History Literature / ATangledWeb

* ''Literature/ATangledWeb1981'': A short story by Creator/JoeHaldeman

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/montgomery_web.png]]
''A Tangled Web'' is one of the few books published by Creator/LMMontgomery (author of ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'') that was written mainly for adults. It centers around a community consisting mainly of two families, the Penhallows and the Darks, who have intermarried frequently amongst one another.

When the clan matriarch, Aunty Becky Dark, dies, she leaves instructions for a treasured family heirloom, the old Dark jug, to be left in the care of a trustee, with the true heir to be revealed in a year's time. Family feuds intensify, as clan members work to acquire the heirloom, and many other events spawn off from it.

!! This work includes examples of:

* AbusiveParents: Brian is raised by his neglectful aunt and uncle.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Aunt Becky's dying confession is that she loved her married friend Crosby all her life; Roger loves Gay, who is engaged to Noel; Joscelyn and Hugh each believe that the other hates them; Murray pines for Thora, an abused wife; Naomi longs for her amnesiac husband to remember her ... plus several more examples that would take too long to write.
* AlphaBitch: Nan who has gone out her way to hurt her cousin Gay since childhood.
* BettyAndVeronica: Gay and Nan.
* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Darks and Penhallows.
* TheClan
* CourtlyLove: Murray for Thora. Mercilessly parodied with [[spoiler: Joscelyn]], who [[spoiler:left her husband on her wedding night because she fell in LoveAtFirstSight with his best man Frank]]. She stayed faithful to [[spoiler:Frank's memory for ten years]] without ever seeing him, but when they meet again, guess what? He's fat, bald, sleazy and broke. [[spoiler:Joscelyn]] comes to her senses with a vengeance, [[spoiler:goes back to Hugh]], and lives happily ever after.
* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: Gay Penhallow has golden-brown hair and golden-brown eyes.
* DatingWhatDaddyHates: Donna and Peter, who belongs to a rival branch of the family.
-->'''Drowned John''': You shall never speak to Peter Penhallow again!\\
'''Donna''': But I'll have to speak to him sometimes, Daddy. One can't live on terms of absolute silence with one's husband, you know.
* DomesticAbuse: Chris Dark is an abusive husband to his wife Thora.
* EnsembleCast: There is no one main character.
* GameBetweenHeirs: Aunt Becky willed that the name of the heir of a priceless heirloom will only be disclosed a year after her death. Because she said that the heir may or may not be chosen in the year between her death and the day the heir is announced, the family members spend the rest of the year trying their best to live up to what Aunt Becky would have wanted in an attempt to win the heirloom.
* GreekChorus: Pippin and Stanton Grundy.
* GossipyHens
* HaveAGayOldTime: Poor, poor Gay Penhallow. (It's actually short for "Gabrielle".)
* HerHeartWillGoOn: Virginia Powell, a sentimental war widow, parodies this trope.
* InTheBlood: Gay's mother questions the suitability of her daughter's fiance based upon his "Gibson blood". A certain branch of the Penhallow family, including Peter and Joscelyn, are known for mood swings and impulsiveness because they're descended from a Spanish woman.
* IronicNickname: Big Sam, Little Sam -- though not intentionally.
* JerkAss: Plenty, but Aunt Becky would be the more prominent example.
* KickTheDog: Brian's uncle who kills Cricket, a stray cat who is Brian's only companion, by breaking its neck.
* KissingCousins: The Darks and Penhallows continue to intermarry very frequently.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Lawson Dark, due to an injury in the war, can't remember his wife.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters
* LoveAtFirstSight: Donna and Peter, [[spoiler:Joscelyn and Frank]] (on her side anyway).
* LoveTriangle: Buckets of them.
* {{MacGuffin}}: The jug.
* MakeUpIsEvil: Aunt Becky's wearing rouge shocks her companion, and she makes Nan wash hers off.
* MaleGaze: Several times, but special mention goes to Murray, who's describes as "devouring" Thora with his eyes.
* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: Brian. His mother never told, and so no one knows who his father is.
* MayDecemberRomance: Roger and Gay.
* NarrativeProfanityFilter: Drowned John, "by asterisk and by asterisk".
* OldFlameFizzle: Used twice, with Joscelyn and Gay.
* OnceAcceptableTargets: The last line in the book is highly questionable from a modern perspective for this very reason.
* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: Aunt Becky knows dozens of embarrassing stories to needle her relatives with.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Gay (Gabrielle); Nan (Hannah); Drowned John; Pippin (Alexander); Dandy (Robert); Penny (Pennycuik); the Moon Man (Oswald); Big Sam and Little Sam; Aunt Becky.
* OrphansOrdeal: Brian.
* PassedOverInheritance: Without the objections. The narrator points out they are not so petty as to want her money; they want the family heirlooms.
* ParanoiaGambit: Aunt Becky runs a very successful one, post-mortem. She says that the inheritor of her jug might be named in the envelope, ''or'' the envelope might contain a list of instructions and behaviors that Aunt Becky approves of, and Dandy (the keeper of the envelope) is to choose who will inherit the jug based on who has best fulfilled Aunt Becky's wishes. Then, the whole clan spends the rest of the year trying hard to behave in such a way as will guarantee their getting the jug.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Gay gives this speech to Nan when Nan comes to gloat about dumping the fiance she had originally stolen from Gay.
* RunawayBride: Joscelyn leaves her husband to return to her mother's house on the night of her wedding, still wearing her wedding dress. [[spoiler: He won't take her back until she returns to him in that same gown.]]
* SecretKeeper: Dandy Dark, chosen because Aunt Becky said he's the only person in the whole family that she's known to be able to keep a secret. [[spoiler: He keeps it so well, in fact, that even ''he'' never opens the envelope to read her will. And then the letter is lost, so this trope is [[SubvertedTrope Subverted.]] ]]
* SlapSlapKiss: Donna and Peter.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Penny.
* ThickerThanWater: The Darks and Penhallows fight quite a bit against themselves, but present an unbroken front to outsiders.
* TheUnreveal: [[spoiler:Dandy loses Aunt Becky's letter and we never get to find out who was chosen as the rightful owner of the jug]].
* TheVamp: Nan.
----

* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler: Noel cheats on Gay with her cousin Nan before breaking the engagement.]]

* NeverLiveItDown: In-universe. Aunt Becky knows dozens of embarrassing stories to needle her relatives with.

----

* HaveAGayOldTime: Poor, poor Gay Penhallow.

-> '''Drowned John''': "You shall never speak to Peter Penhallow again!"
-> '''Donna''': "But I'll have to speak to him sometimes, Daddy. One can't live on terms of absolute silence with one's husband, you know."

* KicktheDog: Brian's uncle who kills Cricket, a stray cat who is Brian's only companion, by breaking its neck.

* KnownOnlyByTheirNickname: Gay (Gabrielle); Nan (Hannah); Drowned John; Pippin (Alexander); Dandy (Robert); Penny (Pennycuik); the Moon Man (Oswald); Big Sam and Little Sam; Aunt Becky.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Gay gives this speech to Nan when Nan comes to gloat about dumping the fiance she had originally stolen from Gay.

* [[spoiler:TheUnreveal: Dandy loses Aunt Becky's letter and we never get to find out who was chosen as the rightful owner of the jug]].
* UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne: Referred to. Donna Dark and Virginia Powell lost their husbands in the war. Roger Dark was in the airforce.

* ChristmasCake: Margaret Penhallow, Mercy Penhallow.

* RunawayBride: Joscelyn leaves her husband to return to her mother's house on the night of her wedding, still wearing her wedding dress.

* SpankTheCutie: Peter threatens to do this to Donna.

* WorldWarOne: Referred to. Donna Dark and Virginia Powell lost their husbands in the war. Roger Dark was in the airforce.

''A Tangled Web'' is one of the few books published by LMMontgomery (author of ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'') that was written mainly for adults. It centers around a community consisting mainly of two families, the Penhallows and the Darks, who have intermarried frequently amongst one another.

When the clan matriarch, Aunty Becky Dark, dies, she leaves instructions for a treasured family heirloom, the old Dark jug, to be left in the care of a trustee, with the true heir to be revealed in a year's time. Family fueds intensify, as clan members work to acquire the heirloom.

* Kick the Dog: Brian's uncle who kills Cricket, a stray cat who is Brian's only companion, by breaking its neck.

* {{Will}}: Aunt Becky willed that the name of the heir of a priceless heirloom will only be disclosed a year after her death. Because the will dropped a few hints that a unknown judge would be selecting the heir, the family members spent the rest of the year trying their best to live up to what Aunt Becky would have wanted in an attempt to win the heirloom.

* ThatPoorCat: Cricket, a stray cat who is the orphan Brian's only source of comfort. Brian's cruel uncle breaks its neck and tells Brian what he did.

* SpankTheCutie: Peter threatens Donna with this.

* {{All Love Is Unrequited}}: And ''how''. Aunt Becky's dying confession is that she loved her married friend Crosby all her life; Roger loves Gay, who is engaged to Noel; Joscelyn and Hugh each believe that the other hates them; Murray pines for Thora, an abused wife; Naomi longs for her amnesiac husband to remember her ... plus several more examples that would take too long to write.

* {{Courtly Love}}: Murray for Thora. Mercilessly parodied with [[spoiler: Joscelyn, who left her husband on her wedding night because she fell in {{Love At First Sight}} with his best man Frank. She stayed faithful to Frank's memory for ten years without ever seeing him, but when they meet again, guess what? He's fat, bald, sleazy and broke. Joscelyn comes to her senses with a vengeance, goes back to Hugh, and lives happily ever after.]]

* {{Dating What Daddy Hates}}: Donna and Peter, who belongs to a rival branch of the family.
--> '''Drowned John''': "You shall never speak to Peter Penhallow again!"
--> '''Donna''': "But I'll have to speak to him sometimes, Daddy. One can't live on terms of absolute silence with one's husband, you know."
* DomesticAbuse: Chris Dark is implied to be an abusive husband to his wife Thora.
* {{The Disease That Shall Not Be Named}} Averted with mentioning Spanish Flu epidemic
-->"Who would have supposed that Mercy Penhallow, malicious Mercy who was afraid to be out after dark--perhaps for fear of the ghosts of reputations she had slain--could have been a perfect heroine during the terrible Spanish flu epidemic?"
* GameBetweenHeirs: Aunt Becky willed that the name of the heir of a priceless heirloom will only be disclosed a year after her death. Because the will dropped a few hints that a unknown judge would be selecting the heir, the family members spent the rest of the year trying their best to live up to what Aunt Becky would have wanted in an attempt to win the heirloom.
* {{Greek Chorus}}: Pippin and Stanton Grundy.

* {{Her Heart Will Go On}}: Virginia Powell, a sentimental war widow, parodies this trope.

* JerkAss: Plenty, but Aunt Becky would be the more prominent example.

* {{Known Only By Their Nickname}}: Gay (Gabrielle); Nan (Hannah); Drowned John; Pippin (Alexander); Dandy (Robert); Penny (Pennycuik); the Moon Man (Oswald); Big Sam and Little Sam; Aunt Becky.
* {{Laser Guided Amnesia}}: Lawson Dark, due to an injury in the war, can't remember his wife.

* {{Love At First Sight}}: Donna and Peter, [[spoiler:Joscelyn and Frank (on her side anyway).]]
* {{Love Triangle}}: Buckets of them.

* {{Male Gaze}}: Several times, but special mention goes to Murray, who's describes as "devouring" Thora with his eyes.

* MayDecemberRomance: Roger and Gay.
* {{Narrative Profanity Filter}}: Drowned John, "by asterisk and by asterisk".
* {{New Old Flame}}: Joscelyn and Hugh.
* {{Never Live It Down}}: In-universe, since Aunt Becky knows dozens of embarrassing stories to needle her relatives with.
* OldFlameFizzle: Used twice, with Joscelyn and Gay
* PassedOverInheritance: Without the objections. The narrator points out they are not so petty as to want her moeny; they want the family heirlooms.

* {{Slap Slap Kiss}}: Donna and Peter.

* Will: Aunt Becky willed that the name of the heir of a priceless heirloom will only be disclosed a year after her death. Because the will dropped a few hints that a unknown judge would be selecting the heir, the family members spent the rest of the year trying their best to live up to what Aunt Becky would have wanted in an attempt to win the heirloom.

* {{The Vamp}}: Nan.
* {{Your Cheating Heart}}: [[spoiler: Noel cheats on Gay with her cousin Nan before breaking the engagement.]]

-> '''Drowned John''': "You shall never speak to Peter Penhallow again!"
-> '''Donna''': "But I'll have to speak to him sometimes, Daddy. One can't live on terms of absolute silence with one's husband, you know."

->"Who would have supposed that Mercy Penhallow, malicious Mercy who was afraid to be out after dark--perhaps for fear of the ghosts of reputations she had slain--could have been a perfect heroine during the terrible Spanish flu epidemic?"

* {{Ho Yay}}: Roommates Big Sam and Little Sam act an awful lot like an old married couple.

* {{Never Live It Down}}: Aunt Becky knows dozens of embarrassing stories to needle her relatives with.

* ValuesDissonance: The last sentence of the books leaves a sour taste in the mouths of modern readers.