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feather_ghyll) wrote2017-03-31 07:32 pm
feather_ghyll) wrote2017-03-31 07:32 pm
REVIEW: The Jolliest Term on Record
The Jolliest Term on Record: Angela Brazil, Blackie
I’ll begin, inevitably, by listing some of the names that appear in this book: Gwethin (was Brazil mixing the Welsh ‘Gwen’ with ‘Gethin’? Did she realise that the latter is a boy’s name?), Hereward, Githa, Coralie (not French), Gladwin, Ermengarde, Dona (sic), Tita and Ellaline. Nobody does names like Angela Brazil.
To the story then, Katrine and Gwethin Marsden are forced go to a boarding school for a term, as their mother must accompany their absent-minded father to lecture in Australia. The school is in the delightfully named Aireyholme in the village of Heathwell. At the age of 17, itching to put her hair up and be considered grown up, Katrine isn’t too pleased about the arrangement, but she’s artistic and one of the school’s attractions is a good art mistress, under whom Katerine will specialise. The younger and more good-natured Gwethin is going to be a more normal schoolgirl, and doesn’t rub up the monitoresses the wrong way, as her sister does.
The school is small and at one point I thought the authoress stated that the girls are aged 14 and up, although later she talks about one of them being 12 years old. Essentially, the sixth equate to the seniors, the Fifth (Gwethin’s form) the middles and the Fourth the juniors. It takes the sisters a little time to settle down to boarding school life – arguably Katrine never does, but though Brazil doesn’t bother to use this as a character-improving experience for Katrine, she does show her virtues too.
They meet Githa Hamilton (nicknamed the Toadstool because of the colour of her skin and a not very charming personality) in unfortunate circumstances, but over the course of the term, and especially through the good offices of Gwethin’s dog Tony, she and Gwethin become friends. Gwethin learns a little of Githa’s sad tale. She and her brother are orphans who are now living under the roof of an uncle and aunt who are not very interested in them, while the Grange, where they were brought up by their grandfather, lies empty, and the neighbourhood shakes its head over how badly they were left provided for. The Marsdens and a local ne’er-do-well may be able to change all that, by means of a series of clues that aren’t exactly difficult to piece together.
Apart from that plot, it’s a record of a summer term full of various events. Normally, this might irritate me, but it happened to suit me, as I wasn’t attempting to read the book in one go, but rather picking it up and putting it down after reading a few chapters over several days.
What adds particular interest to this book is that it is set during the first world war. I deduced it must have been before 1917, because there’s a reference to the Russian national anthem, and Wikipedia says it was first published in 1915.
Reading it about a century later, it all comes across as propaganda for the daughters of the English officer class and written with a determined naivete.
‘Though the quiet village of Heathwell was little affected by the European crises, echoes of the conflict often reached Aireyholme from relations at the front’ (p. 215).
But overall Brazil gives the impression that fighting the ‘Hun’ as Katrine and Gwethin’s brother Hereward is doing is entirely noble, character-building stuff – a sort of equivalent to the boarding school life the girls are enjoying. The only relatives who appear to be in real danger are foreign. Others get lightly injured for plot reasons.
The importance of the war fluctuates, but sometimes it’s foregrounded, as the girls set up a patriotic league, competitively denying themselves to raise money. At one point, there’s an exhibition of notable heroics these boys have carried out, but Gwethin’s enthusiasm for a sort of beauty contest for photographs of these officers is squashed.
It just seems a bit odd that ‘the jolliest term on record’ is set during the great war. The sentiment of enjoying life keenly against a background of danger isn’t a new or invalid, but as the depiction of the war is so determinedly upbeat – even allowing for the fact that she was writing for children - it isn’t what’s going on here.
I’ll begin, inevitably, by listing some of the names that appear in this book: Gwethin (was Brazil mixing the Welsh ‘Gwen’ with ‘Gethin’? Did she realise that the latter is a boy’s name?), Hereward, Githa, Coralie (not French), Gladwin, Ermengarde, Dona (sic), Tita and Ellaline. Nobody does names like Angela Brazil.
To the story then, Katrine and Gwethin Marsden are forced go to a boarding school for a term, as their mother must accompany their absent-minded father to lecture in Australia. The school is in the delightfully named Aireyholme in the village of Heathwell. At the age of 17, itching to put her hair up and be considered grown up, Katrine isn’t too pleased about the arrangement, but she’s artistic and one of the school’s attractions is a good art mistress, under whom Katerine will specialise. The younger and more good-natured Gwethin is going to be a more normal schoolgirl, and doesn’t rub up the monitoresses the wrong way, as her sister does.
The school is small and at one point I thought the authoress stated that the girls are aged 14 and up, although later she talks about one of them being 12 years old. Essentially, the sixth equate to the seniors, the Fifth (Gwethin’s form) the middles and the Fourth the juniors. It takes the sisters a little time to settle down to boarding school life – arguably Katrine never does, but though Brazil doesn’t bother to use this as a character-improving experience for Katrine, she does show her virtues too.
They meet Githa Hamilton (nicknamed the Toadstool because of the colour of her skin and a not very charming personality) in unfortunate circumstances, but over the course of the term, and especially through the good offices of Gwethin’s dog Tony, she and Gwethin become friends. Gwethin learns a little of Githa’s sad tale. She and her brother are orphans who are now living under the roof of an uncle and aunt who are not very interested in them, while the Grange, where they were brought up by their grandfather, lies empty, and the neighbourhood shakes its head over how badly they were left provided for. The Marsdens and a local ne’er-do-well may be able to change all that, by means of a series of clues that aren’t exactly difficult to piece together.
Apart from that plot, it’s a record of a summer term full of various events. Normally, this might irritate me, but it happened to suit me, as I wasn’t attempting to read the book in one go, but rather picking it up and putting it down after reading a few chapters over several days.
What adds particular interest to this book is that it is set during the first world war. I deduced it must have been before 1917, because there’s a reference to the Russian national anthem, and Wikipedia says it was first published in 1915.
Reading it about a century later, it all comes across as propaganda for the daughters of the English officer class and written with a determined naivete.
‘Though the quiet village of Heathwell was little affected by the European crises, echoes of the conflict often reached Aireyholme from relations at the front’ (p. 215).
But overall Brazil gives the impression that fighting the ‘Hun’ as Katrine and Gwethin’s brother Hereward is doing is entirely noble, character-building stuff – a sort of equivalent to the boarding school life the girls are enjoying. The only relatives who appear to be in real danger are foreign. Others get lightly injured for plot reasons.
The importance of the war fluctuates, but sometimes it’s foregrounded, as the girls set up a patriotic league, competitively denying themselves to raise money. At one point, there’s an exhibition of notable heroics these boys have carried out, but Gwethin’s enthusiasm for a sort of beauty contest for photographs of these officers is squashed.
It just seems a bit odd that ‘the jolliest term on record’ is set during the great war. The sentiment of enjoying life keenly against a background of danger isn’t a new or invalid, but as the depiction of the war is so determinedly upbeat – even allowing for the fact that she was writing for children - it isn’t what’s going on here.