A quaint little story of high summer.
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Written in 1958, before foreign travel was the norm, this is an atmospheric little tale of a summer adventure.
The Grey family live a humdrum existence in Southstone, England....until their mother suddenly annonces that to enhance their education, they should spend a summer in France.
Before they even reach their destination, mother is bitten by a horsefly and suffers such an extreme adverse reaction that she spends the rest of the holiday in hospital receuperating.
The five children are housed reluctantly in a hotel run by two eccentric French ladies. Their father is oblivious to all this, he is an explorer in Tibet.
Amidst the glorious French countryside in summer, events unwind unexpectedly and the last half of the book builds to an exciting conclusion.
I enjoyed this book, the characterisations of the chilren were great. Unfortunately the frequent quotes in French, often not translated, were frustrating. Most children would probably have studied French in the 1950's but today this seems less apropriate.
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An all-time favourite
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When the dog bites, when you're feeling blue, simply get a copy of The Greengage Summer to gorge on its luscious and heady prose. Godden is a timeless writer and I'm fairly sure this started life as 'adult' rather than 'children's' fiction - for all the worth of those meaningless categories. I guess the teen reads didn't exist then and this seething, hormonal coming-of-age novel captures the very essence of that moment when knowing youth casts its spell without being able to foresee the consequences, for it to appeal to younger readers, but I wonder if the hindsight of growing-up add another layer or three. The prose is limpid, laden with resonance and the characters are wondeful. I can smell and see the summer and its dangerous allure. Nicely tragic too (in that noone actually dies, but the consequences of playing with adult-hood are suitably dire!). It is a book I turn to time-and-again and recommend unstintingly to anyone who'll hear me out.
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Captivating tale of love and crime in France
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The Grey children are taken to France by their mother to visit the battlefields of WW1, in the hope that it will make them less selfish. However, Mry Grey is taken ill on the journey and they arrive at the hotel Les Oeilletes,bewildered and frightened, with their mother barely conscious. They are befriended by Eliot, a charming and enigmatic Englishman staying at the hotel, who sorts everything out for them. With their mother in hospital, the children have freedom to explore and to get to know the people at the hotel, the proprietor, Mamzele Zizzi, a beautiful but slightly haggard woman who is clearly besotted with Eliot, the grim, forbidding Madame Corbet, who loathes him, and the rest of the staff. They make friends with Paul, a wretched overworked orphan who slaves in the kitchens, but dreams of one day owning a lorry. The story is narrated by Cecil, thirteen years old, who observes everything, especially the growing attraction between Joss, her exquisitely lovely elder sister, and Eliot. But who is Eliot exactly, and what is he up to? The children soak up the strangeness of France, stuff themselves with the greengages in the orchard, and watch passion smoulder as Eliot and Joss grow more wrapped up in each other, and Mamzelle Zizi simmers with jealous rage. Places and people are described so vivivdly you can see them, you can taste the greengages and smell the chocolate in the pattisserie. You can feel the children's wonder, transported from their dull English suburbia to this enchanting and dangerous world. The story begins to take on a darker, grimmer tone as the idyll with Eliot ends abruptly when Mamzelle Zizzi explodes with jealous fury. The children attempt to retreat from the scary grownup world to their private childhood realm, but it seems it is too late. and Eliot's behaviour becomes even more mysterious. This thrilling, poignant, enchanting story is based on real experiences in Rumer Godden's own youth, it is an unforgettable book.
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A good story with beautiful descriptions of France
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When their mother is taken ill, the Grey children are left to discover France under the vague guardianship of a strange Englishman staying at the same hotel. The second Grey girl, Cecilia tells the story. I liked the mixture of oh-so-easy-to-relate-to sibling squabbles, the initial reactions to being in a foreign country, and a thread of mystery runs through it. Simply written and effective, though I wish the ending was different!
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