REVIEW: The Outsider
Jul. 31st, 2018 08:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllThe Outsider: Monica Edwards. The Children’s Book Club, 1962
I’ve always associated Edwards with pony/horse-riding books and avoided her accordingly, but this is more about a family of youngsters and their friends entertaining themselves. First published in 1961, it has one foot in the past – no electricity at Punchbowl Farm yet, and one in the future – romance is more of a concern for the teenage characters ranging in age from fourteen and seventeen, although their pairing off in very circumspect and more about ‘understandings’ based on shared interests and compatibility than what might, in the modern vernacular, be termed ‘action’.
There’s a reference to a previous book featuring some of these characters, which I haven’t read. So, the opening chapter was about being introduced to the Thorntons of Punchbowl Farm for me. There are four children, two parents, a German and a lot of animals. Slightly annoyingly, just as I was getting them straight in my mind, the chance arises for some of the family to go on holiday in Normandy, while the oldest children, staying behind, can invite friends they’ve long wanted over.
It's a bit overwhelming at first – nine human characters under one roof. But though we follow most of them as they split up to carry out various activities, the main character turns out to be Lindsey, who is tender-hearted about animals, not one for change, be that in the form of modern technology or growing up. As she’s fourteen and observant, her sister Andrea is seventeen, and one of the invitees is good-looking Meryon, Lindsey can’t help but notice that Andrea is attracted to Meryon. Trouble is, he has an understanding with one of the other visitors, and Lindsey can see trouble ahead. It’s interesting that Edwards doesn’t make Lindsey struggle against growing up, but rather have her grow up a little by trying to stop her sister from making a scene and getting hurt.
But this, in a way, is in the background, as the whole gang become enthralled by an unexpected animal visitor. The farm is not a working one, not yet, to the disappointment of future farmer Dion. There are horses, of course, three cows, some pigs and cats. With the arrival of seven-year-old Diccon, insects, mice and snakes join the menagerie.
Meryon, Roger, Rissa, Tamzin and Diccon are there on holiday – it’s April and the end of their Easter hols – but most of their time is taken up by chores, occasionally interspersed by midnight battles. The events of the book are believable, with the love of animals weaving through it all. Unpleasant people they come across don’t turn out to be villains.
It’s about the daily detail of life, with an international flavour – Fritz, a German 20 year old is staying at the farm to improve his English, and Edwards has fun with his turns of phrases (but never thinks of him as a romantic rival). Maria, who occasionally turns up to clean is Polish.
Edwards is subtle about personality and age – we know Roger is interested in Lindsey, while she finds him unthreatening and understanding, and so is happy in his company without any idea of his feelings. Young Diccon thinks that Meryon and Dion are grown-ups, practically, while they’re aware that they’re not, with neither having left school. Diccon’s nights are spent evading bedtime, despite his the attempts of his sister Tamzin and Andrea, when she feels responsible. I found it a fairly engrossing picture of a life that is already seeming old-fashioned, what with horses becoming rarer and rarer, and other people their age, supporting characters or even characters only mentioned in passing, being interested in pin-ups and more sophisticated, perhaps less satisfying, things.
It’s reminiscent of Courtney’s family books, Saville’s series and Mabel Esther Allen’s keen eye for growing up, only with even more of an appreciation of what it is to keep and tend to horses properly.
I’ve always associated Edwards with pony/horse-riding books and avoided her accordingly, but this is more about a family of youngsters and their friends entertaining themselves. First published in 1961, it has one foot in the past – no electricity at Punchbowl Farm yet, and one in the future – romance is more of a concern for the teenage characters ranging in age from fourteen and seventeen, although their pairing off in very circumspect and more about ‘understandings’ based on shared interests and compatibility than what might, in the modern vernacular, be termed ‘action’.
There’s a reference to a previous book featuring some of these characters, which I haven’t read. So, the opening chapter was about being introduced to the Thorntons of Punchbowl Farm for me. There are four children, two parents, a German and a lot of animals. Slightly annoyingly, just as I was getting them straight in my mind, the chance arises for some of the family to go on holiday in Normandy, while the oldest children, staying behind, can invite friends they’ve long wanted over.
It's a bit overwhelming at first – nine human characters under one roof. But though we follow most of them as they split up to carry out various activities, the main character turns out to be Lindsey, who is tender-hearted about animals, not one for change, be that in the form of modern technology or growing up. As she’s fourteen and observant, her sister Andrea is seventeen, and one of the invitees is good-looking Meryon, Lindsey can’t help but notice that Andrea is attracted to Meryon. Trouble is, he has an understanding with one of the other visitors, and Lindsey can see trouble ahead. It’s interesting that Edwards doesn’t make Lindsey struggle against growing up, but rather have her grow up a little by trying to stop her sister from making a scene and getting hurt.
But this, in a way, is in the background, as the whole gang become enthralled by an unexpected animal visitor. The farm is not a working one, not yet, to the disappointment of future farmer Dion. There are horses, of course, three cows, some pigs and cats. With the arrival of seven-year-old Diccon, insects, mice and snakes join the menagerie.
Meryon, Roger, Rissa, Tamzin and Diccon are there on holiday – it’s April and the end of their Easter hols – but most of their time is taken up by chores, occasionally interspersed by midnight battles. The events of the book are believable, with the love of animals weaving through it all. Unpleasant people they come across don’t turn out to be villains.
It’s about the daily detail of life, with an international flavour – Fritz, a German 20 year old is staying at the farm to improve his English, and Edwards has fun with his turns of phrases (but never thinks of him as a romantic rival). Maria, who occasionally turns up to clean is Polish.
Edwards is subtle about personality and age – we know Roger is interested in Lindsey, while she finds him unthreatening and understanding, and so is happy in his company without any idea of his feelings. Young Diccon thinks that Meryon and Dion are grown-ups, practically, while they’re aware that they’re not, with neither having left school. Diccon’s nights are spent evading bedtime, despite his the attempts of his sister Tamzin and Andrea, when she feels responsible. I found it a fairly engrossing picture of a life that is already seeming old-fashioned, what with horses becoming rarer and rarer, and other people their age, supporting characters or even characters only mentioned in passing, being interested in pin-ups and more sophisticated, perhaps less satisfying, things.
It’s reminiscent of Courtney’s family books, Saville’s series and Mabel Esther Allen’s keen eye for growing up, only with even more of an appreciation of what it is to keep and tend to horses properly.
