A Love, or a Season by Mary Stolz

First published:Two By Two, 1954; revised and reprinted as A Love, or a Season, 1964

Type of work: Domestic realism

Themes: Love and romance, friendship, family, death, and coming-of-age

Time of work: The 1950’s

Recommended Ages: 15-18

Locale: New York and Piff’s Junction, a northeastern village where wealthy families spend their summers

Principal Characters:

• Harry Lynch, a sensitive, music-loving seventeen-year-old boy who, because of the recent death of the mother he adored, seeks refuge in the comfort of his family’s seashore summer home, where he discovers new feelings for his childhood friend Nan
• Nan Gunning, a sixteen-year-old girl and amateur artist who recognizes but has difficulty adjusting to her new love for Harry
• Henry Lynch, Harry’s father, who has always been more interested in keeping order in his life than in communicating with his family, but who tries to understand and help after his son experiences a terrible tragedy
• Margaret Lynch, Harry’s somewhat neurotic sister, who is torn between her need for comforts and for someone on whom to lean and her recognition of poverty in the world
• Richard London, a rich architect and Margaret’s fiance, who at first seems superficial but who provides the stability that she needs
• Mrs. Warner, the Lynches’ housekeeper who, along with Mr. Warner, has helped to run the household and rear the children
• Mr. and Mrs. Gunning, Nan’s parents, who have difficulty adjusting to their daughter’s growing up
• Phil Bowles, a rude and somewhat older friend of Harry who nearly gets Harry into trouble
• Gregg Depew, the old stationmaster at Piff’s Junction who, after losing his job, drunkenly stumbles in front of Harry’s car

The Story

Mary Stolz’s A Love, or a Season is a story of struggle and growth. Seventeen-year-old Harry Lynch and his elder debutante sister Margaret have led protected lives, their father furnishing all the money they need and their mother and Mrs. Warner providing ample love and support. Besides living in this overly protective environment, Harry has isolated himself by his devotion to his mother in her final illness.

After the death of Mrs. Lynch, Harry has a difficult time adjusting, for Mr. Lynch is intent on maintaining his business routine and Margaret is interested only in attending parties with her beau Richard London. In fact, Harry finds the solace that he needs only in the family’s summer seashore home at Piff’s Junction, which is overseen by Mrs. Warner. Taken back to New York against his will, Harry returns without permission to Piff’s Junction to give an art book to his friend Nan Gunning on her sixteenth birthday. After reluctantly calling his father, Harry gives his present to Nan, who is deeply moved by the thoughtful gift.

When Mr. Lynch, Margaret, and her houseguest Richard London arrive from New York, Mr. Lynch reluctantly metes out a punishment that, to Harry, proves that his father still thinks of him as a child: cutting his allowance. Upset by his father’s lack of understanding as well as his recent loss of his mother, Harry lashes out at Nan as she is drawing him on the beach. Then, in a tense and emotion-charged scene, the two young people suddenly recognize their love for each other—a love that they vow to keep a secret but cannot hide. That evening, when Harry and Nan leave for a stroll on the pavilion, even Nan’s mother notices the new tenseness and recognizes the change that is coming. At the pavilion, the two young lovers share their first kiss and admit openly and honestly their desire for each other—at the same time that Harry warns that they must contain that desire.

After a restless night, Harry and Nan rendezvous on the beach. Later that day, Nan disappoints her father by forgetting to meet him and, worse yet, by attending a dance with Harry instead of celebrating her birthday with her family. That night is a time of crucial decision for both Harry and Margaret. At the dance, Harry and Nan decide to consummate their love, after which Nan becomes so emotionally overwrought that Margaret and Richard go with Harry to take her home, after which Margaret uncertainly accepts Richard’s proposal of marriage.

Emotional tensions reach their peak the following day. Dropping by the Gunning house, Harry unexpectedly finds Nan alone, her reason and caution having returned. Torn by his conflicting emotions, Harry leaves in anger and then comes back to reassure Nan, only to have Nan’s parents return and misinterpret the situation. After forbidding Harry from seeing Nan again, Mr. Gunning calls Harry’s father.

Depressed and angry at the suspicions not only of Mr. Gunning but also of his own father, Harry goes with Phil Bowles to a nearby roadhouse. Harry soon has enough of the sordid atmosphere, but Phil refuses to leave. Thus, even though his license does not allow him to drive after dark, Harry starts backing the station wagon out of the parking lot, only to hear a frightening thud.

Later that night the worried Lynch household discovers that Harry has accidentally killed old Gregg Depew, who, after losing his job as stationmaster, had drunkenly stumbled under the wheels of Harry’s car. That night, Margaret discovers how much she needs Richard, and Mr. Lynch and Harry discover a new understanding of each other. In fact, prodded by his son’s great anguish, Mr. Lynch convinces the Gunnings to believe Harry and Nan and allow them to see each other again. Thus, the novel ends in hope as well as sorrow.

Context

Having written more than forty books for young people, Mary Stolz has been a major figure in the field of young adult literature since her first book, To Tell Your Love, was published in 1950. Her books have been highly acclaimed, and several of them have won prestigious awards. In a Mirror (1953) was given the Child Study Association Award for realistically presenting problems of childhood, and Belling the Tiger (1961) was both a Newbery Medal runner-up and an American Library Association (ALA) Notable Book. The Noonday Friends (1965) was a Newbery runner-up; The Sea Gulls Woke Me (1951) was an ALA Notable Book; and The Edge of Next Year (1974) was both a National Book Award nominee and a Horn Book Honor book.

Stolz is an extremely versatile writer, having published books for the young people in the primary and intermediate grades as well as for the young adult. She is perhaps best known, though, for her stories of teenage family life and romance such as A Love, or a Season. In a statement echoed by many reviewers, one critic asserts that her works were “among the first written for young people that accurately represented their concerns, feelings, and lifestyles and did so with empathy and respect.”

Mary Stolz’s romances of the 1950’s and early 1960’s serve as a bridge between Maureen Daly’s Seventeenth Summer (1942)—which introduced a sensitive, honest, and realistic treatment of teenage love—and the harshly realistic problem novels of the late 1960’s and 1970’s by authors such as Ann Head, S. E. Hinton, and Paul Zindel. In fact, A Love, or a Season is in many ways a masculine version of Seventeenth Summer, for it focuses on the feelings of Harry Lynch during his “seventeenth summer.” Although A Love, or a Season, originally published as Two By Two, did not win any awards when it was published, many critics consider it and Pray Love, Remember (1954) to be Stolz’s two finest works. Along with Stolz’s more recent works, such as her time-travel historical novel Cat in the Mirror (1975), it continues to be read and enjoyed by young people.