Just re-read Ballet Shoes as an adult

[heron98]

Someone answer me this - if they are so poor they can't even afford new clothes, why don't they get rid of the flipping cook and the maid? Why doesn't Garnie get a job instead of staying up all night stressing about money?

Talking of stories of overcoming poverty, what about The Story of the Treasure Seekers? I used to love E Nesbit books.

Yes - just finished reading this to dd. Had to explain a bit of the racism from the Indian Uncle though.

Oh yes, RoseDeGambrinus I loved E Nesbit, though funnily enough not so much the Treasure Seekers, which I found quite hard to relate to (another instance of genteel poverty) - whilst the three Psammead books have lasted better. Did you ever read The Enchanted Castle?

My great grandmother and grandmother are a bit like this. Apparently they were nearly destitute after the war, but they could still manage to keep on several properties, a gardener, cook, nanny & maid! They're still alive and the way they talk about things sometimes has me

I did read the Enchanted Castle but only from the library so my memory is a bit hazy. I have just downloaded it for free on Kindle though!

There's genteel poverty - having been rich and coming down in the world - but not to the level most would consider genuinely poor - all those railway children type books.....often they get their riches back in the end and don't descend too far, can still afford a servant and some middle class trappings, even if hard, ...except for Tuppence to Cross the Mersey, where there is genuine and extreme poverty.
I like the books about real poverty - Family from One End Street etc. Also liked the Larkrise trilogy - the people in Larkrise led very hard lives.....no servants for them.

Oh and I've just thought of the Little Princess - from riches to being a servant very quickly.....but restored to wealth at the end.

Well, I suppose they are children's books where a happy ending is usual. The Family From One End Street was exceptional. I also used to love a book called 'Magnolia Buildings' set in the in a 60's block of flats about a working class family and very well written.

Re black dogs, Lalla spends much time being black doggish in White Boots.

I love these books, came to say that the mother in Twopence to Cross the Mersey has had something like a hysterectomy about 2 days before they reach Liverpool and has no pain relief, postnatal depression and is described as so frustrated she is almost crazy. They get a cellar room with absolutely no furniture or firewood and it must be like living in a garden shed with no heating in winter.

The working class neighbours can't believe they have nothing at all - they keep getting new lodgings because the father's accent makes landlords think they'll manage the rent. But the neighbours lose patience with them because they are so useless at managing and don't know how to cook or clean or scavenge.

Talking of poverty in children's books, does anyone remember a British novel where a girl lives with her mum, who is described as fat, they don't have a bathroom so they go to the public baths together? There's a lovely description of the deep bath with really hot water, and I think they take their own soap etc. Don't remember a father or siblings. Pretty sure it's not Magnolia Buildings. I would probably have read it in the early to mid 60s.

I don't know that one, but I read a story set in a bath house in Glasgow which must have been late 50s/early 60s and everyone the author knew went for a bath in the bath house.

I wonder if Garnie had to pay a mortgage. Food, electricity, fuel for fires/stove, Cook's wages (Nana didn't take wages) should have been paid for out of the boarders' fees - why didn't she just increase the fees?

of course Garnie didnt have to pay a mortgage. In those days one just bought a big gaff for two and six.

Lovely thread. Thank you to whoever mentioned the mantlemass novels - I loved those as well as NS and will be ordering.

Was thinking about I Captured the Castle by Dodie Smith which is another upper middle class struggle with poverty but also a coming of age romance. Apparently written during WW2 when Dodie Smith was based in the States and full of nostalgia for Britain.

Great thread which I really want to be able to refer back to - there are some NS books on here I've never heard of and really want to chase up! MN, can it be moved out of chat so it doesn't disappear?

In response to a pp, Jenny Overton also wrote two books which hardly anyone else seems to have read but which I loved, The Nightwatch Winter and Creed Country. The Nightwatch Winter is particularly atmospheric, following a group of children through the winter as they rehearse a performance of the mystery plays and discover hidden trails within the countryside. Set in the 1960s or early 1970s, I think, at least that's the feel of it - all church grammar schools and going out on bikes.

I didn't know Jenny Overton wrote anything else - must try to find them!

Anyone read Jam Tomorrow by Monica Redlich? Another interwar story about a relatively poor Vicarage family. It's a very cosy read.

Also 'a house in the hills' by Olivia Fitzroy - which is set in Scotland -lots of snow and domestic details.

Creed Country is the one about the priest, a bit Marlowish. But haven't read the other. How we have got through this thread without a ref to Antonia Forest, or only one, I don't know..

The children who lived in a barn, anyone? And I can jump puddles..

And I'm a Sutcliff fan..

You are my people! ThNk you for all your posts!

The Children who lived in a Barn is very enjoyable in many ways, but yet again there's an older girl taking on all domestic responsibilities, with the younger children and in this case her older, or maybe not much younger, brother completely taking her work for granted. Realistic, I know, but deeply irritating all the same!

Oh I have been trying to remember 'the children who loved in a barn' for years! Their teacher taught them how to make a kind of slow cooker in a hay box.

*lived

Orlanda, I love it too! First heard about it in one of the Mitford books. I have just started reading a biography of Esmond Romilly, Jessica Mitford's first husband. It goes into far more details about him than Jessica did in Hons and Rebels.