Marianne Dreams

I may have to amend my will to name who should inherit my paperback of 'Redcap runs away"!

I don't know either of these, but Auntie Robbo seems to be in print in various editions and at reasonable prices - including 73p for Kindle and a fairly standard £9.99 paperback price. Redcap Runs Away is £80 + postage for a Puffin copy and over £50 for a hardback (both 1950s).

No. But your reference to an auntie made me remember reading ‘Auntie Mame’ with huge enjoyment.

Does anyone else remember "Redcap Runs Away" by Rhoda Power, about a boy in medieval England who joins a wandering minstrel group? Or " Auntie Robbo" about some children adopted by their eccentric Scottish aunt? I still have Puffin copies.

Yes , I also have a fairly large collection of children’s books collected over the years from a variety of sources. Sadly no Pauline though. And I’m not interested enough to pay £24!

I've just checked my shelves of children's books and I have copies of Pauline (12 other copies on Librarything) and Wrong Gear (1 other copy, and I was struggling to add mine on LT but found an ISBN number on the Goodreads listing)* *by Margaret Storey. When I was in my teens Leeds City Libraries had quite a few big library sales, selling off stock, so I have quite a few well worn copies of children's and YA fiction titles, mostly hardback, from the 1970s and 1980s, along with Puffins and other paperbacks, some bought new, many from our local Oxfam and jumble sales etc.

@pollyhemlock Abe Books have got it at the moment, but it's £24.50 - argh

@LadyAddle You are lucky to have kept your copy because they’re almost nonexistent! I would really like to read it as I don’t think I have and Uncle H sounds like a fascinatingly ghastly character.

@EvelynBeatrice @pollyhemlock Yes, it's Pauline by Margaret Storey. "There was no bedside lamp. Uncle Harry didn't believe in reading in bed." It was when they were staying in the Lake District he removed all the lamps, causing Pauline to bash her head on the way to the loo in the night, and to be called a juggins by him. I think Uncle Harry is one of the creepiest, most horribly repugnant characters I've ever encountered, and I can't analyse why. You can tell I've kept my copy.

I think this may be Pauline by Margaret Storey, not Honor Arundel. Pauline is orphaned and goes to live with unsympathetic Uncle Harry who resents the fact that she is a bookish academic type. I don’t have a copy so can’t check about the bedside light but it sounds likely.

Was there another book by the same author where the girl ended up living for a while with another aunt and uncle and her cousins? I remember being sympathetically horrified at the uncle and aunt removing all bedside lamps as they didn’t approve of reading in bed. And they were put out because the girl - an orphan - was ahead of their own daughter at school etc. Any memories triggered for anyone ? I’d love to read it again.

@tobee Cold Christmas was fantastic. So many of these books could have been great BBC Sunday TV (like The Box of Delights, Green Knowe and Narnia). I enjoyed Archer’s Goon too. I’d watch them if they did more adaptations!

Just jumping onto this thread to say the Emma books, Charlotte Sometimes and Cold Christmas by Nina Beachcroft were stand out books from my childhood which I read several times.

Charlotte Sometimes made me cry so much.

I was obsessed by Cold Christmas; it resonated so much with me - being taken to my parents friend's houses and sort of being expected to go off and play with unknown children. And wishing the adults would have had enough soon! So obsessed was I with Cold Christmas I was desperate for it to be made into one of those BBC serial adaptations that they used to show in the 70s and 80s. I even very vaguely looked into buying the rights for a screen adaptation when I was an adult.

Andre Norton is fab. I loved Star Ka'at.

I've just thought of some more books I loved, by Andre Norton - Octagon Magic, Lavender-Green Magic and Red Hart Magic.

Really enjoying this thread! I loved Marianne Dreams, Tom's Midnight Garden, The Green Knowe books, Charlotte Sometimes, The Ghosts (Amazing Mr Blunden), The Chinese Egg etc.

I also loved Fifteen by Beverly Cleary, which I don't think anyone has mentioned. It's about a fifteen-year-old girl's first experience of dating in the US in the 1950s. I borrowed it from the library as a teenager in the 1970s, and loved it. I bought a copy a couple of years ago, and it still takes me back to what it was like being a teenager! I also enjoyed her other books - The Luckiest Girl, Jean and Johnny and Sister of the Bride.

Thank you for this lovely thread!

Lovely article, thanks for sharing @CatChant. I’ve always wanted to visit there, must make the effort to do it soon in case it closes to visitors.

Fellow Green Knowe lovers, there is a lovely article in the Financial Times about The Manor at Hemingford Grey, which was the inspiration for the stories. It’s well researched and has super photographs really capturing the magical atmosphere.

You can find it here - https://www.ft.com/content/e3569630-f753-4a35-9126-5f1c01d333c4

I visited it some years ago and it was like walking into Green Knowe. I hope I can go again soon.

I love them all! I don't think I've ever read a DWJ that I didn't like. Agree that she was amazingly original. What a talent.

I completely agree. We had The Ogre Downstairs as our class reader in Year 5 and again in Year 7. I didn’t mind as you can read her books over and over again and still find new things to think about. I also look for favourite scenes and lines. DWJ was so original and talented. I find it hard to pick my favourite.

This is very true. Most children’s fantasy is derivative ( this is not a criticism- there’s nothing wrong with drawing on previous traditions) but DWJ is genuinely and utterly original .

OMG this gave me nightmares as a child. I have never finished it! I may go back to it now I'm older. I still think if it from time to time!