Castle Blair:

by Flora L. Shaw

Adrienne Blair, 18, an orphan raised in France, is summoned to rural Ireland to live with her elderly uncle, the English-born squire of a large estate. To her surprise, she is greeted on her arrival by a set of young cousins she never knew existed. Rosie, Murtagh, Winnie, Bobbo, and Ellie Blair are "Raj orphans" whose father still lives in India. Because two of them had arrived in Ireland near death from fever, their uncle has permitted the quintet to run wild for years in the woods and mountains, much to the disgust of his English land agent, Mr. Plunkett.The children rename Adrienne "Nessa" (after a deceased pet) and try to interest this fashion-conscious, very proper young woman in their elaborate games. Her presence little by little begins to civilize the five wild youngsters, and they teach her that the Irish villagers are not the savages she had imagined them to be. But will love for his cousin be enough to quell the spirit of 11-year-old Murtagh, a Republican sympathizer whose hatred of Mr. Plunkett threatens to take a deadly turn?

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1878

About the author

Dame Flora Louise Shaw, Lady Lugard, DBE the daughter of an English father, Captain (later Major General) George Shaw and a French mother, Marie Desfontaines, was a British journalist and writer.

Reviews

[Abra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is something that would be shelved alongside Frances Hodgson Burnett -- it's name-checked in Elizabeth Enright's The Four Story Mistake, and I don't know how I missed reading it then: 19th c. English girl sent home from India, to Ireland instead of Yorkshire; "civilizes" her tomboyish (and boyish) English cousins living on an Anglo-Irish estate, the oldest boy of whom is a Fenian sympathizer who yearns to assassinate the English estate manager. It's really a little torn about nationalist direct action versus Home Rule Reform (which didn't happen).

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hate grownups who don't take kids seriously. Honestly one of the things that still frustrates me like nothing else, even though I am now an adult and can see both perspectives, the inequality between kids and adults really gets me annoyed.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first, I thought this was going to be a great, fun book. But then it sort of devolved into two major plot lines that were both drawn out and somewhat annoying – – the second one even more than the first. It definitely was the kind of book to teach children of a certain time about morals. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I found the adult characters to be quite remiss in their duties, especially the uncle! There was little character development (except for two major ones), and it was just very hard to believe that the children would’ve been left to run wild for seven years without much of any supervision or guidance.

[Amy McCune · Rating 2 out of 5]

A frustrating read.

[Ruth]

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