Perverse and Foolish: A Memoir of Childhood and Youth

by Lucy M. Boston

A memoir of childhood and youth

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Lucy 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.

Reviews

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir by the author of the Green Knowe books was very interesting. She's about the same age as the fictional Betsy Ray, and her experiences couldn't be more different. Lucy didn't fit in at all in Edwardian England. She was a free spirit, an honest girl who dispensed with the proprieties freely. This look back, written when she was 85, is told with a warm but unsentimental nostalgia. She worked as a nurse during the First World War and relates some riveting stories from that time. The only quibble I have is that the book ends abruptly when Boston marries. She gives hints that the marriage was less than happy, but the ending was like falling off a cliff. There's another memoir available at my library, I'll be picking that up posthaste.

Recommended to the BT people.

[ayeshaxbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This mamior of the author L.M. BOSTON gives an an insight into her family, her childhood and youth. She belonged to a well-to-do family, even after her father's death, she was safe from financial crisis. She did had a great memory to have remembered all the scenes and places and faces of people years afterwards. And she did that very well!
What I loved the most about this memoir was the narration. It was as if I was reading a piece of fiction, so beautiful. She was a very independent woman indeed. I have great respect for her. I wish I could meet someone like that, so real, naive and loyal. She was a humanitarian and an empathetic person even if misunderstood sometimes.
We need to appreciate people like her. The world needs more L.M. BOSTON.

"The abandonment of one's father's faith is a deep fear and sorrow and I felt an outsider."

[Lexi V · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boston refers frequently to Georgette Heyer and Ivy Compton-Burnett. I was particularly fascinated by how her Methodist upbringing affects her as a person and also by the detail with which she describes the flowers and natural settings of her upbringing, an infatuation that reveals itself in her novels, as well.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly candid memoir of an important British writer for children. Quite readable.

[Jennifer Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this memoir by the author of one of my favorite children's books, The Children of Green Knowe. She led an interesting life including being a nurse during WWI.