Can you help me identify this book? (old)

[ABoyCalledBasil]

This is probably impossible & v obscure & v old

When I was at school (would have been late 80s), we were read a book by a school teacher that I am desperate to find and Google has failed me.

First thing to note is that it was even then an old book. It had this type of look - old hard back, fairly thick, yellow pages.

countryhouselibrary.co.uk/products/books-by-the-foot-vintage-jewel-colours

The only thing that I really remember was that it featured a spoiled boy called Basil who had to go to live somewhere he didn't want to - I think with an elderly uncle. It was in my memory a large mansion sort of Jane Eyre/Turn of the Screws style.

The only distinctive scene I can remember was that he had a bath and didn't like it and was rubbed down with a towel but was given a hot chocolate afterwards.

I bumped into this teacher randomly and asked her about it but she had no recollection of it at all.

I don't hold out much hope but does this mean anything to anyone. I've searched for it before and never get anywhere - probably because it's an old & out of print book.

It's definitely not any kind of misremembered modern classic featuring boys called Basil (Secret Garden) or hot chocolate (TLTW &T Wardrober).

mean anything to anyone?

Abebooks website used to have a brilliant forum for book sleuthing, full of total book nerds if you don't find an answer here!

Thanks for that LuckyDip - will check it out.

Did you get any further @ABoyCalledBasil ?

That rings a bell. I can't think what the book is, but I'm.sure I read it as a child.

This sounds vaguely familiar! I'll have a think.

So familar but no. Am curious what it is though.

No @tobee . I think it's probably hopeless. It's bugged me for years. I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I bumped into this teacher probably 20 years later as the first thing I though when I saw her was Aha NOW I will find out but she honestly had no idea. I don't think she even remembered reading the book to the class.

I periodically over the years have moments where I look for it/ask on forums but never had any joy. It's not a lot to go on I know and I think because it's an old book there is less chance of it coming up on google. :(

It rings a vey distant bell... I'm probably about the same age as you x

It sounds a bit like "Goodnight Mr Tom", but that's modern and the child is called William, but there a bath/hot chocolate scene in that.

It was giving me Goodnight Mr Tom vibes too.

Do you remember anything else about the book? What age range would you say it was for? You're sure that Basil was the name?

@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads I

It sounds a bit like "Goodnight Mr Tom", but that's modern and the child is called William, but there a bath/hot chocolate scene in that.

OOO oo ooo oo!!

I've just looked at the plot of this on wikipedia and the plot sounds about right. If it has a bath/hot chocolate scene then this may very well be the book.

I'm shocked it's not older as I clearly remember the teacher holding the book and I really thought it was one of those older hardback vintage looking things not a 1980s paperback.

I'm a bit perplexed as I was sure the boy was called basil. in fact it was about the only thing I was sure of other than the bath.

I will have to buy it and read it - unless anyone randonly has a copy and can quote the bit where he gets out the bath - so I can see if this is the thing before I buy it.

If this is it @IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads and@cathyandclare you are witnessing the beginning of the end of years of mental annoyance and questing for which I will be very grateful.

I need to sit down to take it all in. Years this has been. Years.

An early chapter with cocoa:

stjamescofeprimaryschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Goodnight-Mister-Tom-Chapter-2.pdf

Thank you @cathyandclare

I'm not sure still but I have taken the plunge and bought it. It sounds a good book anyway that I've not read so I'll give it a whirl.

It's possible that I've misremembered and confused stuff but I was very sure the boy was called Basil and that he was a spoilt brat which doesn't sound like this book. The basic plot of a little boy going to live with a crotchey old man however is exactly right.

I'll report back once I've read it...

I've also rememberd that in my head in the bath scene he was bathed by a woman - in my head a sort of large jolly housekeeper type woman - who rubbed him down with a rough towel where he was used to soft luxury towels.

It maybe that I'm mixing up stuff or misremembering but if anyone has any other ideas I'm all ears.

We covered Goodnight Mr Tom in school whilst learning about the war. I actually quite enjoy the ITV adaption too

Good night Mr Tom was my first thought also.

Alternatively, books by Robert Westall, but I wouldn’t say they are old classics, although sometimes schools did have hardbacks of popular classics.

Also Carries War?

Abe U.K. Book Sleuth forum is brilliant though. Well worth registering on it and putting key words like ‘basil’ and ‘bath’ in your subject line.

Funnily enough, not a topic I introduced, but this was a topic of conversation at the dinner table tonight! What friends and family do and don't remember about our shared past, and how confounding the differences are.

What friends and family do and don't remember about our shared past, and how confounding the differences are.

@tobee I think there are three big reasons for differences one is what is important to one person may not be to another - so as in this book. As a child in the class, the teacher reading a bit of a story to you every morning is a big deal and memorable because its out of the ordinary and you only have one teacher. for the teacher who in her life time will have hundreds of classes, not so much

another is people's tendency for revision - to pick and choose what you remember to suit your own narrative. not deliberately subconciously. so if I hate my sister, I'm more likely to remember the time the doll fell out the window as the time she threw my doll out the window rather than we were both playing and it fell accidentally.

and finally basic memory failure and false memory. a mistake. but the weird thing with memory is that you can be very very sure you are right and be wrong. unless you have an experience like this its hard to understand. It can happen with old videos of an event that you haven't seen for 20 years and then you see your memory was wrong.

its interesting stuff.

Yes @ABoyCalledBasil I still have very strong memories of story time at school and the books read to us; especially sitting outside on the grass on a sunny day. Much clearer memories than maths on a rainy Monday morning.