Jan of the Windmill

by Juliana Horatia Ewing

Work first published in 1873/74, by the prolific author of children's stories. Her tales, which have hardly been excelled in sympathetic insight into childlife, still enjoy undiminished popularity.

Genres: Classics

244 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1876

About the author

Born in 1841, Juliana Horatia Gatty was the daughter of the Rev. Alfred Gatty, a Church of England vicar, and an author, and of Margaret Gatty, also an author. She was married to Major Alexander Ewing, of the British army pay department, in 1867, relocating with him to New Brunswick, Canada, for the first two years of their marriage. Although Major Ewing was posted abroad again, in 1879 and 1881, Mrs. Ewing was prevented from accompanying him by ill health. She moved to Bath in 1885, in the hopes that the change would improve her health, but she died there that same year.

Juliana Horatia Ewing - sometimes also styled Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing, or just "Mrs. Ewing" - is credited by Roger Lancelyn Green as being the author of the the "first outstanding child-novels" in English literature. In addition to her children's novels, Ewing also edited a number of magazines for young readers, including the Nursery Magazines (from 1856), the Monthly Packet and the monthly Aunt Judy's Magazine (both from 1866).

Reviews

[Harini Gopalswami Srinivasan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely book, and one that I will reread soon! The modern reader might find the story a little cliched -- the unacknowledged son of a noble family being 'farmed out', growing up in humble surroundings, finding his genius, and discovering at last who his true parents are. But it is well told, the characters are very engaging and the author's observations are intelligent and often witty. Some bits are rather harrowing; I wish there weren't so many deaths. But I suppose it reflects the reality of the rural scene in those days (early 19th century, perhaps, or earlier). But the sad bits are offset by some really hilarious ones -- Jan's draaings (sic) of pigs had me in splits. Altogether a very good read!

This is a book I've remembered ever since I read an excerpt from it in a cousin's English reader some forty years ago. In those days, we didn't own many books, but borrowed, scrounged and read anything we could lay our hands on. I really loved the excerpt -- in which Jan paints a sign for the local pub -- but never managed to get hold of the book. Recently, I was looking for free Kindle books on Gutenberg. And there was my old friend Jan! Chalk up one childhood yearning fulfilled, minus the disappointment that usually attends such events.

When I looked up this book on Goodreads, I was shocked to find it had only one review, despite its quality and venerability. Juliana Horatia Ewing was a popular children's writer in her time, but unlike other Victorian writers like Dickens, Hardy and George Eliot, her books seem to have been long out of print. It's a mystery to me why she's been so completely forgotten. I do hope this review will spark some interest in an author who deserves to be read and enjoyed.

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 3 out of 5]

ENGLISH: A baby boy is left at the care of the family of a wind miller. He soon shows high ability for the fine arts. But when tragedy falls on the windmill, the boy is abducted. Will he ever find his real father?

ESPAÑOL: Un bebé queda al cuidado de la familia de un molinero. Pronto muestra gran habilidad para las bellas artes. Pero cuando la tragedia cae sobre el molino, el niño es secuestrado. ¿Conseguirá encontrar a su verdadero padre?

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5601




DEDICATED TO MY DEAR SISTER MARGARET.

Opening:

Storm without and within?

So the windmiller might have said, if he had been in the habit of putting his thoughts into an epigrammatic form, as a groan from his wife and a growl of thunder broke simultaneously upon his ear, whilst the rain fell scarcely faster than her tears.

It was far from mending matters that both storms were equally unexpected. For eight full years the miller’s wife had been the meekest of women. If there was a firm (and yet, as he flattered himself, a just) husband in all the dreary straggling district, the miller was that man. And he always did justice to his wife’s good qualities, - at least to her good quality of submission, - and would, till lately, have upheld her before any one as a model of domestic obedience. From the day when he brought home his bride, tall, pretty, and perpetually smiling, to the tall old mill and the ugly old mother who never smiled at all, there had been but one will in the household. At any rate, after the old woman’s death. For during her life-time her stern son paid her such deference that it was a moot point, perhaps, which of them really ruled. Between them, however, the young wife was moulded to a nicety, and her voice gained no more weight in the counsels of the windmill when the harsh tones of the mother-in-law were silenced for ever.

How often does one come across stories set in a windmill, not so often, and yet this is my second in two weeks. Totally unplanned but there we go. Completely different time-set and locale:

The Howling Miller - Finland, madness, sex and vegetables just after WWII and Winter War.

Jan of the Windmill - Victorian kids lit, England, gruff father, kind mother, sad natural son, indulged adopted baby.

“I be a proper vool, sartinly,” said he; and when the miller heard this, he turned back. “Mother allus said I’d no more sense in my yead than a dumbledore,” George candidly confessed. And by a dumbledore he meant a humble-bee. “It do take me such a time to mind any thing, sir.”

Dumbledore definition: English dialect a bumblebee. Also (Southwest English) drumbledrane
[Old English dumble, variant of drumble to move sluggishly + dor humming insect]

I struggled to keep my attention sparked with this. Wouldn't recommend it for Esther's 'squirt' shelf.

[Marty Reeder · Rating 3 out of 5]

How does one stumble across a century and a half old young adult title such as this? One must be named Marty Reeder, first of all. But specifically? Well, first you have to look up some biographical information on Ewing because of a short story a student read and did a report on by her, then you find out that Rudyard Kipling was a big fan even to the point of nearly memorizing her work Jan of the Windmill. Wow! High praise from an author of significant renown himself! I hunted the book down and dove right in.

The first page had me hooked with what must be one of the strongest and most talented openings in a book I’ve read in a long time. From there the rest of that book was … well, it was good. I mean, it took me a good half a year to finish reading it as other books took precedence for a while, but I never found it a chore to read. Still, the fact that it was always Plan B, C, or sometimes all the way down to J, says something about my subconscious rating of the novel.

Jan of the Windmill captures the theme of pretty much 145% of all young adult British literature in any day and age from Oliver Twist to Harry Potter: an orphan with a mystery about his or her parentage. In this case, Jan is dropped off at a windmill as a baby and the recipients receive an allowance for raising him, but we do not know much more about his background. Through a slow process, we see Jan grow older and some bumbling and/or nefarious people try to cobble together his mystery for the reason of financial gain. Along the way we meet with some intriguing characters. Then we see Jan develop a natural talent for artistic endeavors. Eventually (and I mean eventually), trauma flares up, drastic events take place, mysteries unfold, resolutions come around, and everything wraps up like a good young adult British novel should.

I have no qualms with any of those things, the only problem I felt was that of the pacing. Most of the excitement happens in the last fourth or fifth of the novel. Everything before that unfolds at a luxurious and undemanding pace. The meticulous detailing of events in the majority of the novel compared with the rapid revealing of most of the main plot developments towards the end happened like a triple jumper after consuming too much caffeine--skipping, hopping, and jumping what should have received more attention than the vast majority of what precedes it.

Because of the melodramatic events towards the end, I found myself getting emotional in parts, though I still did not feel super invested. And when it was all over (with a closing chapter that nearly matches the opening in literary aesthetics), I was glad of the experience, but probably will not take another half a year to complete another novel of hers.

It made me wonder how I could not have enjoyed it more if it came with such high praise from Rudyard Kipling of all people. Then I thought about it more and asked myself what Kipling works I had read. Captains Courageous. Just So Stories. I mean, these were interesting and well written books, but I certainly did not find them narrative masterpieces. Perhaps, when you take a glowing recommendation from someone whose work you find just above mediocre, you should only expect just above mediocre results!

[Amy]

RTC

[Jacinta Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will review later

[Martyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

June 2017 (4 stars)
Very predictable, yet immensely satisfying. It's possibly better suited to adults now, rather than children, though children might enjoy hearing it read to them.

From a practical point of view, the vocabulary might be outside of the range of the average child and, added to that, a lot of the speech is written to reflect the dialect, which children might struggle to decipher, and which might greatly diminish their ability to understand and enjoy it. Also the meaning of the sentences doesn't always seem to be that clear. A child might easily lose track of what is going, especially when some chief characters are never even given names but are always referred to with descriptive titles such as 'the business friend' or 'Mr. Ford's client'.

Some adults might feel uncomfortable with the implication that good breeding overrules nurture. The hero grows up faultless because he is of good bloodstock. His physical appearance is enough to define him as being of a higher and nobler order of human beings than his foster siblings amongst whom he has been raised. But whether children would understand or notice this I am not sure. There are the odd racist remarks too. But the language is clean and Christianity is allowed to play a natural part. And overall I really liked it. It was thoroughly enjoyable and very engaging. And it certainly takes you back to another era - a very picturesque and nostalgic view in some respects, but also with enough touches of realism to make it educational and informing. Ewing's little lecture on sanitary conditions was quite enlightening.


May 2025 (4 stars)
And yet another enjoyable novel from Ewing's pen. This is probably the longest of her works. Occasionally you met a passage where she seemed to digress from the narrative and fall into sermonizing, but for the most part it was very engaging with a variety of interesting characters and plenty of atmosphere and much charm. Sometimes we can read books of another era and cringe at some of the views which were held and being promoted at the time, but how many children's books being written today will escape the same censure a hundred years hence when the values and notions of society have moved on and the views being promoted in this day and age have been rejected and condemned?

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 2 out of 5]

It wasn't a bad story, but for some reason it took me forever to read it. I think if was overlong-- would have had more oomf if it had been condensed.