the reader meets the rest of the characters and learns a bit about them. She reads her self-written obituary to them, to their horror, followed by her will, which disposes of her possessions. Many of them are coveted by at least one member present, but very few of the announced recipients of each item are appreciative. The last item mentioned is the old Dark jug, an antique and prized family heirloom, although not of any great monetary value or artistic merit. She reveals the recipient will not be named now, but in a year's time and produces a heavily sealed envelope which has either a named person or a description of a person who best exemplifies what she feels are worthy qualities.

In the year that follows, Aunt Becky has died and the family members try their best to live up to what Aunt Becky would have wanted in an attempt to win the heirloom, and in the process, many achieve self-discovery. There are several intertwining stories, but the most important ones involve the following characters:

Young Gay Penhallow's fiance, the shallow Noel Gibson, dumps her for Nan Penhallow, a devious and deceptive girl. Although she still pines for Noel, Gay's friendship with Dr. Roger Penhallow, 14 years her senior, deepens as Gay is matured by her grief. When Noel attempts to return to Gay, she realizes that her infatuation with him pales next to her love for Roger.