The Greengage Summer

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Four and a half stars, with a half star off for all the French--I quite enjoyed it and I think even those who don't speak any French would be able to follow the plot, but it might be off-putting for some. Renard explains that Eliot is now also suspected of murdering Paul, but Joss states he died in an accident after trying to escape from her room. Most of the time, she is 13-year-old Cecil (short for Cecilia, I think, though Godden never says) Grey telling what happened to her brother, her sisters and herself that summer while their mother was in hospital. A mysterious man named Eliot becomes the unofficial guardian - and sometimes friend and ally - to the children.

In a preface by the author, she explains that this was based on her own family on a holiday in France, with a few minor changes for the sake of plot.Her narratives zigzag from present to future to past, as she inserts dialogue from a different times to highlight an event in the vivid present. Having started off with three fairly serious reads, I was looking for something light when I read the excellent review of my friend, Megan, for The Greengage Summer. They spend halcyon days wondering the French countryside and villages, and Cecil observes the antics of adulthood (as the only french linguist). Joss and I felt guilty; we were still at the age when we thought being greedy was a childish fault and this gave our guilt a tinge of hopelessness, because, up to then, we had believed that as we grew older our faults would disappear, and none of them did. Do not be under any misapprehension, the children are a part of the cover too, but he loves them, give them a great deal more, for they are never the same after their holiday in France.

Joss’s recent maturity is made obvious by the attentions of a louche and seemingly selfish Englishman, Eliot, who is one of the aforementioned lovers. The Greengage Summer is part of a classics collection of beautifully designed Pan MacMillan books that I collect and I will admit I had never heard of this book or author.In this case, at the Hotel Ouilletts in France, where Cecil and her 4 siblings are stranded after their mother is hospitalized for weeks.

I can hear the sounds that seem to belong only to Les Oeillets: the patter of the poplar trees along the courtyard wall, of a tap running in the kitchen mixed with the sound of high French voices, of the thump of Rex’s tail and another thump of someone washing clothes on the river bank; of barges puffing upstream and Mauricette’s toneless singing – she always sang through her nose; of Toinette and Nicole’s quick loud French as they talked to one another out of the upstairs windows; of the faint noise of the town and, near, the plop of a fish or of a greengage falling. I know I first read The Greengage Summer as a girl, and was mostly puzzled then at how different it was from Godden's children's books - how unsettled and lacking in resolution. Father brought flowers into the house but they were dried, pressed brown, the life gone out of them; with Eliot the flower was alive. Joss, our Cecil, Hester with her Brownie, Wilhouse, and Vicky going to see the Champagne tunnels with Eliot. There are French passages, but I found, even with only my schoolbook French (and that very long ago) to fall back upon, I could follow the French conversation almost as well as the English.Rumer Godden is unfashionable now, so here we are at the cutting edge of the revival (thoroughly approve of your friend’s recommendation of Ngaio Marsh as well! My suburban mother was partial to them, and had oodles of country relatives who had trees we could pluck. Although she veers close to stereotypical characters when it comes to the French, but she ensures that every person is a distinct individual and each a genuine portrayal. This initially seems to be a novel about every child’s secret dream; the opportunity to run free without any adult supervision, spending all day simply pursuing your own pleasures. Joss knows that he is flirting, but remains innocent of the implications until Madame Zizi makes a unforgivable scene.