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Marjory Fleming
A novel based on fact about the child prodigy who lived in Scotland from 1803-11.
Marjory Fleming (1803-11), an extraordinary child, left poems, letters and a journal that are now one of the treasures of the National Library of Scotland; and in 1889 Sir Leslie Stephen,Virginia Woolf's father, wrote an entry about her for the original Dictionary of National Biography, believing that 'no more fascinating infantile author has ever appeared.'
Oriel Malet, author of this biographical novel, was herself only 20, but had already published two books by the time Marjory Fleming was published in 1946, and had won the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize for one of them. There are clear similarities between her and her precocious subject.
The book describes Marjory's life over the three years when she leaves the family home at Kirkcaldy and goes to live in Edinburgh with her cousin Isabella, who recognised, and wished to encourage, her exceptional gifts; and her final year when she had returned home and was deeply unhappy away from her beloved 'Isa'. With 'true, almost psychic perception' (Elizabeth Bowen in a 1946 review in The Tatler) Oriel Malet takes us into the mind of a potential genius. The Paris publishing house Editions Autrement brought out Marjory Fleming in a French translation in 2002.
Marjory Fleming (1803-11), an extraordinary child, left poems, letters and a journal that are now one of the treasures of the National Library of Scotland; and in 1889 Sir Leslie Stephen,Virginia Woolf's father, wrote an entry about her for the original Dictionary of National Biography, believing that 'no more fascinating infantile author has ever appeared.'
Oriel Malet, author of this biographical novel, was herself only 20, but had already published two books by the time Marjory Fleming was published in 1946, and had won the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize for one of them. There are clear similarities between her and her precocious subject.
The book describes Marjory's life over the three years when she leaves the family home at Kirkcaldy and goes to live in Edinburgh with her cousin Isabella, who recognised, and wished to encourage, her exceptional gifts; and her final year when she had returned home and was deeply unhappy away from her beloved 'Isa'. With 'true, almost psychic perception' (Elizabeth Bowen in a 1946 review in The Tatler) Oriel Malet takes us into the mind of a potential genius. The Paris publishing house Editions Autrement brought out Marjory Fleming in a French translation in 2002.
202 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1946
112 people want to read
About the author
Oriel Malet
15 books3 followersLady Auriel Rosemary Malet Vaughan (born 1923) was an author of literary fiction and biographies who wrote under the name of Oriel Malet. Her parents were Ernest Edmund Henry Malet Vaughan, 7th Earl of Lisburne and Maria Isabel Regina Aspasia de Bittencourt. She spent much of her life in France.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 2, 2010
Marjory Fleming is a fictionalised biography, a form which often worries me. But this book didn’t worry me at all: I was sure from the start that it was going to be wonderful.
Why?
Well first there was the subject. Marjory Fleming died in 1811 when she was just eight years old. But she left behind journals and poems that were preserved and published years later to great acclaim.
And then there was the author. Oriel Malet’s own first novel was published when she was just seventeen, and so she seemed better qualified than most to write about such a bookish precocious child. And I read Marraine, her memoir of her godmother, the actress Yvonne Arnaud last year and fell in love. The observation, the perception, the sheer love in that book was a joy.
And Marjory Fleming, a small, quiet book, is a joy too.
Not because Marjory is an appealing child, but because Oriel Malet brings her to life so beautifully, with such empathy and understanding.
First she introduces her home and family in such beautiful descriptive prose, and then the three year-old Marjory, hiding from her sister, not wanting to come in from the garden. The garden sounded so lovely that I quite understood Marjory. But I felt for her sister too when she was sent to bring in the truculent little girl.
There are so many details on every page. All beautiful and creating a picture both lovely and utterly real. And such an emotional journey. Marjory learns to read.
“Marjory climbed out of bed and tiptoed across the room to look closer. There were no pictures, and confronted with the black and white symmetry of the print, which was small and close, and peppered with curly S’s, she felt a definite sense of frustration. Why couldn’t she read, when she wanted to so much?
She flicked over the pages in desperation. The light fell on the title page. There, in big, black letters, was a whole row of words. Looking at them, Marjory suddenly found that they said “The Mouse, and Other Tales,” and were no longer just a jumble of letters. Even while she stood a little bewildered, in front of her own small miracle, a door slammed somewhere downstairs, and voices floated up from below. Closing the book, she scampered back to bed, and almost at once fell fast asleep.
Next day, when she awoke, the first thing that Marjory remembered was that she could read. She had made out “The Mouse and Other Tales” all by herself. For a moment she lay breathless before this discovery.”
So simple, but it made my heart beat a little faster, as a whole new world opened up to Marjory.
And I shared her nervous anticipation when her cousins came to visit, her happiness as a bond developed between her and her seventeen year-old cousin Isabella.
“Isabella Keith, gay, clever, so young, so sure, was pleased with her cousin. She was just grown up, and still had a joy in the unusual; she was not afraid of it as her elders were. She saw at once in Marjory a fine mind, and was wise enough to treat the child with respect, not as an inferior being. Marjory, sensing approval, opened her heart even wider. She came running to Isa whenever she could.”
It’s not entirely clear why at the age of five Marjory leaves her home in Kircaldy to live with her cousins in Edinburgh. And Marjory isn’t concerned with the hows and whys. She is happy and astounded. And Isa’s mother and sister are confounded. Is Marjory a changeling, they wonder. It seems entirely possible.
It is in Edinburgh that Isa gives Marjory her first journal, and encourages her to write.
“She went away laughing, and Marjory was left gazing at the blank pages of her first journal. Not for long. A moment later she was well away, firmly clutching the pen which sphuttered and scratched cheerfully across Isa’s carefully ruled lines. The room was very still. Only the clock ticked, and the canaries chirped and hopped in their cages. Occasionally a carriage rumbled by in the street outside. The child sat still too, lost in a deep concentration that no-one, save Isa perhaps, had known existed. Her hand moved the pen fiercely, with effort, for it would make squiggles and blots that she never intended, her tongue stuck out with concentration, as she scratched away. She was rapt. There was a look of satisfaction on her face, and now, for ever afterwards, she would pick up a pen whenever her thoughts struggled for expression.”
But enough! I’m not here to tell the story. I’m here to praise the book.
Oriel Malet creates a child - a bright child, but a child nonetheless – so beautifully, with such empathy, with such understanding that you really can see what she is seeing, feel what she is feeling.
The quality of the bigger picture is just as high. Every detail that makes up a child’s life – people, places, events - in such lovely descriptive prose.
This really was the perfect book for a light spring evening.
And now I find that I have two writers to cherish.
Extracts from Marjory’s journals and verses are reproduced, both in the text and in appendices, and they are quite charming.
And my second encounter with Oriel Malet has me longing to read every word she ever wrote. Sadly, all of her novels are out of print, and so I should be very grateful if somebody would reissue them.
Why?
Well first there was the subject. Marjory Fleming died in 1811 when she was just eight years old. But she left behind journals and poems that were preserved and published years later to great acclaim.
And then there was the author. Oriel Malet’s own first novel was published when she was just seventeen, and so she seemed better qualified than most to write about such a bookish precocious child. And I read Marraine, her memoir of her godmother, the actress Yvonne Arnaud last year and fell in love. The observation, the perception, the sheer love in that book was a joy.
And Marjory Fleming, a small, quiet book, is a joy too.
Not because Marjory is an appealing child, but because Oriel Malet brings her to life so beautifully, with such empathy and understanding.
First she introduces her home and family in such beautiful descriptive prose, and then the three year-old Marjory, hiding from her sister, not wanting to come in from the garden. The garden sounded so lovely that I quite understood Marjory. But I felt for her sister too when she was sent to bring in the truculent little girl.
There are so many details on every page. All beautiful and creating a picture both lovely and utterly real. And such an emotional journey. Marjory learns to read.
“Marjory climbed out of bed and tiptoed across the room to look closer. There were no pictures, and confronted with the black and white symmetry of the print, which was small and close, and peppered with curly S’s, she felt a definite sense of frustration. Why couldn’t she read, when she wanted to so much?
She flicked over the pages in desperation. The light fell on the title page. There, in big, black letters, was a whole row of words. Looking at them, Marjory suddenly found that they said “The Mouse, and Other Tales,” and were no longer just a jumble of letters. Even while she stood a little bewildered, in front of her own small miracle, a door slammed somewhere downstairs, and voices floated up from below. Closing the book, she scampered back to bed, and almost at once fell fast asleep.
Next day, when she awoke, the first thing that Marjory remembered was that she could read. She had made out “The Mouse and Other Tales” all by herself. For a moment she lay breathless before this discovery.”
So simple, but it made my heart beat a little faster, as a whole new world opened up to Marjory.
And I shared her nervous anticipation when her cousins came to visit, her happiness as a bond developed between her and her seventeen year-old cousin Isabella.
“Isabella Keith, gay, clever, so young, so sure, was pleased with her cousin. She was just grown up, and still had a joy in the unusual; she was not afraid of it as her elders were. She saw at once in Marjory a fine mind, and was wise enough to treat the child with respect, not as an inferior being. Marjory, sensing approval, opened her heart even wider. She came running to Isa whenever she could.”
It’s not entirely clear why at the age of five Marjory leaves her home in Kircaldy to live with her cousins in Edinburgh. And Marjory isn’t concerned with the hows and whys. She is happy and astounded. And Isa’s mother and sister are confounded. Is Marjory a changeling, they wonder. It seems entirely possible.
It is in Edinburgh that Isa gives Marjory her first journal, and encourages her to write.
“She went away laughing, and Marjory was left gazing at the blank pages of her first journal. Not for long. A moment later she was well away, firmly clutching the pen which sphuttered and scratched cheerfully across Isa’s carefully ruled lines. The room was very still. Only the clock ticked, and the canaries chirped and hopped in their cages. Occasionally a carriage rumbled by in the street outside. The child sat still too, lost in a deep concentration that no-one, save Isa perhaps, had known existed. Her hand moved the pen fiercely, with effort, for it would make squiggles and blots that she never intended, her tongue stuck out with concentration, as she scratched away. She was rapt. There was a look of satisfaction on her face, and now, for ever afterwards, she would pick up a pen whenever her thoughts struggled for expression.”
But enough! I’m not here to tell the story. I’m here to praise the book.
Oriel Malet creates a child - a bright child, but a child nonetheless – so beautifully, with such empathy, with such understanding that you really can see what she is seeing, feel what she is feeling.
The quality of the bigger picture is just as high. Every detail that makes up a child’s life – people, places, events - in such lovely descriptive prose.
This really was the perfect book for a light spring evening.
And now I find that I have two writers to cherish.
Extracts from Marjory’s journals and verses are reproduced, both in the text and in appendices, and they are quite charming.
And my second encounter with Oriel Malet has me longing to read every word she ever wrote. Sadly, all of her novels are out of print, and so I should be very grateful if somebody would reissue them.
June 12, 2019
I completely hesitate to say "really liked it" in my star rating as the ending utterly devastated me. Let it be known: the ending is devastating.
That being said... the writing is gorgeous. The descriptions of the scenery and life in Edinburgh are utterly charming, especially through a growing child's eyes. I loved this book and was utterly absorbed in it and in Marjory's young life as a precocious child spent in the care of her cousin.
That being said... the writing is gorgeous. The descriptions of the scenery and life in Edinburgh are utterly charming, especially through a growing child's eyes. I loved this book and was utterly absorbed in it and in Marjory's young life as a precocious child spent in the care of her cousin.
January 23, 2012
The main character of this fact-based historical novel is a small girl who lived in Scotland in the first years of the 19th century. Despite dying before her ninth birthday, Marjory Fleming left a vivid journal, letters and poems on which Oriel Malet has based this portrait of a wilful, talented child with unusually strong attachments.
Published in 1946 and set in 1806-11, this leaps neatly over the Victorian era so there is no soppiness. Marjory is drawn as a difficult but rewarding child. There are rather too many characters called Isabella (I counted 6) but that’s real life for you.
This is the kind of book that you don't forget. I loved it.
Published in 1946 and set in 1806-11, this leaps neatly over the Victorian era so there is no soppiness. Marjory is drawn as a difficult but rewarding child. There are rather too many characters called Isabella (I counted 6) but that’s real life for you.
This is the kind of book that you don't forget. I loved it.
August 23, 2020
This is a semi-fictionalised biography of a young girl, Marjory Fleming, living in the early 19th century, with excerpts of her diaries occasionally included. I had not heard of Marjory Fleming before reading this book and although some of her poems were sweet and interesting, her life itself is not great material for a biography. The day-by-day activities of a six year old are just not very interesting and Marjory’s fictionalised internal thoughts were similarly uninteresting. There was lots of Christian morality and amazement at Marjory’s supposedly mature thought processes. I think this would really only be worth reading if you were a big fan of Fleming’s poetry, otherwise this book holds nothing of much interest.
March 4, 2024
This was a book I bought in England about a Scottish child prodigy who died at the age of 8. It was interesting but there were four different Isabellas and it got so confusing and also i don’t think she was that much of a prodigy, she just wrote poetry a lot and was a normal annoyjng kid. I also could not read this before bed because i would fall asleep 2 pages in each time. overall, shows the importance of measles vaccines.
November 9, 2025
what a beautiful book - it's captured a love that's rarely written about: a child and their attachment to people who love them. it's lovely, the way that it's written. highly recommend it to adults everywhere.
July 16, 2025
I believe this is called historical fiction? There really was a Marjory Fleming, a precocious 8-year-old girl who died of ‘water on the brain’ (known as meningitis now) after having supposedly recovered from the measles (but apparently not), which was deadly back in the 1800s because there were no vaccines back in those days.
But that is not what the book was about.... the reader knows however that the girl died before her time. Which made me sad, because I grew to like her and was rooting for her, but knew her life was going to be cut short.
The book is divided into five parts, starting with her life at home in Kirkcaldy Scotland in 1806-1808 when she was 3, then 4 then 5 years of age and going back and forth between Edinburgh (1808-1809-Part Two), Ravelston (1809-1810, Part Three), Edinburgh and Braehead (1810, Part Four) and then finally back home to Kirkcaldy (1811, Part Five). From Part Two to Part Four she lived with an aunt and her cousins...the oldest cousin, Isabella, took Marjory under her wing and really was her primary caretaker. Marjory viewed her as her mother and did not want to go back home to Kirkcaldy to her real mother when she was 8 years old.
Marjory was a very bright and spirited girl and deep down was quite decent. She would apparently let her temper show through for all sorts of various reasons...basically she was still just a kid with sometimes an adult intellect.
I am not doing a real good job of explaining what this book is about...hopefully if a bit curious, you might look at one of the reviews below (or this Wikipedia entry on the real Marjory Fleming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjori...)! I thought it was a good read!
Reviews:
• Egads! I couldn’t find any reviews! 😮😮😮😮😮
• Well I found one....go to review #17 in the link for a short review: https://persephonebooks.co.uk/pages/r...
But that is not what the book was about.... the reader knows however that the girl died before her time. Which made me sad, because I grew to like her and was rooting for her, but knew her life was going to be cut short.
The book is divided into five parts, starting with her life at home in Kirkcaldy Scotland in 1806-1808 when she was 3, then 4 then 5 years of age and going back and forth between Edinburgh (1808-1809-Part Two), Ravelston (1809-1810, Part Three), Edinburgh and Braehead (1810, Part Four) and then finally back home to Kirkcaldy (1811, Part Five). From Part Two to Part Four she lived with an aunt and her cousins...the oldest cousin, Isabella, took Marjory under her wing and really was her primary caretaker. Marjory viewed her as her mother and did not want to go back home to Kirkcaldy to her real mother when she was 8 years old.
Marjory was a very bright and spirited girl and deep down was quite decent. She would apparently let her temper show through for all sorts of various reasons...basically she was still just a kid with sometimes an adult intellect.
I am not doing a real good job of explaining what this book is about...hopefully if a bit curious, you might look at one of the reviews below (or this Wikipedia entry on the real Marjory Fleming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjori...)! I thought it was a good read!
Reviews:
• Egads! I couldn’t find any reviews! 😮😮😮😮😮
• Well I found one....go to review #17 in the link for a short review: https://persephonebooks.co.uk/pages/r...
March 5, 2024
I'd read some of Fleming's diary entries, they were included in a book of women's diaries I read as a nascent teenage feminist and I remember thinking they were sweetly funny and not much else. That and the fact that the published journals were a sentimental Victorian favorite kept me from reading Malet's book which, like so many Persephone titles, blew my mind a little.
Malet gives us all of Fleming - a mighty talent in a very little girl, overwhelmed by her talent and living in a conventional family that is ill equipped to understand her. She is moody, prone to tantrums, attention-seeking, challenging, enchanted - in short - gifted.
This is a beautiful and sobering novel, a little jewel.
Malet gives us all of Fleming - a mighty talent in a very little girl, overwhelmed by her talent and living in a conventional family that is ill equipped to understand her. She is moody, prone to tantrums, attention-seeking, challenging, enchanted - in short - gifted.
This is a beautiful and sobering novel, a little jewel.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews