To think Jinny had ADHD

[CallMeMousie]

I've just been reliving my childhood reading the Jinny at Finmory books with DD. Now I read it as an adult I sympathise so much with her parents but I'm also wondering if Jinny had ADHD.

She never paid attention in school despite being very intelligent, was highly compulsive, always taking off at inappropriate times without a thought for danger, very creative and imaginative and of course hyper focused on Shantih and her art. She also never seemed to hold down any friendships as she was too busy galloping over the moors, even poor Sue got fed up with her behaviour in the end.

Not that it matters at all, but DD is awaiting ADHD assessment and it is striking a chord, nice for her to have a character to identify with (Although not to emulate please I'd have a fit if she buggered off over the moors all day alone age 12!). I wonder what other children's characters would be officially neurodiverse if they were written about today?

[Siameasy]

Yes Quentin really was an awkward bugger. Poor Fanny.
Mallory Towers - Irene and Belinda defo have ADHD. Scatterbrained but creative/hyper focused.
Even Darrell could’ve done.
Blyton liked an outspoken, impulsive female character.
Alicia might’ve been a narcissist actually

[RunAwayTurnAwayRunAwayTurnAway]

Amazing coincidence! I've only recently been thinking about Jinny and Shantih. Their freedom to adventure was the perfect antidote to an inner-city childhood with stressed-out parents who didn't prioritise fun.

[astoundedgoat]

I LOVED those books. It caused me utter heartbreak that I was not Jinny, with her amazing life (as I saw it!). The original books that I had were called Jinny at Finmory, and then later they were "rebranded" as Jinny and Shantih. I still remember the competition right at the end when she thinks she is going to have to give Shantih "back" afterwards.

Just enjoying a trip down memory lane (instead of working!) here with the covers - janebadgerbooks.co.uk/the-jinny-books-by-patricia-leitch-1/ - love the outfit on the original cover of A Devil To Ride!

I think a lot of the "funny little girl" main characters fit that assessment - might say a lot about the women who write them too, when they write that personality type so accurately and eloquently.

Nothing about Jinny struck me as unusual or strange when I read those books as a child. 😳

[CallMeMousie]

Oh @Beowulfa I've just ordered that book thank you!

@ComtesseDeSpair I do see your point but honestly just having some idle fun. I identified strongly with Jinny as a child but am pretty sure I don't have ADHD. At the end of the day we are all human and trying to live our lives as best we can. Equally I think people too often see the 'label' for kids being diagnosed nowadays when 40 years ago they would have just been quirky and free spirited. I'm not sure Pat Leitch was either writing about neurodiversity or an allegory for female societal constraints, she just wrote a very vivd and appealing character who spoke strongly to a lot of young girls. But reading it now it's nice for DD (and me) to see someone with character traits who resonate with her so strongly and I can't feel bad about that!

[ComtesseDeSpair]

Whilst I acknowledge that these are fictional characters and this thread is a bit of reminiscing fun, I think it can end up being extrapolated into reality and we have to be quite careful about the implication that non-conventional girls who question the life society is pushing them towards and don’t want to conform to what is expected of them must be neurodivergent. It can get uncomfortably close to the similar view that girls/boys who “don’t behave like girls/boys” and like clothes, toys and hobbies culturally attributed to their sex must be transgender (indeed, there are people who would argue that George didn’t have an ASD but was trans / really a boy.) Particularly since these books were written in the 1940s-1970s and their authors would have been keenly aware of the very limited paths most girls could realistically expect to go down, and will have been writing as much as anything as escapism for the reader.

With Jinny, the metaphor of being imprisoned or caged runs right the way through the narrative: her father was a probation officer who had given up his job after being upset when one of the young offenders he was supporting was jailed; Shantih was locked up in a circus performing tricks; Jinny is aware that there is an invisible net around her in the sense that it’s noted her teachers’ ambition is for her to grow up and become a secretary, the job so many girls were pushed towards, and they disapprove of her “childish” messing about with horses; both Jinny and Shantih were fighting against being tamed or trained or forced into captivity.

[BlankTimes]

Ive always thought the charactrs in Winnie the Pooh show a lot of ND or MH characteristics
Tigger ADHD, Eeyore Depression, more here
pooh.fandom.com/wiki/The_Disorders_of_Characters_in_Winnie_the_Pooh

[Loopyloopy]

I love finding these examples. Also Anne, as mentioned above, Temperance Brennan with ASD on Bones, and Miles Vorkosigan of the Vorkosigan saga (ADHD). Tempe is based on Kathy Reichs, who wrote the Temperance Brennan books, and Miles was inspired by someone the author knew.

[hoorayandupsherises]

I feel like I might need to read these books again now :)

My favourite book as a teenager was Jane Eyre (hyperfixation, standard) and I have thought since my diagnosis that she must have ASD too 😂

[Gremlinsateit]

I only read these recently and I thought she had been written as a character with ADHD or possibly ASD, but I just looked at the dates of the first books and realised she would have just been treated as one of those disorganised girls who was always in the wrong place and never did the homework. It’s very sympathetic for the mid 70s.

[JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon]

Oh I loved the Jinny books


Have a look at Jane Badger Books if you like old pony books, lots of info about Jinny, Jill, Jackie and all of the other classics.

[Beowulfa]

I loved that series. I didn't discover the author's masterpiece (A Dream Of Fair Horses) until I was an adult- I highly recommended it. When I finally got to ride an Arab I was a bit disappointed, I realise a dobbin hairy cob is more for me!

Does your daughter like the character of Jinny? She was, bluntly, a crap sister, crap friend and completely self-absorbed. But very realistic and vividly drawn.

There are some interesting portrayals of disability and difference in many of the old classic pony books like the disabled mentor Martin in the Jill series. Vian Smith also wrote some great stories about horses helping children with deafness and polio recovery.

[JS87]

George’s dad in the famous five definitely seems asd so would make sense George was.

[ComtesseDeSpair]

I just think Jinny was written as every young girl’s internal desires - to just want to sod off the shackles of the day to day world and its repression and box ticking and run off to the moors with a wild horse.

[stargirl1701]

I began to wonder if she was ASD after I re-read the books as an adult. The scene when she is so disappointed about the costumes for the Christmas play made me wonder.

[CallMeMousie]

Oh yes @Siameasy I hadn't thought about George but that makes sense too. Her fierce adherence to telling the truth at all times!

@helpfulperson that sounds fascinating, I'm going to see if I can find out more. There's a whole world of stuff once you become more aware. Although Mrs Bennett seems more sensible and less neurotic to me the older I get too.

@Icannoteven it's well worth digging them out, still as magical as they were and it's been so nice to share them with DD (Although the lack of phones and general 70s freedoms are quite a lot to understand for today's children!)

[spiderlight]

You might be right there!!

[Icannoteven]

Oh my goodness, I haven't thought about those books in years!!!! Now I have to go back to my parents house and dig them out for my daughter's.

I think you are right btw. Ditto Anne of green gables. All that daydreaming and forgetfulness.talking non-stop, impulsive behaviour etc.

[helpfulperson]

I can't remember what the proper name is but there is a branch of historical research that looks back at fictional and real life characters and suggest what they might be diagnosed with now. Some are ND things but others are delicate women who took to their beds actually having gluten or lactose intolerance.

[Siameasy]

Must be some others in Blyton’s books….

[Siameasy]

I don’t know that character but I’m awaiting assessment for Adhd so I have an interest in such matters too and I always thought George of the Famous Five had ADHD and/or ASD traits.

[Ukholidaysaregreat]

Aww! Jinny and Shantih!! I loved those books soooo much!