A coming of age novel set in the first decade of the twentieth century, this is the story of Ruan’s childhood, near and on the Yorkshire moors. Ruan iA coming of age novel set in the first decade of the twentieth century, this is the story of Ruan’s childhood, near and on the Yorkshire moors. Ruan is the younger daughter of two loving but detached parents, and it is her relationships with a number of adults acting as surrogate parents that makes the book so compelling. Young Ruan is unconventional, a bookworm with an urgent, driving love of the outdoors, but the adults who care for her love her for it and don’t try to change her, always facilitating her personal growth on her own terms. Despite the tragedies of her early life, it is a happy childhood as she is always surrounded by unconditional love.
Smith wrote the novel decades after it is set and there is a poignant air of nostalgia running through it. There is always so much potential for a happy ending but that real risk that it might not be so, and the childhood might turn out to be the last of the happiness....more
This was very disappointing. The plot had huge holes, none of the characters or motives were plausible, it was unrealistic from beginning to end. The This was very disappointing. The plot had huge holes, none of the characters or motives were plausible, it was unrealistic from beginning to end. The classism may well have been of its time but it makes for very uncomfortable reading now. It’s probably for the best that Mitchell is one of the lesser known Golden Age writers and mostly forgotten now....more
This isn’t a novel but rather a collection of vignettes on the author’s childhood, written for her family’s consumption and not for publication. The cThis isn’t a novel but rather a collection of vignettes on the author’s childhood, written for her family’s consumption and not for publication. The childish spelling, grammar and punctuation has all been kept unchanged, so this reads like the unedited juvenalia it is. Although the childhood of neglect within relative, though declining, wealth is eccentric, there is never any insight or depth to make this account interesting....more
Set in London in the eventful year of 1936, this novel covers the world of West End theatres, newspapers, art and their points of intersection, all seSet in London in the eventful year of 1936, this novel covers the world of West End theatres, newspapers, art and their points of intersection, all set against a society facing up to the spectre of fascism and the prospect of a return to war, as well as the more local danger of a serial killer in the heart of London’s West End.
The story involves an ensemble of characters, not all totally likeable but all believable. While the plot is absorbing, it’s the very real question of what happens next to each character that drives the narrative. It’s a beautifully written book, with the depth of the realisation of the characters one of its strongest features.
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