Rumer Godden's enchanting new novel concerns a family of five English children thrown on their own for part of a summer in a little town on the Marne. Unwelcome at the pension where they have been stranded, they are forced to develop a secret life of their own, and they do so with all the cunning of childhood. Meanwhile they watch with knowing eyes the comings and goings of the older people—including a mysterious and charming Englishman who befriends them and finds delightful ways to entertain them. The eldest girl, sixteen, is just blossoming into a beauty, and her effect on the adults involves the whole group in a plot that is unfolded with the ingenuity and suspense of a mystery story. To say more would be to give away the secret that the children suspect—and that is the heart of the matter.
This is a wise and penetrating book, and great fun along with its seriousness. Though so much concerned with children, it is singularly adult. The French scene—Miss Godden's first setting outside of India or England—is particularly attractive. Written in her own matchless and effortless prose, it will charm a host of readers.
Jacket design by Catherine Barnes
—from the dust jacket
Did you find this review helpful?