Simon Vance

Only Fremlin, Munro felt, accepted her untransfigured self, the working-class girl with a country accent. The reverse side of acceptance was dependency. Sheila detected a power imbalance in her mother's relationship with Fremlin. Though the couple shared a passion for literature and a caustic sense of humor, they were also prone to vicious arguments.

Only Fremlin, Munro felt, accepted her untransfigured self, the working-class girl with a country accent. The reverse side of acceptance was dependency. Sheila detected a power imbalance in her mother's relationship with Fremlin. Though the couple shared a passion for literature and a caustic sense of humor, they were also prone to vicious arguments.

She would be wearing sunglasses, just quietly weeping at things he had said to her, Sheila recalled. She got the sense that Fremlin often criticized Monroe's appearance. Sometimes I wondered if he harbored an aversion to the mature woman's body that he couldn't always conceal, Sheila told me.

She would be wearing sunglasses, just quietly weeping at things he had said to her, Sheila recalled. She got the sense that Fremlin often criticized Monroe's appearance. Sometimes I wondered if he harbored an aversion to the mature woman's body that he couldn't always conceal, Sheila told me.

Once in the late seventies, she arrived for a visit only to be told by her mother that the two of them, Alice and Sheila, were going to stay at a hotel. That night in their shared room, Sheila could hear her mother crying in bed.

Once in the late seventies, she arrived for a visit only to be told by her mother that the two of them, Alice and Sheila, were going to stay at a hotel. That night in their shared room, Sheila could hear her mother crying in bed.

Jenny, who wrote her own essay for The Star, remembers that there was lots of banter and jokes, often sexual or scatological jokes, between Framlin and his youngest stepdaughter. "'Mum would feign shock,' she wrote. "'I could feel the tension and darkness there. Her mum seemed helpless to ever draw the line.' In a letter to Jenny in 1992, Fremlin gave his own account of the triangle.

Jenny, who wrote her own essay for The Star, remembers that there was lots of banter and jokes, often sexual or scatological jokes, between Framlin and his youngest stepdaughter. "'Mum would feign shock,' she wrote. "'I could feel the tension and darkness there. Her mum seemed helpless to ever draw the line.' In a letter to Jenny in 1992, Fremlin gave his own account of the triangle.

We had a sort of a pedagogical theory to the effect that Andrea was a person, not a child, i.e. not a child as we were children in a very repressive adult world. The general idea was that no subjects, questions, or language were barred.

We had a sort of a pedagogical theory to the effect that Andrea was a person, not a child, i.e. not a child as we were children in a very repressive adult world. The general idea was that no subjects, questions, or language were barred.

Fremlin's rhetoric echoes that of a counter-cultural movement in the 1970s that called for the sexual liberation of children and is now regarded as a bad-faith effort to mainstream paedophilia.

Fremlin's rhetoric echoes that of a counter-cultural movement in the 1970s that called for the sexual liberation of children and is now regarded as a bad-faith effort to mainstream paedophilia.

"'In front of my mother,' Andrea wrote in The Star, "'he told me that many cultures in the past weren't as prudish as ours, and it used to be considered normal for children to learn about sex by engaging in sex with adults.'

"'In front of my mother,' Andrea wrote in The Star, "'he told me that many cultures in the past weren't as prudish as ours, and it used to be considered normal for children to learn about sex by engaging in sex with adults.'

Premlin acknowledged that his sexual preferences were not in accordance with the canons of public respectability, as he put it in one of the letters he sent to Monroe's family in 1992. "'It is my contention that Andrea invaded my bedroom for sexual adventure,' he wrote. "'If she were, in fact, afraid, she could have left at any time. She was sexually receptive and mildly aggressive.'

Premlin acknowledged that his sexual preferences were not in accordance with the canons of public respectability, as he put it in one of the letters he sent to Monroe's family in 1992. "'It is my contention that Andrea invaded my bedroom for sexual adventure,' he wrote. "'If she were, in fact, afraid, she could have left at any time. She was sexually receptive and mildly aggressive.'

While the scene is degenerate, this is indeed Lolita and Humbert, for Andrea to say she was scared is simply a lie or a latter-day invention. Andrea was not the only child Fremlin targeted. This August, an Ontario woman named Jane Morrie, whose parents were friends with Fremlin, told the Toronto Star that he exposed himself to her in 1969, when she was nine.

While the scene is degenerate, this is indeed Lolita and Humbert, for Andrea to say she was scared is simply a lie or a latter-day invention. Andrea was not the only child Fremlin targeted. This August, an Ontario woman named Jane Morrie, whose parents were friends with Fremlin, told the Toronto Star that he exposed himself to her in 1969, when she was nine.

The incident followed years of grooming, she said. Andrea believes there may have been others. Fremlin owned a cabin in the Ottawa Valley, and he and Munro would sometimes take Andrea to stay there in the summers. One year she got to know a group of siblings who lived nearby, the youngest of whom a girl was around her age.

The incident followed years of grooming, she said. Andrea believes there may have been others. Fremlin owned a cabin in the Ottawa Valley, and he and Munro would sometimes take Andrea to stay there in the summers. One year she got to know a group of siblings who lived nearby, the youngest of whom a girl was around her age.