📚 'Rather Dated' April: Noel Streatfield’s ‘Saplings’ 📚

Thanks, I had no idea! I found one, which was a bit too preachy for my taste but still very interesting to see another side of NF.

Yes. Definitely! You could really appreciate the situation from everyone's perspective. She is a masterful storyteller.

Really glad you enjoyed it, @FuzzyCaoraDhubh! I must re-read at some point. I too thought she handled a difficult subject very well and movingly, and without going for any easy answers (satisfying as that would have been).

@Terpsichore I read 'Doreen' and thought it was wonderful. I got a very old copy from the library printed in 1946 with the original ticket at the back listing the loan dates from when the book was new. It seems to be the only available copy too. It was excellent. Very well written and very moving. I really enjoyed it.

If anyone wants another recommendation for the TBR list, I could not put down London Belongs to Me ….

It would have made a good Rather Dated actually. Doh! 😣

Thanks @Terpsichore Any recommendation from you will be a good one.

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh @StellaOlivetti I'll warn you that it’s heartbreaking but so, so good.

And my library too! I’ve reserved it.

'Doreen' is in the library according to the system so I've put in a request for it and it will arrive in its own sweet time I'm sure :)

The House Opposite is good but Doreen is in another class tbh. Persephone publish it (and btw, Front Row are about to do a feature on Persephone - I just heard them mentioning it at the start of tonight’s programme)

'The House Opposite' by Barbara Noble is on Kindle for 2.72. It looks good! No sign of 'Doreen' on there.

I’ve read one and enjoyed it so I keep meaning to seek out some of the others.

Has anyone read the books written by NF under the pseudonym Susan Scarlett? I got a bit addicted to them last year because it was easy reading and the first few were quite comforting, dated of course but still enjoyable. The last few weren't quite as good but still, it was a bit of a treat to discover.

@Terpsichore , no you haven’t mentioned it before but I have looked it up and it sounds intriguing. I’m going to try and track down a copy.

One of the gifts this thread has given me is some novelistic insights into the Second World War, written contemporaneously, and focussing on the domestic and familial settings, rather than the war itself if you see what I mean. Fascinating.

Yes, I agree, @StellaOlivetti - as a fiend for WW2 domestic fiction! Have we had a conversation about Barbara Noble’s Doreen, which I’m forever pushing onto recommending to people?

Desperately late here, for some reason I missed this thread.
Saplings has gone back to the library, so I will have to dredge my ageing memory for what I thought.
NS is one of the few writers I can think of who can write convincingly as a child. I know from experience how difficult this is. I thought this was very impressive and authentic.
I felt very sorry for Lena, although I also felt that the author was quite obvious in her own dislike for her.
The teenage boy at school, sorry, I have forgotten the name, who was so worried about his father being buried alive … that was done so well, and I found it very painful to read.
Overall, this was a sophisticated and in some ways very modern read. One of the gifts this thread has given me is some novelistic insights into the Second World War, written contemporaneously, and focussing on the domestic and familial settings, rather than the war itself if you see what I mean. Fascinating.

I went into a big secondhand bookshop today and bingo! they had a copy of The L-Shaped Room. I'm looking forward to re-reading it.

Ah! I hadn't heard of it. The way Nannie was going on, I was afraid it was something awfully serious!

Brilliant re 'The L-Shaped Room'. I'm looking forward to it very much.

Good to hear from you MotherofPearl!
Yes, Nannie was as an enjoyable character as Lindsey was an odious one.
I agree that her comment was damaging. So horrible.

Did anyone else have to look up the medical term for wetting the bed or was it only me?!

I also thought the same, that I would like to read 'Ballet Shoes' some time.

Good choice, I really enjoyed this. I'll come back with more of my thoughts but thought that it gave the children's percectives well as the adults seemed to not realise the impact on them when making decisions. The adults in the book seemed to have that idea that children are young enough and they will 'get over it' whereas wearing the wrong uniform, seeing a parent drunk, being just sent away etc is the sort of experience that stays with people.

Hello all! I agree with all your comments.
I thought Saplings was very good indeed. It was a tough read. The children had such a hard time going from one bad situation to another. The final line by Mrs Oliver saying that how lucky the children were to not have suffered like others abroad really struck the final blow. Physically they came through it, but they were damaged psychologically and I'm not certain that the adults recognised it. Whether they didn't want to acknowledge it or just didn't see it, I'm not sure. I think Ruth was perceptive and the grandfather was as well. And the lovely school principal wanted to help Laurel and could have been a good influence in her life if their mother hadn't moved her to the other school.

The mother in the book, Lena. Where to begin?! It was mentioned in the afterward that Lena is a pivotal character in the book and I thought the same. It could have been very different for the children had she acted differently and not put her own needs first after her husband's death. I don't think she was very stable to begin with and she seemed to have an addictive personality. Alex was the strong one. He was such a loss to them all. I felt sad when he died! The episode where Tony went back to the family home was awfully sad and his terrors afterwards.

I agree that Saplings is like a darker version of a children's book, one that does not have a happy ending but presents tough unvarnished truths as Terpsichore said.* *Perhaps Ruth will look out for Laurel. The step-father is hideous and could be very damaging for the younger children. The older two might be okay and get out of there sooner.

There was a lot in the book. The extended families were also interesting. And poor Albert and Ernest. I think this is a book that will stay with me. The fact that it was told from the perspective of the children made it very convincing. A worthwhile read.