Choristers' Cake

Choir School #2

by William Mayne

Illustrated by C. Walter Hodges

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

William Mayne was a British writer of children's fiction. Born in Hull, he was educated at the choir school attached to Canterbury Cathedral and his memories of that time contributed to his early books. He lived most of his life in North Yorkshire.

He was described as one of the outstanding children's authors of the 20th Century by the Oxford Companion to Children's Literature, and won the Carnegie Medal in 1957 for A Grass Rope and the Guardian Award in 1993 for Low Tide. He has written more than a hundred books, and is best known for his Choir School quartet comprising A Swarm in May, Choristers' Cake, Cathedral Wednesday and Words and Music, and his Earthfasts trilogy comprising Earthfasts, Cradlefasts and Candlefasts, an unusual evocation of the King Arthur legend.

A Swarm in May was filmed by the Children's Film Unit in 1983 and a five-part television series of Earthfasts was broadcast by the BBC in 1994.

William Mayne was imprisoned for two and a half years in 2004 after admitting to charges of child sexual abuse and was placed on the British sex offenders' register. His books were largely removed from shelves, and he died in disgrace in 2010.

Reviews

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good sequel, if lacking the curious mystery of the first book. Mayne presents an accurate picture of the musical training, with excellent details. Readers in the USA could benefit from a bit more explanation of things that would be commonplace to those in the UK. Definitely not rewriting or dumbing down, just a little clarification, for example, on the distinction between a "chorister" and other choirboys, as being named chorister is crucial to the book. Then apparently new boys don't wear cassocks; probationers don't wear surplices; there is a hierarchy of seniority (and how does it interact with things like "fourth form"?), etc. Then there are "badges," which seem to be just generic honors. Perhaps these things aren't entirely consistent from school to school, but a general laying out of things would be nice.

[Capn · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I know that you are trying to find out what sort of person you are, and what kinds of thing you can do; but, strange though it seems, the best way of becoming a real person, a real Peter Sandwell different from everybody else, is to forget yourself . . ."
Peter has other ideas. To assert his individuality he deliberately rebels against school rules and customs. As a result he is sent to Coventry by the other boys, who make it clear that unless he learns to pull his weight and accept his share of responsibilities, he will be ignored by all of them for the rest of the term.
But Peter remains defiant . . .

Currently reading - review to follow.

Unnecessary preemptive statement: William Mayne was a human beneath contempt. The Guardian's obit for him outlines the reasons rather well. I am not reading this so I can write a vitriolic, parasitic dissertation on an unpopular author in order to gain personally by 'likes' or attention, etc. I'm simply interested in the out-of-print, vintage Cathedral School series, of which this is book number two. And I'll be reviewing the story on its own merits, quite apart from my digust for the person who wrote it. I'll say no more about that - I wrote at length about WM and my reasons for reading his books in my review for A Swarm in May.

NB: "Being sent to Coventry" = ostracized. They're all at the same cathedral as they were in A Swarm in May, and Sandwell's being given the silent treatment / has been shunned.

I find it interesting that one reviewer stated that this sequel was better than its predecessor, while another thought it worse. It's a better book if you want more internecine conflict and dialogue between the boys; it's a worse book if you dislike reading about power struggles, self-sabotage and drama amongst pubescent boys at a boarding school and would instead have preferred more atmosphere and architectural adventure. Still a good read, but I'm in the 'it was worse' faction.

Funnily enough, it features both conkers and Guy Fawkes' and Bonfire Night fairly prominently, both of which I started Listopia lists for. So content-wise, I found it interesting. :) We have the same cast back, with the addition of the Pargales: the proud, multi-generational carpenters/care-takers of the cathedral who take a propietary view of the edifice. But we only see Owen from book 1 once or twice, and there was no follow-up on the magic composition of the orb on the beekeeper's keychain, which upset me, nor was there any post script about Owen in general. We just rush right in with Peter Sandwell, resident rebel-without-a-cause, who I found unlikeable. Trevithic is his foil, mostly, so we have lots from him, but I liked him less from this angle, too - you needed to 'know' Trevithic and his character already, as there wasn't much holding up his end here.

I did wonder if Sandwell was a pseudo-autobiographical character of Mayne's. The whole story seemed as though it might have been an embellished version of actual events. I found the personal growth of Sandwell to be less interesting and robust to what I had expected from the summary on the back cover. It seemed almost anecdotal - a boy who doesn't want to fit in and be accepted is accepted and fits in and realises it was, at least partially, what he wanted. Meanwhile, choral exams, homework, extra Latin lessons, stale cake, moving of gowns to a new vestry and being remeasured by tailors so cassocks and ruffs fit well, stealing of marmelade portions, a few dirty tricks and squabbles... So points for realism, but I definitely preferred A Swarm in May for overall balance of content.

Up next is Cathedral Wednesday, my GR friend Louise's favourite of the three. I'm putting it on hold for the moment, because this was my penultimate read for Kadi's Easter Egg challenge, and if I finish The Snow Spider, I'll have earned all my eggies. ;)

[Pollymoore3 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sequel to A Swarm in May, but nowhere near as good. It can be quite hard to work out what is going on in this one. But it was nice to meet Trevithic, the serious but likeable, and very musical, prefect, again.

[John Hardwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

How do we mature? What shapes our character? Difficult themes for a children's book but easy to read and absorb.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant story of boys at a boarding school. Really difficult to get copies these days - very expensive as they have become collector's items.

Reread 2023, tells the story of one difficult boy, sent to Coventry by the others, more enjoyable than the first book.