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Tortoise by Candlelight: A Comforting and Page-Turning Family Saga of Secrets and New Beginnings
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Set just outside London in the early 1960s, this is a charming novel about a family living on the edge of society in their dilapidated Victorian house following the departure of their mother - and the upheaval when a new couple moves in next door . . .
With a foreword by Eve Chase
‘Birds don’t love. They only feed their babies because they gape . . .’
Fourteen-year-old Emmie Bean loves her family. But she worries about them too. Her mother is gone (no one will say where). Her father drinks instead of writing. Her younger brother Oliver has started stealing. And older sister Alice disappears on illicit dates.
Then there is their isolated house’s menagerie of birds and animals, including Mo the squirrel and Murgatroyd the tortoise, all of which require Emmie’s love and attention.
When the Sargents, a childless couple, move in next door, Emmie and the Beans find themselves drawn to this welcoming but aimless husband and wife.
Emmie fears the darkness and chaos surrounding them all. But perhaps love burns bright . . .
Praise for Nina
‘An exceptional picture of disorganised family life’ Observer
‘Bawden is noted too for the sharp sense of humour that edges her tales of middle-class manners and mores towards satire, particularly when it all goes wrong’ Guardian
Set just outside London in the early 1960s, this is a charming novel about a family living on the edge of society in their dilapidated Victorian house following the departure of their mother - and the upheaval when a new couple moves in next door . . .
With a foreword by Eve Chase
‘Birds don’t love. They only feed their babies because they gape . . .’
Fourteen-year-old Emmie Bean loves her family. But she worries about them too. Her mother is gone (no one will say where). Her father drinks instead of writing. Her younger brother Oliver has started stealing. And older sister Alice disappears on illicit dates.
Then there is their isolated house’s menagerie of birds and animals, including Mo the squirrel and Murgatroyd the tortoise, all of which require Emmie’s love and attention.
When the Sargents, a childless couple, move in next door, Emmie and the Beans find themselves drawn to this welcoming but aimless husband and wife.
Emmie fears the darkness and chaos surrounding them all. But perhaps love burns bright . . .
Praise for Nina
‘An exceptional picture of disorganised family life’ Observer
‘Bawden is noted too for the sharp sense of humour that edges her tales of middle-class manners and mores towards satire, particularly when it all goes wrong’ Guardian
- GenresFiction
267 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1963
5 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Nina Bawden
65 books94 followersNina Bawden was a popular British novelist and children's writer. Her mother was a teacher and her father a marine.
When World War II broke out she spent the school holidays at a farm in Shropshire along with her mother and her brothers, but lived in Aberdare, Wales, during term time.
Bawden attended Somerville College, Oxford, where she gained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
Her novels include Carrie's War, Peppermint Pig, and The Witch's Daughter.
A number of her works have been dramatised by BBC Children's television, and many have been translated into various languages. In 2002 she was badly injured in the Potters Bar rail crash, and her husband Austen Kark was killed.
Bawden passed away at her home in London on 22 August 2012.
When World War II broke out she spent the school holidays at a farm in Shropshire along with her mother and her brothers, but lived in Aberdare, Wales, during term time.
Bawden attended Somerville College, Oxford, where she gained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
Her novels include Carrie's War, Peppermint Pig, and The Witch's Daughter.
A number of her works have been dramatised by BBC Children's television, and many have been translated into various languages. In 2002 she was badly injured in the Potters Bar rail crash, and her husband Austen Kark was killed.
Bawden passed away at her home in London on 22 August 2012.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 14, 2015
Set in 60s? Story of a 14-year old girl trying to hold her dysfunctional family together through a period of change (growing up, sick grandmother, new neighbours). Slightly dated punctuation and some self-consciously "clever" phrases.
December 31, 2021
For my full review: https://girlwithherheadinabook.co.uk/...
Another Virago Modern Classic here and my first time reading Nina Bawden’s adult fiction. Emmie Bean is trying to hold the household together in her mother’s absence and with her father a well-meaning drunk. Her siblings do not help. Her home is in a state of squalor. Even those she does reach out to do. As with so much of Bawden’s young adult novels, there is the same sense of the young people existing in a different world to the adults, their concerns passing unnoticed. Still, the characters were not as striking as those in Bawden’s better known fiction such as Carrie’s War and although I did enjoy the novel, the finer details have rapidly faded from memory.
Another Virago Modern Classic here and my first time reading Nina Bawden’s adult fiction. Emmie Bean is trying to hold the household together in her mother’s absence and with her father a well-meaning drunk. Her siblings do not help. Her home is in a state of squalor. Even those she does reach out to do. As with so much of Bawden’s young adult novels, there is the same sense of the young people existing in a different world to the adults, their concerns passing unnoticed. Still, the characters were not as striking as those in Bawden’s better known fiction such as Carrie’s War and although I did enjoy the novel, the finer details have rapidly faded from memory.
December 29, 2013
I liked it. A bit unusual but not too unusual. Easy to read.
February 21, 2018
I liked this book. It was about young people. If it was supposed to be a kids book, of that I’m not sure. The characters seemed quite real, and I’m always a fan of the antihero, which Emmie is.
December 12, 2015
I love Nina Bawden so much!
More constructive review to follow!
More constructive review to follow!
October 14, 2016
My first foray into Nina's adult books, and I loved it.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews