Prissy

by Clifford Hanley

Prissy was the Prime Minister's daughter but she might have been the daughter of the butcher, the baker, or the candlestick maker; she would still have been remarkable among 14-year-olds for her precocity, her determination and her unwavering good sense. It was her father's position, however, which led her to being kidnapped by extremists, drugged and incarcerated in a remote country house.
What would a girl do in such a plight? Weep? Curl up into a frightened ball and pretend it hadn't happened? Prissy was not superhuman - she knew terror as any other 14-year-old - but she pulled herself together. Criminals were usually stupid, she told herself, she could and would outwit them.

And so, coolly and competently, she settled down to plan her counterstroke, an operation which she intended should not only free her but also bring just, and even terrible, retribution on her kidnappers.

The story is an enthralling and exciting one; the background of 10 Downing Street, where the distraught Prime Minister debates the ethics of paying a vast ransom, is sketched in with vivid authenticity; yet this is above all the story of Prissy. Clifford Hanley evokes this tough, bright, indomitable child with a warmth and affection that makes her one of the most memorable heroines of our time. Reading this book, you will surely feel that it would be fun to have a daughter like Prissy; it would be chilling to have her as an enemy.

Genres: Horror, Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Clifford Leonard Clark "Cliff" Hanley was a Scottish journalist, novelist, playwright and broadcaster. He was educated at Eastbank Academy in Glasgow.

During the late 1930s, he was active in the Independent Labour Party. During the Second World War he was a conscientious objector.

He wrote a number of books, including Dancing in the Street, an account of his early life in Glasgow (in its contemporaneous serialisation in The Evening Times, retitled My Gay Glasgow), The Taste of Too Much (1960), a coming-of-age novel about a secondary schoolboy, and The Scots.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Cliff Hanley published several thrillers under the pen-name Henry Calvin.

Reviews

[Louise Culmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prissy, the Prime Minister’s precocious fourteen year old daughter, is kidnapped along with her driver, Ackersley. The group who have kidnapped them demand a million pounds (a million went a lot further in 1978) and the release of some Irish prisoners. But Prissy is a very clever girl, and has her own plans. This is a very entertaining story. Prissy is an ingenious and resourceful heroine, though it is of great assistance to her that she has been taken by probably the most careless kidnappers ever. Only one of the kidnappers, Ellie, has much personality, the others are just stereotypes. A little more fleshing out of the characters would have been nice. There are a few topical references, such as mention of trouble brewing in the Falklands, and unrest in the North of England. You will enjoy this if you can overlook the wild improbability of what happens and just go with the flow.

[Scott Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s not quite what I expected more a child with common sense and a bit of luck than the quiet psycho I was expecting

[Vianey Rodriguez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Paperbacks From Hell brought me here.

I was expecting a psycho child but it feels more like a child with common sense in a world where adults take the worst possible decisions.

It might be due to the book being so short, but it feels like the characters lack depth, especially the parents. Your child is kidnapped but you take pride in not crying or screaming or making a scene because that is the most sensitive response? Let's go through our regular routines to not make a fuss. If this was supposed to make them seem level headed and practical, they just ended up looking like sociopaths.