Thursday

by Catherine Storr

Thursday Townsend has been missing for a week when Bee hears it from the school authorities. Fifteen-year-old Bee, just recovering from a serious illness, begins her private search for the unwanted boy she and her family have befriended. She finds him, but in a strange and frightening way Thursday is still lost to her.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Childrens, Fiction

274 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Author Catherine Storr was educated at St. Paul's Girls' School and went on to study English at Newnham College, Cambridge. She then went to medical school and worked part-time as a Senior Medical Officer in the Department of Psychological Medicine of the Middlesex Hospital from 1950 to 1963.

Her first book was published in 1940, but was not successful. It was not until the 1950s that her books became popular. She wrote mostly children's books as well as books for adults, plays, short stories, and adapted one of her novels into an opera libretto. She published more than 30 children's books, but is best known for Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf and Marianne Dreams, which was made into a television series and a film.

Reviews

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a subtle, modern-day Tam Lin retelling, wherein the protagonist's best friend disappears and she searches for him. There's an interesting ambiguity about whether magic and faeries are really involved, whether they're really real, that I liked.

[Ygraine]

discovered this on a tam lin-changeling deep dive and dug up a copy on ebay for my mum on the strength of my memories of marianne dreams, which are deeply, deliciously unpleasant. she finished it not long after christmas and i borrowed it today, so i could sit next to the window in the glow of reflected snow-light and dream of midsummer ! and it was even lovelier & stranger than i expected, and delivered a weirdly perfect passage that, like 'steely goodness' many years ago, felt like it was responding directly to thoughts i've been having recently and telling me something necessary.

(also this is not actually the edition i read but alas, goodreads doesn't seem to have the v dreamily grotesque seventies illustration cover i do)

[Hilary West · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a favourite of mine, first read when I was seventeen, I still love its easy pace and sense of the ordinary and the extraordinary mixed together.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Description doesn't do it justice - a beautiful, thoughtful book that weaves magical folktale with the everyday fears and hopes of 1970s working class lives.

[Linda Fallows · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book of my early teens. A gentle story about a girl helping a troubled boy. Can’t wait to read it again. I still have my original copy from 1972!

[Classical Lady · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.7 stars

[Wren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Watching Bee fight for Thursday makes you want to fight harder still for all those many who are worth fighting for.

[Cera · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unusual take on the Tam Lin story; I don't remember it well & want to reread it.

~~ I finally reread this, and my feelings about it were mixed. I am not very comfortable reading about working class characters, which is absolutely my problem, not the book's problem. The story itself was a really nice version of Tam Lin.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of a girl who helps a friend overcome depression. Another book I don't actually remember, but liked at the time I read it.