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Green Knowe #5
An Enemy at Green Knowe
L. M. Boston's thrilling and chilling tales of Green Knowe, a haunted manor deep in an overgrown garden in the English countryside, have been entertaining readers for half a century. Now the children of Green Knowe--both alive and ghostly--are back in appealing new editions.
The spooky original illustrations have been retained, but dramatic new cover art by Brett Helquist (illustrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events) gives the books a fresh, timeless appeal for today's readers.
The spooky original illustrations have been retained, but dramatic new cover art by Brett Helquist (illustrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events) gives the books a fresh, timeless appeal for today's readers.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
4 people are currently reading
707 people want to read
About the author
Lucy M. Boston
34 books110 followersLucy M. Boston (1892–1990), born Lucy Maria Wood, was an English novelist who wrote for children and adults, publishing her work entirely after the age of 60. She is best known for her "Green Knowe" series: six low fantasy children's novels published by Faber between 1954 and 1976. The setting is Green Knowe, an old country manor house based on Boston's Cambridgeshire home at Hemingford Grey. For the fourth book in the series, A Stranger at Green Knowe (1961), she won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject.[1]
During her long life, she distinguished herself as a writer, mainly of children’s books, and as the creator of a magical garden. She was also an accomplished artist who had studied drawing and painting in Vienna, and a needlewoman who produced a series of patchworks.
During her long life, she distinguished herself as a writer, mainly of children’s books, and as the creator of a magical garden. She was also an accomplished artist who had studied drawing and painting in Vienna, and a needlewoman who produced a series of patchworks.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
January 17, 2019
Far darker than its predecessors, Enemy sees the holiday return of both Ping and Tolly to Green Knowe and its guardian, Mrs. Oldknow. Shortly after arriving, a letter is arrives from a Dr. Melanie Powers who shows an unhealthy interest in a dark secret buried within Green Knowe: that of an occultist who, centuries before, had summoned something horrific into this world and paid the price with his soul. The Dr wishes to explore the house in the hope of unearthing any of the occultist’s texts for ‘historical and cultural research’. So begins the most uncomfortable and invasive story of Green Knowe yet with the most unnerving villain in children’s literature.
From those I have spoken to, there are mixed opinions on this book. Is is too dark for children? Does it go against the spirit of the earlier books? But this is Boston’s story to tell and if anyone is the patron of this world it is her. The more I reflect on her books the more I wonder if she is contemplating and perhaps impressing the concerns of her time and her place (Hemingford Grey) on the narrative world. The threat to Green Knowe this time is unrelenting and no longer lies beyond the Manor but in its floorboards and oakbeams to the point where I could not see how the boys could overcome this dark shadow. It is the objects of Green Knowe, again, that help us to see the ‘truth’ of the place and know it and a special mirror which proves all important.
There is much to consider here. I need to go back and read it carefully whilst, perhaps, finding out more about the author herself. ‘'What's thought cannot be unthought' says the necromancer, Dr. Vogel. I wonder then what thoughts would not leave Boston when she wrote this.
From those I have spoken to, there are mixed opinions on this book. Is is too dark for children? Does it go against the spirit of the earlier books? But this is Boston’s story to tell and if anyone is the patron of this world it is her. The more I reflect on her books the more I wonder if she is contemplating and perhaps impressing the concerns of her time and her place (Hemingford Grey) on the narrative world. The threat to Green Knowe this time is unrelenting and no longer lies beyond the Manor but in its floorboards and oakbeams to the point where I could not see how the boys could overcome this dark shadow. It is the objects of Green Knowe, again, that help us to see the ‘truth’ of the place and know it and a special mirror which proves all important.
There is much to consider here. I need to go back and read it carefully whilst, perhaps, finding out more about the author herself. ‘'What's thought cannot be unthought' says the necromancer, Dr. Vogel. I wonder then what thoughts would not leave Boston when she wrote this.
July 29, 2010
“Enemy at Green Knowe” is the penultimate book in the Green Knowe series. I’m very impressed by the writing in this series. Lucy Boston felt that children shouldn’t be talked down to in books written for them. She said :
“I believe children, even the youngest, love good language, and that they see, feel, understand and communicate more, not less, than grownups. Therefore, I never write down to them, but try to evoke that new, brilliant awareness that is their world.”
To me this helps her books age well, in all senses of the word.
Here’s a passage from “Enemy at Green Knowe” that’s stayed with me since I read it:
“But the old-fashioned roses have always been a symbol for love, and like all ecstatic things they die and come again. And the flower is simply a cup for the scent, and the scent is an offering. But these thoughts she kept to herself.”
I could write a paper on the allusions, influences and layers of meaning in that short passage. Or I could just say it is a glimpse of beauty.
“I believe children, even the youngest, love good language, and that they see, feel, understand and communicate more, not less, than grownups. Therefore, I never write down to them, but try to evoke that new, brilliant awareness that is their world.”
To me this helps her books age well, in all senses of the word.
Here’s a passage from “Enemy at Green Knowe” that’s stayed with me since I read it:
“But the old-fashioned roses have always been a symbol for love, and like all ecstatic things they die and come again. And the flower is simply a cup for the scent, and the scent is an offering. But these thoughts she kept to herself.”
I could write a paper on the allusions, influences and layers of meaning in that short passage. Or I could just say it is a glimpse of beauty.
June 14, 2017
I usually like the Green Knowe books, and I adore L.M. Boston's writing style. However, this one is NOT a favorite. The depiction of black magic is just too close to truth for comfort. I would NOT give this one to children to read. Scary stuff.
June 9, 2007
By far the best and creepiest of the Green Knowe books. Made reading the first four titles worthwhile. Brrrr.
May 11, 2013
This was my favourite of Lucy M Boston's series.
The baddy is so nasty, the deeds so bad, that it's hard to put the book down - I just wanted her to get her comeuppance.
Tolly and Ping are great together.
I was surprised at how black the magic gets and where the heck is Orlando? When the cats arrived he'd have been invaluable.
It seems odd that Boston has simply written Tolly's dog out of these books.
Apart from these niggles it is a great read.
The baddy is so nasty, the deeds so bad, that it's hard to put the book down - I just wanted her to get her comeuppance.
Tolly and Ping are great together.
I was surprised at how black the magic gets and where the heck is Orlando? When the cats arrived he'd have been invaluable.
It seems odd that Boston has simply written Tolly's dog out of these books.
Apart from these niggles it is a great read.
February 7, 2024
The darkness was full of the stirrings that come when power is challenged, as if the upshot could be certain.
It’s September. Young Tolly, whom we first met in The Children of Green Knowe, and Hsu – also known as Ping – whose acquaintance we made in The River at Green Knowe, are staying with Mrs Oldknow at her ancient manor house in Cambridgeshire.
They’ve just returned from a holiday at the seaside on Anglesey, bringing back a holed stone for Mrs Oldknow to wear as an amulet on a string round her neck. Little do they know how crucial this gift will prove as the days draw nearer to a solar eclipse.
For who is the strange scholar who is staying by the house, researching ninth-century manuscripts? And who is the even stranger and increasingly sinister woman staying at The Firs who takes an uncomfortable interest in what secrets Green Knowe may hold?
It all kicks off when Mrs Oldknow entertains the boys with a story of Dr Vogel, a 17th-century alchemist who’d disappeared from Green Knowe in mysterious circumstances. The very next day a letter arrives, seemingly coincidentally, from a Dr Melanie D Powers who declares herself interested in purchasing any old books that the alchemist may have left behind at the manor.
Although Mrs Oldknow is insistent that all Dr Vogel’s thaumaturgical volumes had been burnt centuries ago, Dr Powers is strangely insistent and intrusive, imposing herself on the household with a continuous stream of chatter and her poking around in every corner. What exactly is she after and why, and what lengths is she prepared to go to get it?
This novella-length instalment, the fifth in the Green Knowe series, is universally agreed to be the darkest so far. Earlier books involved so-called natural magic and supernatural touches, but An Enemy at Green Knowe goes full-on with folk and ceremonial magic, with alarming results for the residents of the manor. Besieged by malevolent forces Tolly, Ping and Mrs Oldknow are assailed by pleas, threats, visitations and plagues and have to resort to, as it were, fighting fire with fire.
Luckily they have resources. Accused once of having ‘uncomfortable pictures’ Mrs Oldknow declares, “But I don’t want comfortable pictures. I prefer them to have the nip of otherness, like life. In a house like this there is room for questions as well as answers.” Hence, as Melanie Powers notes,
“so many occult references in the house. A ju-ju head, a picture in human hair, an incantation to raise the wind—and here, if I am not mistaken, another of hypnotic ritual in Bali? Downstairs I saw a dish portraying Dagon, the Great Fish God.”
Also there are the reflective surfaces: mirrors placed to deflect evil or reflect what’s round corners, a witchball to distort reality, an ancient mirror with which one may scry. Assisted by Mrs Oldknow, Tolly and, especially, Ping – eventually by the resident scholar – Green Knowe mounts a sturdy resistance, but will it prevail?
This is a superb entry in the series, with much to savour and relish whether one is young or old. Peter Boston’s illustrations are, as ever, both evocative and atmospheric; the menace is expertly maintained so we are fully invested in the trio; the nature writing is beautiful, while the witch alphabet and the written spells add a thrilling sense of authenticity and efficacy.
Above all, this is a text full of wisdom and quiet love. When the alchemist in the legend looks at his smouldering books and sadly groans, “Alas! What’s thought cannot be unthought,” we may be reminded of inventions that caused great woe to the world; better though to remember and acknowledge those who give rise to joy and comfort, and who truly have your best interests at heart.
June 6, 2013
An Enemy at Green Knowe provides a steep departure for L.M. Boston, more Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone or The Magic Thief than like any of her previous gentle books, which resemble The Water Babies or Alice in Wonderland.
First of all — hooray! — Toseland, nicknamed Tolly, returns in An Enemy at Green Knowe, as does his great-grandmother, Mrs. Oldknow. The latter adopted the refugee Ping, who appeared without Tolly in two previous Green Knowe books. All three live happily in the manor named Green Knowe, and the two boys have become great friends — and good thing, too, as the two will have to work closely together to battle a woman intent on unleashing great evil at Green Knowe. Melanie D. Powers, Ph.D., tries, by increasingly nefarious means, to find and steal an ancient book of magic. Soon Mrs. Oldknow and the boys discover that Dr. Powers is no mere academic, as she claims, but quite evil. To tell any more would spoil this wonderful, exciting story.
The books in L.M. Boston’s Green Knowe series A Stranger at Green Knowe vary more than you’d expect. The first two, The Children of Green Knowe and The Treasure of Green Knowe, are magical, gentle ghost tales which delight adults as well as children. The next, The River at Green Knowe, unfortunately, is a bit of a snooze fest. A Stranger at Green Knowe traces the strong bonds between displaced persons, both human and otherwise; it's equal parts Gorillas in the Mist and refugee's memoir. How happy that Boston chose to dabble in yet another type of book, a suspenseful cat-and-mouse game with the children and Mrs. Oldknow on one side and the forces of evil on the other. While Green Knowe books resonate more when read in order, this book stands alone quite admirably. After the very first book in the series, this ranks as my favorite.
First of all — hooray! — Toseland, nicknamed Tolly, returns in An Enemy at Green Knowe, as does his great-grandmother, Mrs. Oldknow. The latter adopted the refugee Ping, who appeared without Tolly in two previous Green Knowe books. All three live happily in the manor named Green Knowe, and the two boys have become great friends — and good thing, too, as the two will have to work closely together to battle a woman intent on unleashing great evil at Green Knowe. Melanie D. Powers, Ph.D., tries, by increasingly nefarious means, to find and steal an ancient book of magic. Soon Mrs. Oldknow and the boys discover that Dr. Powers is no mere academic, as she claims, but quite evil. To tell any more would spoil this wonderful, exciting story.
The books in L.M. Boston’s Green Knowe series A Stranger at Green Knowe vary more than you’d expect. The first two, The Children of Green Knowe and The Treasure of Green Knowe, are magical, gentle ghost tales which delight adults as well as children. The next, The River at Green Knowe, unfortunately, is a bit of a snooze fest. A Stranger at Green Knowe traces the strong bonds between displaced persons, both human and otherwise; it's equal parts Gorillas in the Mist and refugee's memoir. How happy that Boston chose to dabble in yet another type of book, a suspenseful cat-and-mouse game with the children and Mrs. Oldknow on one side and the forces of evil on the other. While Green Knowe books resonate more when read in order, this book stands alone quite admirably. After the very first book in the series, this ranks as my favorite.
November 26, 2019
An Enemy at Green Knowe is the fifth book in the series and I’m sad that I have only one more book before finishing this wonderful series. Although these books are written for middle grade children, they are so beautifully written that anyone who is a fan of Edith Nesbit or J.K. Rowling will enjoy them. It’s obvious that Lucy Boston loved flowers and birds – the books are filled with descriptions of them.
This book is a little darker than previous books. Melanie D. Powers moves close to them and is intent on finding an ancient book of magic that was supposed to have been burned several hundred years ago. She sets loose various curses upon Green Knowe in her quest for the book. I always enjoy spending time with Mrs. Oldknow and Ping and Tolly and hope they are in the final book.
This book is a little darker than previous books. Melanie D. Powers moves close to them and is intent on finding an ancient book of magic that was supposed to have been burned several hundred years ago. She sets loose various curses upon Green Knowe in her quest for the book. I always enjoy spending time with Mrs. Oldknow and Ping and Tolly and hope they are in the final book.
February 1, 2018
This was the best Green Knowe book so far because it really brought everything from the earlier books together. The new aspect was extremely exciting, but I found the final resolution to be kind of unsatisfying. There were several elements that were introduced that could have been utilized better.
Where the heck is Boggis, anyway? He just happens to go on vacation this time - was he in any book other than the first? For a longtime (multi-generational) trusted employee, he's not around that much, is he?
Where the heck is Boggis, anyway? He just happens to go on vacation this time - was he in any book other than the first? For a longtime (multi-generational) trusted employee, he's not around that much, is he?
July 17, 2011
Another anomaly in the Green Knowe series: it's SCARY. If 'Stranger' had too little magic, 'Enemy' has too much of it: dark, spiteful, evil, black magic that nearly overcomes Mrs Oldknow, that takes everything that Tolly and Ping can throw at it, and that's even almost too strong for Green Knowe itself. In fact, forget scary it's downright terrifying, and if I'd read it when I was a kid I would probably still be having nightmares.
April 29, 2015
L. M. Boston is one of the best authors ever. This is the fifth book in the Green Knowe series and it's almost as good as the first. The difference with this novel is that it's scary - very scary. Again the prose is simply gorgeous; the woman has a way with words. I don't usually get into "series" books - and I've read these over a few years - but these are outstanding in every way.
August 20, 2024
This is the book I've been waiting for in the Green Knowe series. I absolutely loved its dark, bonkers folk horror style. It was genuinely scary at points which makes it all the more hilarious that these books were written for children. It had everything, witchcraft, possessions, animal plagues and also some very satisfying callbacks to previous characters. Really loved it.
September 5, 2012
I am rereading this now, and I'm happy to be doing so. Although "The Children of Green Knowe" will always be my favorite in the series, Boston never writes less than beautifully. If all the "Green Knowe" books are marvellous, this one is set apart by the sense of evil it conveys.
Tolly and Ping have come back to the manor house for the end of the summer when their Grand Mother receives a visitor, the scholar Melanie Powers. Ms. Powers is more than a little strange; she is immediately shown to be a greedy liar, and she soon tries to hypnotize Mrs. Oldknow into selling the manor. When the old lady refuses, a quiet, unspoken war ensues. The boys and the old lady are faced with plagues the like of which they've never seen before. Will they manage to rescue the house from the evil that menaces it? And who, exactly, is Melanie Powers? Why is she so set on destruction?
If "An Enemy at Green Knowe" is "full of a sense of shivery menace", it's also full of hope, beauty and joy. The boys and their grandmother are brave and resourceful, but the book also hints at the presence of grace. To me, this makes the climax all the more satisfying. If you've loved the other books in the series, you will surely love this one, too.
Tolly and Ping have come back to the manor house for the end of the summer when their Grand Mother receives a visitor, the scholar Melanie Powers. Ms. Powers is more than a little strange; she is immediately shown to be a greedy liar, and she soon tries to hypnotize Mrs. Oldknow into selling the manor. When the old lady refuses, a quiet, unspoken war ensues. The boys and the old lady are faced with plagues the like of which they've never seen before. Will they manage to rescue the house from the evil that menaces it? And who, exactly, is Melanie Powers? Why is she so set on destruction?
If "An Enemy at Green Knowe" is "full of a sense of shivery menace", it's also full of hope, beauty and joy. The boys and their grandmother are brave and resourceful, but the book also hints at the presence of grace. To me, this makes the climax all the more satisfying. If you've loved the other books in the series, you will surely love this one, too.
March 24, 2008
Part of a six-book series, this book is uniquely entertaining: magical, surprising, and a little, just a little, frightening, it capitalizes on the feeling that the oldest houses keep some of their history within their walls. This is the most frightening of the books in this series; while I still read it alongside the rest of the books, it was perhaps a little too scary for me at that young age. However, I did enjoy it very much reading it now. This is a story of a full-blown malevolent power attacking the house and residents of Green Knowe; the expressions of this power are creative and somewhat amusing, to the experienced reader. I loved these books immensely as a child, and find them both amusing and sweet as an adult. L.M. Boston is not just presenting a run-of-the-mill ghost tale, but has invented what appears to be a new genre, and given it an authentic flavor with adequate background details without overwhelming or distracting from the story.
June 24, 2023
Mrs. Oldknow, Tolly, and Ping must defend Green Knowe from a modern day practitioner of black magic who besieges the manor in the hopes of obtaining an ancient book hidden there by an 17th Century alchemist.
This is the darkest book in the series. Rather the typical bad guy acting out of self-interest, the villainess in the story is a force of actual evil. There are some scary moments when the Oldknow family's innocence and goodness are pitted against demonic powers.
It was particularly frightening to see the two young boys in danger. Perhaps I've read too much contemporary fantasy in which the good guys die because they follow the rules, and the bad guys win because they don't, but I was actually worried at a few points that the black magician was going to defeat the defenders of Green Knowe or, at least, cause irreversible harm.
This is the darkest book in the series. Rather the typical bad guy acting out of self-interest, the villainess in the story is a force of actual evil. There are some scary moments when the Oldknow family's innocence and goodness are pitted against demonic powers.
It was particularly frightening to see the two young boys in danger. Perhaps I've read too much contemporary fantasy in which the good guys die because they follow the rules, and the bad guys win because they don't, but I was actually worried at a few points that the black magician was going to defeat the defenders of Green Knowe or, at least, cause irreversible harm.
January 29, 2020
On rereading as an adult this book is a wonderful addition to the Green Knowe canon . The books should be read in order as this references both River , Stranger and Chimneys and you won’t get the full picture without having read the earlier novels .
This one is genuinely creepy and covers some really quite adult themes . Boston is a great story teller tho and this may be an underrated classic
This one is genuinely creepy and covers some really quite adult themes . Boston is a great story teller tho and this may be an underrated classic
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November 4, 2017I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14792696
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14792696
May 25, 2022
Green Knowe and Tolly and Ping and Susan and Jacob are Great New Friends
Some months back I was making the rounds of a bunch of Little Free Libraries I frequent, and I find something I had never heard of before, a children’s book called A Stranger At Green Knowe.
Turns out this is part of famous series of British kids books, The Green Knowe, and have been adapted several times, and the writer is a celebrity, the manor home featured is a tourist spot, and……
I had never heard of it.
So being an intrepid soul, I got all six books from my local public library and plunged into the world of Green Knowe and Tolly and Susan and Jacob and Ping and Ida and of course, the matriarch of this all, Mrs Oldknow. All written by the late L.M. Boston, who lived in the house the stories were based on.
With book one from 1954, The Children Of Green Knowe, we have young Tolly who is sent to stay for the holidays with his great grandmother Mrs Oldknow, who lives in the middle of nowhere in the huge manor house called Green Knowe. It is a ramblely, creaky place, and untold of centuries old, with Mrs Oldknow being the latest in an unbroken line of succession, and the keeper of the truths that she loves to tell to the attentive Tolly. And these stories include the power to communicate with the ghosts who inhabit the manor. Tolly interacts with several of these ancestor ghosts, who appear as children, and even becomes friends with Linnet and Alexander, who know he is from the future. He also gets a dog, Orlando, who can also play with these echoes. This is our introduction to the magic of this place, and so many of the things it can do, and it is interesting as well. You can tell other fantasy authors have read these books.
Months later, Tolly excitedly returns to Green Knowe for Easter and finds out from Mrs Oldknow that Green Knowe has financial difficulties. This, combined with more stories from hundreds of years past, leads Tolly to meet more ghosts from a different era, Susan and Jacob, and a mystery that might save the day. What makes book two, The Chimneys Of Green Knowe, so interesting is the liberal politics of the time on display. Jacob is a slave boy that Susan’s father, who finds slavery abhorrent, gives as a companion to his young blind daughter. They become like brother and sister, which really pisses off Susan’s actual brother. It is obvious Boston is trying to make a very progressive statement for 1958, when Chimneys came out, which is laudable but still feels somewhat stilted and slightly backwards. But she is trying, which is commendable.
And this trying leads to book three, the very different The River At Green Knowe, where the cast changes entirely with no explanation. Two old scientist woman have rented out Green Knowe and they are annoying as hell, but they take in several refugee children, Ping and Ida and Oskar, so they are not totally yucky. The kids spend their time going around the river on the property and meet all sorts of wild and colourful characters, maybe too much so for this series. I wonder if this was some sort Gulliver’s Travels idea, where each person represents some political idea Boston was parodying or outright mocking. And having refugee children making the point by humanizing the other side is a great idea, and the people of the time of 1959 probably understood it better since they knew the issues.
By 1961 and book four, Boston seems to have found a good common ground for her politics and a children’s story with A Stranger At Green Knowe. This is my favourite of the series, and interestingly enough, the only one with no magic in it. A gorilla is kidnapped from its tribe in Africa and out into a zoo, where he meets Ping, who was introduced in the previous book. Ping then sets out to Green Knowe to be with Mrs Oldknow, who is back with some explanation. At the same time, the gorilla Hanno escapes the zoo and winds up in, well Green Knowe of course, where Ping finds him and takes care of his new friend. This one is deeper with strong themes of friendship and loneliness and Mrs Oldknow is just perfect at the end with everything about her.
A crossover event happened in book five in 1964 with the darker An Enemy At Green Knowe, where Mrs Oldknow hosts both Tolly AND Ping! And the two boys get along like the best of buddies, loving adventure, exchanging tales, and of course protecting Mrs Oldknow. This is good because a mysterious woman moves in nearby Green Knowe and is very pushy trying to find something at the manor. Her persistence goes into crazy territory with hypnotism, ancient magic, and plagues of animals. But Tolly and Ping defend Mrs Oldknow and Green Knowe from all these attacks, until they finally defeat the enemy. This one had me laughing because of its dark humour and inventiveness, and many cool bits, which make this one just zip along.
The sixth and final book is The Stones Of Green Knowe, released in 1976, and is a tale largely set even further in the past then any of the other Green Knowe series. Roger is a young lad whose family is nobility, and they are building the home to be known as Green Knowe. While exploring the area, he comes across ancient thrones that might have belonged to elves or leprechauns, and without realizing it, he travels forward in time multiple times and meets the same ghosts, now just people, in their time periods, and becomes fast friends. He also learns to really appreciate the home his parents are building and how it last through the ages. Probably knowing this would be the last book, Boston gives us an Avengers Endgame style scene towards the end where Roger and Tolley and Susan and Jacob and so many more get together, but just to hang out, not fight a great battle. The themes of family and history and preserving nature and honoring the past is all through Stones, and it feels like a very fitting way to cap off the series. This is not surprising since L.M. Boston was 84 when this book came out, and she wanted one last chance to preach her thoughts on family and history and the magic of it all.
This magic should be a shoo-in for adaptations, and Green Knowe has been made into a radio drama and television miniseries and a movie. I have not consumed the radio show or miniseries, but the film, called From Time To Time, I have seen. It tells the story from Chimney, with Susan and Jacob, but it is not very good, with too many changes.
Boston might not have minded the changes, since she herself made so many to her own series along the way, with casts coming and going and themes always changing and evolving. Just like she did herself. L.M. Boston was born Lucy Marie Boston, who lived from 1892 to 1990, and in 1935 she moved into a manor home which she then fixed up. Years later at age 62, and inspired by the living history of her home, she writes the first Green Knowe story, making a total of six from 1954 to 1976. It is still their, as a testament to her stories, and tours are available.
It is fascinating to dive into and experience the power of such a legendary series, one that I had never heard of.
It is like seeing hidden magic.
Scoopriches
Some months back I was making the rounds of a bunch of Little Free Libraries I frequent, and I find something I had never heard of before, a children’s book called A Stranger At Green Knowe.
Turns out this is part of famous series of British kids books, The Green Knowe, and have been adapted several times, and the writer is a celebrity, the manor home featured is a tourist spot, and……
I had never heard of it.
So being an intrepid soul, I got all six books from my local public library and plunged into the world of Green Knowe and Tolly and Susan and Jacob and Ping and Ida and of course, the matriarch of this all, Mrs Oldknow. All written by the late L.M. Boston, who lived in the house the stories were based on.
With book one from 1954, The Children Of Green Knowe, we have young Tolly who is sent to stay for the holidays with his great grandmother Mrs Oldknow, who lives in the middle of nowhere in the huge manor house called Green Knowe. It is a ramblely, creaky place, and untold of centuries old, with Mrs Oldknow being the latest in an unbroken line of succession, and the keeper of the truths that she loves to tell to the attentive Tolly. And these stories include the power to communicate with the ghosts who inhabit the manor. Tolly interacts with several of these ancestor ghosts, who appear as children, and even becomes friends with Linnet and Alexander, who know he is from the future. He also gets a dog, Orlando, who can also play with these echoes. This is our introduction to the magic of this place, and so many of the things it can do, and it is interesting as well. You can tell other fantasy authors have read these books.
Months later, Tolly excitedly returns to Green Knowe for Easter and finds out from Mrs Oldknow that Green Knowe has financial difficulties. This, combined with more stories from hundreds of years past, leads Tolly to meet more ghosts from a different era, Susan and Jacob, and a mystery that might save the day. What makes book two, The Chimneys Of Green Knowe, so interesting is the liberal politics of the time on display. Jacob is a slave boy that Susan’s father, who finds slavery abhorrent, gives as a companion to his young blind daughter. They become like brother and sister, which really pisses off Susan’s actual brother. It is obvious Boston is trying to make a very progressive statement for 1958, when Chimneys came out, which is laudable but still feels somewhat stilted and slightly backwards. But she is trying, which is commendable.
And this trying leads to book three, the very different The River At Green Knowe, where the cast changes entirely with no explanation. Two old scientist woman have rented out Green Knowe and they are annoying as hell, but they take in several refugee children, Ping and Ida and Oskar, so they are not totally yucky. The kids spend their time going around the river on the property and meet all sorts of wild and colourful characters, maybe too much so for this series. I wonder if this was some sort Gulliver’s Travels idea, where each person represents some political idea Boston was parodying or outright mocking. And having refugee children making the point by humanizing the other side is a great idea, and the people of the time of 1959 probably understood it better since they knew the issues.
By 1961 and book four, Boston seems to have found a good common ground for her politics and a children’s story with A Stranger At Green Knowe. This is my favourite of the series, and interestingly enough, the only one with no magic in it. A gorilla is kidnapped from its tribe in Africa and out into a zoo, where he meets Ping, who was introduced in the previous book. Ping then sets out to Green Knowe to be with Mrs Oldknow, who is back with some explanation. At the same time, the gorilla Hanno escapes the zoo and winds up in, well Green Knowe of course, where Ping finds him and takes care of his new friend. This one is deeper with strong themes of friendship and loneliness and Mrs Oldknow is just perfect at the end with everything about her.
A crossover event happened in book five in 1964 with the darker An Enemy At Green Knowe, where Mrs Oldknow hosts both Tolly AND Ping! And the two boys get along like the best of buddies, loving adventure, exchanging tales, and of course protecting Mrs Oldknow. This is good because a mysterious woman moves in nearby Green Knowe and is very pushy trying to find something at the manor. Her persistence goes into crazy territory with hypnotism, ancient magic, and plagues of animals. But Tolly and Ping defend Mrs Oldknow and Green Knowe from all these attacks, until they finally defeat the enemy. This one had me laughing because of its dark humour and inventiveness, and many cool bits, which make this one just zip along.
The sixth and final book is The Stones Of Green Knowe, released in 1976, and is a tale largely set even further in the past then any of the other Green Knowe series. Roger is a young lad whose family is nobility, and they are building the home to be known as Green Knowe. While exploring the area, he comes across ancient thrones that might have belonged to elves or leprechauns, and without realizing it, he travels forward in time multiple times and meets the same ghosts, now just people, in their time periods, and becomes fast friends. He also learns to really appreciate the home his parents are building and how it last through the ages. Probably knowing this would be the last book, Boston gives us an Avengers Endgame style scene towards the end where Roger and Tolley and Susan and Jacob and so many more get together, but just to hang out, not fight a great battle. The themes of family and history and preserving nature and honoring the past is all through Stones, and it feels like a very fitting way to cap off the series. This is not surprising since L.M. Boston was 84 when this book came out, and she wanted one last chance to preach her thoughts on family and history and the magic of it all.
This magic should be a shoo-in for adaptations, and Green Knowe has been made into a radio drama and television miniseries and a movie. I have not consumed the radio show or miniseries, but the film, called From Time To Time, I have seen. It tells the story from Chimney, with Susan and Jacob, but it is not very good, with too many changes.
Boston might not have minded the changes, since she herself made so many to her own series along the way, with casts coming and going and themes always changing and evolving. Just like she did herself. L.M. Boston was born Lucy Marie Boston, who lived from 1892 to 1990, and in 1935 she moved into a manor home which she then fixed up. Years later at age 62, and inspired by the living history of her home, she writes the first Green Knowe story, making a total of six from 1954 to 1976. It is still their, as a testament to her stories, and tours are available.
It is fascinating to dive into and experience the power of such a legendary series, one that I had never heard of.
It is like seeing hidden magic.
Scoopriches
January 4, 2023
It’s a fun project at Christmas to reread a fondly remembered book from childhood to see if the memory is faithful. I read four of Jackanory favourite LM Boston’s Green Knowe series and this is by some way the best, combining the familiar cozy country house/Boy’s Own Paper adventures with darker elements - magic, a malevolent enemy, and a genuine sense of threat. Not sure what kids today would make of it - not just the period setting but the rather polite upper middle class boys and their ancient Grandmother fighting off wickedness with a lot of penknife-and-string pluckiness, but it’s a lively read, and for once the illustrations, by Boston’s son, add to rather than distract from the text. A splendid adventure.
October 10, 2022
Tolly and Ping are again spending their vacation at Green Knowe. When they find what they think might be the Druid's Stone, Grandmother tells them the story of the alchemist Dr. Vogel back in the days when Roger was the son of the house in the 1600s. A neighbor, Miss Powers, shows up wanting to buy a copy of Dr. Vogel's book about magic and alchemy. When Grandmother refuses, all sorts of horrors start bothering them - maggots, snakes, and even scarier things - they suspect black magic trying to drive them out. The two boys visit Miss Powers' house when she is gone, because they suspect her of being a witch who is doing all this. This was a little scarier than the earlier books!
December 25, 2020
I read this book as a child and I still think about it years later. It’s the only one of the series I read so some of the backstory was unfamiliar but no matter. This is a terrific book for children 8 and up I think with a compelling and scary story, and the two child protagonists front and centre in confronting the danger to their home. There are some lines and scenes in the book I still vividly remember 40 years later.
August 1, 2021
Another great book by Lucy M Boston with beautiful illustrations by Peter Boston.
A very intriguing story, with Tolly's Great Grandmother at the heart, and with his friend, Ping, Tolly has another further mystery to uncover.
I was immersed in the world created by the author and the illustrator.
Highly recommended
A very intriguing story, with Tolly's Great Grandmother at the heart, and with his friend, Ping, Tolly has another further mystery to uncover.
I was immersed in the world created by the author and the illustrator.
Highly recommended
May 27, 2018
The best so far in the series. I loved the interaction between the two boys and Mrs. Oldknow. It had just the right amount of magical fantasy mixed with thrills and suspense. Any young child between the ages of 8 and 14 would enjoy this read.
October 26, 2021
Was not expecting this level of creepiness from a Green Knowe book, but I loved it!
November 11, 2021
definitely the darkest of the series---probably not for little kids
October 30, 2023
Just the right kind of spookiness for a book being read at Halloween time.
February 13, 2024
An absolutely unique and strange read, beautifully written and quite unlike anything else in children’s literature. It could make a marvellous unsettling film
August 7, 2025
I am enjoying reading my way through this series and found this installment to be especially good. The title and cover reflect the sinister, spooky and menacing tone evident throughout the book. After the depressingly realistic events of the previous book (A Stranger at Green Knowe), this novel marks a welcome return to the magical mysteries that made the first two books so wonderful, except this installment adds strong elements of fear and danger, more appropriate for slightly older readers than the more innocent magic I remember from the first two novels.
This book again features some of the most beautiful, lyrical nature writing that I have ever read, along with numerous mentions of the joys of having young boys around the house. It is clear that Boston loved nature, children, gardens and storytelling.
Listening to this audiobook was a pleasure indeed. Narrator Simon Vance again does the honors, and I liked that he made the Chinese accent of protagonist Hsu (Ping) less pronounced and more natural than in the earlier books, as I would imagine Hsu, as a foreign refugee, would sound more and more British as the years go by. Both Tolly and Hsu prove themselves to be formidable defenders of Green Knowe and their beloved Granny Oldknowe, using their energy, intuition and ingenuity to defeat the enemy at every turn. I adore the character of Granny the most and was amazed at how calm she was despite all of the surprisingly ominous events occurring after the arrival of antagonist Melanie Delia Powers. I think Melanie's name is especially apt because "Melanie Powers" means "dark powers," and Melanie certainly reveals these throughout the book. I loved all the references to mysterious lore and liked how most of the loose ends were tied up at the end. It's fitting that Granny and the two boys are helped in their defense against the dark arts by a cast of supporting characters, some of the many allies and friends they have cultivated in previous books not by cunning design but by honest good will. The novel ably proves the aphorism that one can never have enough friends. In this case, as in many others, it takes a village (both human and nonhuman) to safeguard the most precious things in this world.
I recommend reading these books in order, as each book builds upon the events of the ones before. This one would be perfect to read before Halloween.
This book again features some of the most beautiful, lyrical nature writing that I have ever read, along with numerous mentions of the joys of having young boys around the house. It is clear that Boston loved nature, children, gardens and storytelling.
Listening to this audiobook was a pleasure indeed. Narrator Simon Vance again does the honors, and I liked that he made the Chinese accent of protagonist Hsu (Ping) less pronounced and more natural than in the earlier books, as I would imagine Hsu, as a foreign refugee, would sound more and more British as the years go by. Both Tolly and Hsu prove themselves to be formidable defenders of Green Knowe and their beloved Granny Oldknowe, using their energy, intuition and ingenuity to defeat the enemy at every turn. I adore the character of Granny the most and was amazed at how calm she was despite all of the surprisingly ominous events occurring after the arrival of antagonist Melanie Delia Powers. I think Melanie's name is especially apt because "Melanie Powers" means "dark powers," and Melanie certainly reveals these throughout the book. I loved all the references to mysterious lore and liked how most of the loose ends were tied up at the end. It's fitting that Granny and the two boys are helped in their defense against the dark arts by a cast of supporting characters, some of the many allies and friends they have cultivated in previous books not by cunning design but by honest good will. The novel ably proves the aphorism that one can never have enough friends. In this case, as in many others, it takes a village (both human and nonhuman) to safeguard the most precious things in this world.
I recommend reading these books in order, as each book builds upon the events of the ones before. This one would be perfect to read before Halloween.
July 3, 2020
Probably I gave this an extra star just because it's Green Know and Mrs. Oldknow and the house and the trees and the river all over again. It's not really the best of the Green Knowe books, for some reason.
Green Knowe is a place, a story, a feeling, a sense of mystery and history and green growing things, and it's for children. If you love them, you do. If you don't, you don't. I don't think one can explain somebody else into loving the Green Knowe books.
This is the fifth in the series. There's a wicked witch in this one, and she's just spiteful and evil enough to be a great danger to the inhabitants of Green Knowe, and foolish enough to fail over and over. But perhaps this one is the weakest because it's the most concrete. In previous volumes, it's always possible not everything is quite real, not everything is just as Tolly, or Ping, or the mysterious other children say. Here there is not really any of that misty, dreamy quality.
Green Knowe is a place, a story, a feeling, a sense of mystery and history and green growing things, and it's for children. If you love them, you do. If you don't, you don't. I don't think one can explain somebody else into loving the Green Knowe books.
This is the fifth in the series. There's a wicked witch in this one, and she's just spiteful and evil enough to be a great danger to the inhabitants of Green Knowe, and foolish enough to fail over and over. But perhaps this one is the weakest because it's the most concrete. In previous volumes, it's always possible not everything is quite real, not everything is just as Tolly, or Ping, or the mysterious other children say. Here there is not really any of that misty, dreamy quality.
October 23, 2018
Super creepy. I’m not a fan of witchcraft and the magic in this book seemed too realistic to me. The way the boys made up spells on their own to ward off evil was just a bit unsettling to me, and Mr. Pope’s “Invocation of Power” (which exorcised a seriously scary demon from Melanie Powers) at the end sounded legit.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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