REVIEW: Fardingales
Mar. 26th, 2016 03:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllFardingales: Elinor M. Brent-Dyer, Girls Gone By 2015
(originally published 1950)
As this book is associated with Chudleigh Hold (I understand some of the characters in it will cross paths with Chudleighs), I was looking out for similarities as I read. It features a family of young people, living in a large family house, the eponymous Fardingales, by the sea, which means picnics, caves and adventure.
Humphrey, Jill and invalid Rodney Anthony – all quite normal names! – go to Fardingales to stay with their mother’s sister, Aunt Francie and her family, during the summer. Uncle Tim recently inherited the big house, as he was the next male in the Roseveare line. Their children have rather remarkable names: Anstace, twins Lettice and Quentin and Thorold. Nearly all the names are shortened at one point, but they’re a bit much.
Rodney is in a much worse state than Charles Chudleigh, and his parents are glad for him and his older brother and sister to come to the seaside, where they hope the sun and sea air will help build up his strength for an operation that will allow him to walk again. All seems set for a good time, but there are some strange things about Fardingales as the older visitors learn. The family all sleep on the ground floor after some of their things have gone unaccountably missing, scaring nervy Letty in particular. There are rumours flying about the local village of Applesendie about the family, making it hard to get local help, and once she hears of these things, even unimaginative Jill gets the feeling she’s being watched, sometimes.
None of these things add up to enough to report to the police, and the grown-ups, who are present and on the scene, think it’s safe enough, although they get the sense that someone wants them to clear out. But the older children are curious.
In her introduction, Clarissa Cridland describes it as an adventure story with family elements thrown in. I think I'd argue that it was a family story that develops into an adventure. It starts off with the Anthonys’ worry over Rodney, although the focus soon moves to Jill, Humphrey and Anstace. Jill and Humphrey grow to respect Anstace a lot as they see how she is the complete older sister, helping around the house, which includes sacrificing a lot of her time and energies for her younger siblings. Of course, she isn’t a martyr and because of their seniority, the three get to learn to sail, on a ship named ‘Rosalie’. While my first thought was of the Chalet School’s erstwhile secretary, they befriend fisherman’s son Tom, who starts to make sailors of them.
Anstace will need all her common sense when they uncover some of the secrets and mysteries that have been troubling them over the summer and she and Humphrey get caught on the trail by some dangerous men. For me, although what Anstace, Humphrey and Tom go through is very well described, the vague but scary plot they help uncover wasn’t very successful. I liked the family interactions, although I almost feel as if this is a first try at something that works better in ‘Chudleigh Hold’ which was written later.
The way that girls’ appearance is dealt with in the book, most especially Anstace and cleanliness, would be an interesting thread to tease out.
(originally published 1950)
As this book is associated with Chudleigh Hold (I understand some of the characters in it will cross paths with Chudleighs), I was looking out for similarities as I read. It features a family of young people, living in a large family house, the eponymous Fardingales, by the sea, which means picnics, caves and adventure.
Humphrey, Jill and invalid Rodney Anthony – all quite normal names! – go to Fardingales to stay with their mother’s sister, Aunt Francie and her family, during the summer. Uncle Tim recently inherited the big house, as he was the next male in the Roseveare line. Their children have rather remarkable names: Anstace, twins Lettice and Quentin and Thorold. Nearly all the names are shortened at one point, but they’re a bit much.
Rodney is in a much worse state than Charles Chudleigh, and his parents are glad for him and his older brother and sister to come to the seaside, where they hope the sun and sea air will help build up his strength for an operation that will allow him to walk again. All seems set for a good time, but there are some strange things about Fardingales as the older visitors learn. The family all sleep on the ground floor after some of their things have gone unaccountably missing, scaring nervy Letty in particular. There are rumours flying about the local village of Applesendie about the family, making it hard to get local help, and once she hears of these things, even unimaginative Jill gets the feeling she’s being watched, sometimes.
None of these things add up to enough to report to the police, and the grown-ups, who are present and on the scene, think it’s safe enough, although they get the sense that someone wants them to clear out. But the older children are curious.
In her introduction, Clarissa Cridland describes it as an adventure story with family elements thrown in. I think I'd argue that it was a family story that develops into an adventure. It starts off with the Anthonys’ worry over Rodney, although the focus soon moves to Jill, Humphrey and Anstace. Jill and Humphrey grow to respect Anstace a lot as they see how she is the complete older sister, helping around the house, which includes sacrificing a lot of her time and energies for her younger siblings. Of course, she isn’t a martyr and because of their seniority, the three get to learn to sail, on a ship named ‘Rosalie’. While my first thought was of the Chalet School’s erstwhile secretary, they befriend fisherman’s son Tom, who starts to make sailors of them.
Anstace will need all her common sense when they uncover some of the secrets and mysteries that have been troubling them over the summer and she and Humphrey get caught on the trail by some dangerous men. For me, although what Anstace, Humphrey and Tom go through is very well described, the vague but scary plot they help uncover wasn’t very successful. I liked the family interactions, although I almost feel as if this is a first try at something that works better in ‘Chudleigh Hold’ which was written later.
The way that girls’ appearance is dealt with in the book, most especially Anstace and cleanliness, would be an interesting thread to tease out.
