A Nursery in the Nineties

by Eleanor Farjeon

Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

Genres: Biography

534 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

Daughter of Benjamin Leopold Farjeon, sister of Herbert Farjeon and J. Jefferson Farjeon.

Eleanor Farjeon was an English author of children's stories and plays, poetry, biography, history and satire. Many of her works had charming illustrations by Edward Ardizzone. Some of her correspondence has also been published. She won many literary awards and the prestigious Eleanor Farjeon Award for children's literature is presented annually in her memory by the Children's Book Circle, a society of publishers.

Awards:
Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing (1956)

Reviews

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit on the long side, but then, the book was intended for an audience of four - Eleanor's brothers and herself, who made up the nursery. She goes quite in depth, starting with the story of her grandfather - spotlighting his personality and character as something that was passed down through the family to them. Really, the whole story centers on that theme - the personalities of the children and how they interacted because of it. Their parents were quite permissive, but the funny bit is that the oldest boy, Harry, had such a strong sense of right that he ruled the nursery - his siblings obeyed without question, only because he held himself to the "rules" just as scrupulously. It wasn't until Eleanor was in her teens that she questioned her parents - "Why do I go to bed at such-and-such time?" - they just smiled, "Because Harry tells you to."

The family was very close, and Eleanor's recollections of their games and antics are quite entertaining. Father Farjeon was a novelist and knew many famous people, while his wife came from a family of actors. Anyway, worth the read if you're a Farjeon fan.

[Farah Mendlesohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is in three sections: a reconstruction of the life of her father, a reconstruction of the life of her mother, and her own memoirs.

Of the three, the first is most successful for Benjamin Farjeon really is fascinating, an Orthodox Jew with wanderlust who headed out for the gold fields and ended up a journalist in Dunedin (Pratchett fans, Moist Von Lipvig's purloining of another newspaper's press came from Farjeon's exploits) working with noted journalist and sf author Julius Vogel. It's quite startling though how someone once considered the heir to Dickens, and just as prolific, has evaporated. Even book dealer friends, who have read Eleanor's work, have not heard of Ben.

One thing though to be aware of: Eleanor's mother was American, and although there is no racial hostility (more patronising "affection", Eleanor has imported wholesale descriptions, attitudes and terminology from the mid century American South. It's not often, but when it happens it's a real shock, because these *aren't* words her English contemporaries would have regarded as polite.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually read the American edition of this titled "Portrait of a Family" which is a better title as the book covers her unusual and vibrant Anglo-Jewish-American family whose members are beautifully and movingly portrayed with many interesting anecdotes.Nice illustrations.

[Rusty · Rating 2 out of 5]

A promising start, with a moving description of her mother's dying, then the literary portrait of her fathers entrepreneurial youth in the goldfields of colonial Australia. But Farjeon's style became too idiosyncratic for me as she recounted, in endless detail, the nursery anecdotes and juvenile conversations of her own childhood. I didn't have the patience or interest to wade through it. I loved her Martin Pippin books and the often overindulgent language of Victorian literature doesn't usually bother me, but her style began to irritate me, so I gave up before I started to dislike the book. For childhood memoir devotees only, I think.