The White Riders

Romney Marsh (Publication Order) #4

by Monica Edwards

In Romney Marsh near Hastings, Meryon, Roger, Rissa and Tamzin are upset to learn the marsh they love is to be turned into a holiday camp, and the Merrow family to be thrown out of the farm they have lived in for decades. When the children learn of the legendary White Riders, smugglers who once rode the marsh disguised as ghosts, this seems a perfect weapon to combat the idea of a holiday camp.

Genres: Childrens, Mystery, Fiction

216 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

Monica Edwards (November 8, 1912 - January 18, 1998) was a British children's and young adult writer.

Monica spent spent much of her childhood at Rye Harbour in East Sussex, encountering the fishermen and rural characters that later appear in her "Romney Marsh" series of books. In 1933 she married Bill Edwards and began publishing articles and verses in a variety of publications. She spent eight years as editor of a Correspondence magazine for parents before the publication of her first book Wish for a Pony in 1947.

In 1947 the Edwards family moved to Punch Bowl Farm in Thursley, South West Surrey, which became the setting for her other main series of books (as Punchbowl Farm).

Monica differed from many of her contemporaries - notably Enid Blyton - in that her characters grew older with the books until they reached the edge of adulthood, and the atmosphere of the books changed with the times.

In 1968, Monica's husband, working Punch Bowl Farm, was seriously disabled in a tractor accident. Monica stopped writing fiction. By the end of 1970, the Edwards had left Punch Bowl Farm.

Series:
* Romney Marsh
* Punch Bowl Farm

Reviews

[Jackie Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much loved children's book from my childhood in the 50s. Innocent times, cannot compare to the way adults of today think
This book is an adventure of courage and daring to defend something you believe in. The characters come to life as the story unfolds on the Romney Marsh.
Nostalgia is the right word looking back on a country recovering from WW2 and a longing for children to recapture the innocence of childhood. I still read her books over and over again and I am in my 70's

[Jacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book from my childhood re-read after a gap of maybe forty years. Monica Edwards was writing from the late forties to the late sixties and her two most popular series for children, the Romney Marsh and the Punchbowl Farm stories ran parallel and occasionally overlapped. This is one of the earlier Romney Marsh stories featuring Tamzin Grey, daughter of the Vicar of Westling (a thinly disguised Rye Harbour in Sussex), and also her best friend Rissa, Rissa's cousin Roger and his friend, the dashing and roguish Meryon Fairbrass, descendent of pirates. Originally published In 1950, this is a gentle tale of derring-do.

When a property developer buys Cloudsley castle with intent to turn it into a holiday camp and evict the Merrow family from Castle Farm, Tamzin hatches a plan to resurrect the White Riders, ghostly horsemen who traditionally galloped over the marsh, screeching like banshees, to scare off the excise men in times gone by. The plan is to haunt the castle so that the night shift workers will be scared off and the building work abandoned.

There's enough adventure and jeopardy in this to keep any child enthralled, yet it's a product of it's time. There is danger, but no one gets seriously hurt. There's risk taking, but it's not stupidly reckless.

The joy of Monica Edwards' Romney Marsh books lies in the characters and the community as much as the escapades and adventures. Westling and the Marsh are as much recurring characters as the population of the village itself. No Romney Marsh book would be complete without Jim Decks, for instance, the disreputable but delightful old ferryman whose schemes are often central to the plot, and indeed it's Jim who remembers tales of the White Riders and kicks of Tamzin's idea to haunt the castle.

I have no idea whether anyone, child or adult, coming to these for the first time over sixty years since they were first written would find them relevant. They are certainly far removed from the children's books published today, but I've always loved them, and always will.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classist, racist, sexist and horribly dated. However, it puts childhood and upbringing in the 1950s into context and has a few nice observations of nature, local customs and farming practices in amongst the blinkered British nostalgia. 1964 edition.

[Oolookitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun adventure story that manages to be suspenseful and exciting even though we suspect how it’s all going to come out!

[Jen Pritchard · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took a while to get to the exciting part as the start was quite drawn out with details about farming and horses. However despite it ambling a bit it was quite a nice little novel.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plucky young 'uns defend the turf (literally) of Romney Marsh against a "holiday camp" developer by channeling legends of "the Marsh" into a plan to scare off the workmen and their boss. I came to it because I like books about Romney Marsh, the southeast corner of England, called "the fifth quarter of the globe." This blends horses (ponies really) with local atmosphere most agreeably. Sad to say, since this book was written holiday camps have proliferated (read Paul Theroux on his walk along that coast). Sheep raising has declined and a lot of the alluvial soil has been rolled up as sod blankets for transport. Still, a good visit especially for a naturalist. I'll shelve this book in travel too

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good adventure story with a "save the wetlands" theme, for young teens & pre-teens who are tolerant of old-fashioned settings long before cell phones & computers! Close friends take charge of saving adjacent marshes from a developer set to establish a holiday resort next to their rural homes.