Black Hunting Whip

Punch Bowl Farm #2

by Monica Edwards

The Black Hunting A Punchbowl Farm Story

Genres: Mystery, Childrens

182 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

[Janice]

'Mrs. Thornton goes to an auction, and to her surprise acquires a ruined farmhouse and seventy wild acres. It lies in a deep Surrey valley, peeping behind the leaning fruit trees of its orchard. It is built of quarry stone, with pearl-grey timbers, diamond-paned windows and a steep, wide roof encrusted with moss and lichen. The Thorntons give their hearts to it at once and work hard to make the farm a success. There is much to do, much to be learnt and many difficulties to be overcome, for the house is very old and the land is overgrown.
As they build for the future they discover fascinating relics of the past. The most exciting of these is Dion's discovery of the diary of a boy, which tells the story of the Black Hunting Whip. They determine to find the whip and to fulfil the boy's wish that it should be carried to victory in the Guildford Show. Their efforts to achieve this lead to a strange and unexpected event.'
[Above publisher's 'blurb' is from the dustwrapper's front flap.]

[P.D.R. Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of early Punchbowl Farm series, a great favourite of children in Britain in the 1950s. It was a golden time for children's literature, particularly from the Oxford Press. They are very middle class books about ponies and a comfortable family life. They also promulgate values like duty, honesty, not lying, doing your bit etc. which are not much seen in children's fiction these days.

The series is having a resurgence as older readers have a nostalgic reread.

This story brings the Thornton family to the farm and the finding of the black hunting whip brings some surprising events and closure.

A gentle story well written and an excellent piece of research for readers who need to know what life was like in the mid 20thC.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pure escapism that took me back to my childhood, just what I needed after a horrible week at work.