Impunity Jane was a pocket doll. She hated living sedately in a doll’s house, and when Gideon took her off adventuring with Joe and his gang she was blissfully happy and lived in Gideon’s pocket, with all kinds of interesting objects and the snail Ann Rushout.
But Impunity Jane didn’t belong to Gideon. What would happen if ever he had to give her back to the little girl whose doll she really was?
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"This little doll is very strongly made," said the shop woman. 'Why, you could drop her with impunity.
But what is impunity?' said Effie
"Impunity means escaping without hurt, said the old lady.
"That's what I am going to do forever and ever, said the little doll."
Effie called her Jane, afterwards other children called her Ann or Polly or Belinda, but that didn't matter; her name was Impunity Jane
She was just four inches high, but oh, what a spirit of adventure she had! For years and years she belonged to little girls, who kept her in sedate elegance in a doll's house. Impunity Jane almost cracked with wishing to live in somebody's pocket and see the world!
Then came a wonderful day when a small boy heard her wordless plea for freedom. Into his pocket she went, and into a world of such glorious adventure as only a gang of lively boys could devise
Written with beauty and distinction, and lit with affectionate understanding of children—and dolls—Impunity Jane introduces the most engaging doll character in many a long day. Adrienne Adams' lovely drawings reflect the charm and gaiety of the story, and show in delightful detail the changing fashions of half a century of child life in London.
—from the dust jacket
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