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The Brontës Went to Woolworths
'How I loathe that kind of novel which is about a lot of sisters'; so proclaims Deirdre at the beginning of "The Brontes Went to Woolworths," one of three sisters.
London, 1931. As growing up looms large in the lives of the Carne sisters, Deirdre, Katrine and young Sheil still share an insatiable appetite for the fantastic. Eldest sister Deirdre is a journalist, Katrine a fledgling actress and young Sheil is still with her governess; together they live a life unchecked by their mother in their bohemian town house. Irrepressibly imaginative, the sisters cannot resist making up stories as they have done since childhood; from their talking nursery toys, Ironface the Doll and Dion Saffyn the pierrot, to their fulsomely-imagined friendship with real high-court Judge Toddington who, since Mrs Carne did jury duty, they affectionately called Toddy.
However, when Deirdre meets Toddy's real-life wife at a charity bazaar, the sisters are forced to confront the subject of their imaginings. Will the sisters cast off the fantasies of childhood forever? Will Toddy and his wife, Lady Mildred, accept these charmingly eccentric girls? And when fancy and reality collide, who can tell whether Ironface can really talk, whether Judge Toddington truly wears lavender silk pyjamas or whether the Brontes did indeed go to Woolworths?
"The Brontes Went to Woolworths "is part of The Bloomsbury Group, a new library of books from the early twentieth-century chosen by readers for readers.
London, 1931. As growing up looms large in the lives of the Carne sisters, Deirdre, Katrine and young Sheil still share an insatiable appetite for the fantastic. Eldest sister Deirdre is a journalist, Katrine a fledgling actress and young Sheil is still with her governess; together they live a life unchecked by their mother in their bohemian town house. Irrepressibly imaginative, the sisters cannot resist making up stories as they have done since childhood; from their talking nursery toys, Ironface the Doll and Dion Saffyn the pierrot, to their fulsomely-imagined friendship with real high-court Judge Toddington who, since Mrs Carne did jury duty, they affectionately called Toddy.
However, when Deirdre meets Toddy's real-life wife at a charity bazaar, the sisters are forced to confront the subject of their imaginings. Will the sisters cast off the fantasies of childhood forever? Will Toddy and his wife, Lady Mildred, accept these charmingly eccentric girls? And when fancy and reality collide, who can tell whether Ironface can really talk, whether Judge Toddington truly wears lavender silk pyjamas or whether the Brontes did indeed go to Woolworths?
"The Brontes Went to Woolworths "is part of The Bloomsbury Group, a new library of books from the early twentieth-century chosen by readers for readers.
188 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1931
29 people are currently reading
1473 people want to read
About the author
Rachel Ferguson
20 books19 followersRachel Ferguson was educated privately, before being sent to finishing school in Italy. She flaunted her traditional upbringing to become a vigorous campaigner for women's rights and member of the WSPU.
In 1911 Rachel Ferguson became a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She enjoyed a brief though varied career on the stage, cut short by the First World War. After service in the Women's Volunteer Reserve she began writing in earnest.
Working as a journalist at the same time as writing fiction, Rachel Ferguson started out as 'Columbine', drama critic on the Sunday Chronicle. False Goddesses, her first novel, was published in 1923. A second novel The Bröntes Went to Woolworths did not appear until 1931, but its wide acclaim confirmed Rachel Ferguson's position in the public eye. Over the next two decades she wrote extensively and published nine more novels.
Rachel Ferguson lived in Kensington until her death in 1957.
In 1911 Rachel Ferguson became a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She enjoyed a brief though varied career on the stage, cut short by the First World War. After service in the Women's Volunteer Reserve she began writing in earnest.
Working as a journalist at the same time as writing fiction, Rachel Ferguson started out as 'Columbine', drama critic on the Sunday Chronicle. False Goddesses, her first novel, was published in 1923. A second novel The Bröntes Went to Woolworths did not appear until 1931, but its wide acclaim confirmed Rachel Ferguson's position in the public eye. Over the next two decades she wrote extensively and published nine more novels.
Rachel Ferguson lived in Kensington until her death in 1957.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 162 reviews
June 28, 2011
This was an extraordinary book. But first the bad news. The language is archaic, the context dated, and the modern reader -- even one well versed in the mode and general attitudes of England in the 1920s -- will find that the text often verges on the unintelligible. Take this passage:
"We have missed keeping [Hallowe'en] for years, since we left Hampton Wick, where we had parties on every imaginable anniversary, and having no proper garden now has made a difference, especially in the matter of guys on the fifth, which were what we called the specialite de maison, and famous all over the village for their size and drama."
What? Or take the mention of nostalgia over bitter gelatine on crackers, or some kind of explosive called "starlights"(?), or the entire practice of table-turning - and then add to that a host of deprecated slang, character in-jokes, a half-unreliable narrator, and an author whose style tends to allude rather than to tell -- and well, you have a book that can be mighty hard to understand at times.
However, if you have read a bit of Nancy Mitford or Stella Gibbons, a bit of Noel Coward or Evelyn Waugh -- and if you have a general understanding of what England was like roughly 1880 to 1930, well then you can probably muddle through it as I did. Although to be honest I think I might have given up on it eight years ago when I was more American and less knowledgeable about the era.
If, though, you can wade through the language, and if you like books that veer a bit off the trimmed path, then the initial shock is definitely worth it -- because this is a special book. The plot is a a little hard to summarise, but roughly it goes something like this: The Carnes, a middle class family of four women - a mother, two adult daughters and their young sister - live together in London in the 1920s after their father has died a decade or so before. While on the surface normal, the family lives and breathes a strange atmosphere of shared imagination, verging on delusion, in which they imagine that people they have seen or met briefly are an intimate part of their everyday lives.
Thus, a pierrot (french clown) they saw at the seaside once becomes a daily (imagined) fixture at the dinner table and together they create every detail of his mundane life -- from the wavering attitudes of his wife and daughters, to his favourite foods, and the detailed relationships he has with their other "characters", which include a french doll named Ironface, their dog who is also the Pope, and a judge they encountered once named Toddington ("Toddy") and his wife.
These characters are not just a whimsical pastime, but are integral to the Carnes' shared family psyche. It is implied that the "game" stems in part from their collective need for a (missing) father figure; however, much of it seems to spring from an almost violent need to create, and to be involved in an act of shared imagination, as a form of love. The ghosts of the Bronte sisters also feature in the story, although somewhat later on -- and there is a strong vein of Bronte references throughout the book. The reason being that the Brontes also created collective imaginary worlds as a kind of family bonding. The problem with this, of course, is that there is a deep current of danger in this game, because the Carnes' imaginings are not fantastical -- the "creatures" they create are important to them because they are based on real people and made to be alive with fastidious detail, to make each character as mundane and comfortable as possible, and thus as lovable as a real person. And so the line between reality and "saga", as they call it, becomes blurred to the point of, by the climax of the story, real fear and almost psychotic delusion.
However, this is not a genre novel and not really a serious one either -- it's meant to be light-hearted and the plot, in which the real flesh-and-blood version of one of their imagined characters ("Toddy") and his wife become a real-life fixture of the Carnes' lives, serves more as a means of romantic/comic relief than as a psychological study. That said, there are a lot of interesting things explored in what is essentially a slender volume -- about identity ("Toddy" begins to take on the characteristics of his imagined counterpart because he has never imagined himself in such detail), "good" and "bad" imagination (the governess who is generally treated as quite commonplace writes letters to herself "from" the man she hopes will propose to her), and class (the Carnes prove themselves to be snobs, rejecting in real life characters they "love" in the game).
And anyway, there really isn't another book quite like this. I wavered about whether to give it five stars because the language makes for a bumpy ride sometimes, but when all is said and done it's the kind of book the lodges deep in your memory and sets up house. The first thing I did when I finished it was turn back to page 1 to start the experience again, which is always the sign of a five star book. :-)
Also A.S. Byatt also writes a great introduction to the Virago Modern Classics version -- apparently she is also a fan.
"We have missed keeping [Hallowe'en] for years, since we left Hampton Wick, where we had parties on every imaginable anniversary, and having no proper garden now has made a difference, especially in the matter of guys on the fifth, which were what we called the specialite de maison, and famous all over the village for their size and drama."
What? Or take the mention of nostalgia over bitter gelatine on crackers, or some kind of explosive called "starlights"(?), or the entire practice of table-turning - and then add to that a host of deprecated slang, character in-jokes, a half-unreliable narrator, and an author whose style tends to allude rather than to tell -- and well, you have a book that can be mighty hard to understand at times.
However, if you have read a bit of Nancy Mitford or Stella Gibbons, a bit of Noel Coward or Evelyn Waugh -- and if you have a general understanding of what England was like roughly 1880 to 1930, well then you can probably muddle through it as I did. Although to be honest I think I might have given up on it eight years ago when I was more American and less knowledgeable about the era.
If, though, you can wade through the language, and if you like books that veer a bit off the trimmed path, then the initial shock is definitely worth it -- because this is a special book. The plot is a a little hard to summarise, but roughly it goes something like this: The Carnes, a middle class family of four women - a mother, two adult daughters and their young sister - live together in London in the 1920s after their father has died a decade or so before. While on the surface normal, the family lives and breathes a strange atmosphere of shared imagination, verging on delusion, in which they imagine that people they have seen or met briefly are an intimate part of their everyday lives.
Thus, a pierrot (french clown) they saw at the seaside once becomes a daily (imagined) fixture at the dinner table and together they create every detail of his mundane life -- from the wavering attitudes of his wife and daughters, to his favourite foods, and the detailed relationships he has with their other "characters", which include a french doll named Ironface, their dog who is also the Pope, and a judge they encountered once named Toddington ("Toddy") and his wife.
These characters are not just a whimsical pastime, but are integral to the Carnes' shared family psyche. It is implied that the "game" stems in part from their collective need for a (missing) father figure; however, much of it seems to spring from an almost violent need to create, and to be involved in an act of shared imagination, as a form of love. The ghosts of the Bronte sisters also feature in the story, although somewhat later on -- and there is a strong vein of Bronte references throughout the book. The reason being that the Brontes also created collective imaginary worlds as a kind of family bonding. The problem with this, of course, is that there is a deep current of danger in this game, because the Carnes' imaginings are not fantastical -- the "creatures" they create are important to them because they are based on real people and made to be alive with fastidious detail, to make each character as mundane and comfortable as possible, and thus as lovable as a real person. And so the line between reality and "saga", as they call it, becomes blurred to the point of, by the climax of the story, real fear and almost psychotic delusion.
However, this is not a genre novel and not really a serious one either -- it's meant to be light-hearted and the plot, in which the real flesh-and-blood version of one of their imagined characters ("Toddy") and his wife become a real-life fixture of the Carnes' lives, serves more as a means of romantic/comic relief than as a psychological study. That said, there are a lot of interesting things explored in what is essentially a slender volume -- about identity ("Toddy" begins to take on the characteristics of his imagined counterpart because he has never imagined himself in such detail), "good" and "bad" imagination (the governess who is generally treated as quite commonplace writes letters to herself "from" the man she hopes will propose to her), and class (the Carnes prove themselves to be snobs, rejecting in real life characters they "love" in the game).
And anyway, there really isn't another book quite like this. I wavered about whether to give it five stars because the language makes for a bumpy ride sometimes, but when all is said and done it's the kind of book the lodges deep in your memory and sets up house. The first thing I did when I finished it was turn back to page 1 to start the experience again, which is always the sign of a five star book. :-)
Also A.S. Byatt also writes a great introduction to the Virago Modern Classics version -- apparently she is also a fan.
January 20, 2024
“A woman at one of mother's parties once said to me, "Do you like reading?" which smote us all to silence, for how could one tell her that books are like having a bath or sleeping, or eating bread - absolute necessities which one never thinks of in terms of appreciation. And we all sat waiting for her to say that she had so little time for reading, before ruling her right out for ever and ever.”
There are rare occasions when I finish a book and think WTF. This was one of those. It’s another offering from Virago. Rachel Ferguson was a novelist, journalist, critic and campaigner for women’s rights.
This is about the Carne sisters and their mother. Mr Carne has recently died. The sisters have a vivid fantasy life which gets a bit mixed up with the real world at times. This is firmly set in the upper middle class in the 1930s and there is a level of snobbishness which reflects that. They are rather cruel to the youngest sister’s governess who eventually leaves, being unable to cope with the “weirdness”. There is no discernible plot and consequently no real start or finish. Eccentric is possibly one word for this. A couple of the character are childhood toys and the dog plays a significant role. In their imaginations they are friends with some real life people:
“We get their papers, and follow their careers, and pick up gossip, and memorise anecdotes, and study paragraphs, and follow their moves about the country, and, as usually happens if you really mean business, often get into personal touch with their friends or business associates, all with some fresh item or atom of knowledge to add to the heap.”
It would probably be called stalking these days.
The whole thing is a bit muddled. I can see why it can be seen as a working out of grief, but it does very fixed in the English middle class. The Bronte’s do pop up in the fantasy world, indeed, shopping in Woolworths.
There are rare occasions when I finish a book and think WTF. This was one of those. It’s another offering from Virago. Rachel Ferguson was a novelist, journalist, critic and campaigner for women’s rights.
This is about the Carne sisters and their mother. Mr Carne has recently died. The sisters have a vivid fantasy life which gets a bit mixed up with the real world at times. This is firmly set in the upper middle class in the 1930s and there is a level of snobbishness which reflects that. They are rather cruel to the youngest sister’s governess who eventually leaves, being unable to cope with the “weirdness”. There is no discernible plot and consequently no real start or finish. Eccentric is possibly one word for this. A couple of the character are childhood toys and the dog plays a significant role. In their imaginations they are friends with some real life people:
“We get their papers, and follow their careers, and pick up gossip, and memorise anecdotes, and study paragraphs, and follow their moves about the country, and, as usually happens if you really mean business, often get into personal touch with their friends or business associates, all with some fresh item or atom of knowledge to add to the heap.”
It would probably be called stalking these days.
The whole thing is a bit muddled. I can see why it can be seen as a working out of grief, but it does very fixed in the English middle class. The Bronte’s do pop up in the fantasy world, indeed, shopping in Woolworths.
October 20, 2019
This is one of those special books that comes along once in a lifetime. The language - the whimsy - the wit. I loved everything about this book and will read it again and quote from it for years to come.
"The Brontёs Went to Woolworths" had me wanting to move in with these characters…the Carnes sisters need a brother…the Schlegel’s had a brother…even the Brontё’s had a brother. The whole idea of three sisters who take people they read about in the papers and develop imaginary friendships, conversations and invent complicated and protracted scenarios in which they are featured – is both novel and refreshing. To outsiders – like the governess, it’s almost as if they’re sharing the same hallucinations. Then, one day, they meet one of these 'imaginary' people and are forced to separate the facetious from the genuine. It all plays out with delightful good humor.
It's a house of kooks. These are eccentric characters, but they're also endearing and altogether charming. This is my kind of book - these sisters have rich internal lives, to be sure, but their real lives are not uneventful. Again the word that comes to mind is whimsical. The writing is inspired and features lots of quotable passages - from the first page!
Quote: “I had gone for the letters at once. The post always intoxicates me; everything it throws on to the mat is a magic square or oblong which may alter your life.”
Quote: “A woman at one of mother's parties once said to me, "Do you like reading?" which smote us all to silence, for how could one tell her that books are like having a bath or sleeping, or eating bread - absolute necessities which one never thinks of in terms of appreciation."
This is a damn hard book to describe. I'll stop trying. Just read it.
"The Brontёs Went to Woolworths" had me wanting to move in with these characters…the Carnes sisters need a brother…the Schlegel’s had a brother…even the Brontё’s had a brother. The whole idea of three sisters who take people they read about in the papers and develop imaginary friendships, conversations and invent complicated and protracted scenarios in which they are featured – is both novel and refreshing. To outsiders – like the governess, it’s almost as if they’re sharing the same hallucinations. Then, one day, they meet one of these 'imaginary' people and are forced to separate the facetious from the genuine. It all plays out with delightful good humor.
It's a house of kooks. These are eccentric characters, but they're also endearing and altogether charming. This is my kind of book - these sisters have rich internal lives, to be sure, but their real lives are not uneventful. Again the word that comes to mind is whimsical. The writing is inspired and features lots of quotable passages - from the first page!
Quote: “I had gone for the letters at once. The post always intoxicates me; everything it throws on to the mat is a magic square or oblong which may alter your life.”
Quote: “A woman at one of mother's parties once said to me, "Do you like reading?" which smote us all to silence, for how could one tell her that books are like having a bath or sleeping, or eating bread - absolute necessities which one never thinks of in terms of appreciation."
This is a damn hard book to describe. I'll stop trying. Just read it.
March 25, 2018
Sorry, Ms Ferguson, I am not your fan. This particular book was quite complicated for me. Almost everything flew over my head -- the story, the humour, the characters, the dialogues (especially those in French), etc, etc.
It was a traumatised experience.
It was a traumatised experience.
June 20, 2010
I first ran across this in Lucasta Miller's The Bronte Myth. Virago reprinted it a few years back, but it's currently out of print again; I was pleased when Powell's emailed me that they had a copy.
The three Carne girls live with their mother and the youngest girl's governess, in a London house inhabited by the people of their imagination, real people whom the family have made up stories about and turned into imaginary friends. When Deirdre, the eldest, meets one of these imaginary friends in real life, and the Brontes appear during a séance, the Carnes have to figure out how to reconcile their fantasy life with reality. This is a very quirky but entirely fascinating book, and worth the trouble of seeking out.
The three Carne girls live with their mother and the youngest girl's governess, in a London house inhabited by the people of their imagination, real people whom the family have made up stories about and turned into imaginary friends. When Deirdre, the eldest, meets one of these imaginary friends in real life, and the Brontes appear during a séance, the Carnes have to figure out how to reconcile their fantasy life with reality. This is a very quirky but entirely fascinating book, and worth the trouble of seeking out.
October 21, 2018
There is so much I wish to say about this book that I have been putting off reviewing it for months in the hopes of having enough time to do it justice, but I think I must just make my best effort at it and move on. It is from the 1930s, and it is about the Carnes, a family of three girls and their mother; the father, although beloved, died some time before the book begins and is only a memory and a sense of loss -- not even loss so much as a person but as a structure that Deirdre, the main POV character, feels she must replace. Deirdre is a journalist and writer and feels responsible for being the 'man' of the house in the sense that she must protect her baby sister's innocence (in the best sense of the word) and attempt to guide her other sister, Katrine, into wise career and marriage choices. Yet she does not always relish her role, and misses having a father, and compensates in various ways...
I am writing this backwards, because that is what I think the book is about underneath, but what the book is about on top -- what all the reviews talk about, what makes it unusual and bizarre and fascinating -- is the imaginative life of this family of women, which is rich and detailed and right out in the open in their everyday life. Over the years they have created a large cast of imaginary characters, some of them beginning as dolls and other toys belonging to the girls, others based on real people they came across briefly who somehow caught fire in the ongoing story. Conversations in the Carne household mix the real and the imagined freely, such that an outsider cannot easily tell which is which -- and Ferguson positions the reader first as this outsider, while giving just enough information from Deirdre's perspective that it is possible to sort it all out. The book has very interesting things to say about what we would now call fandom, how certain characters become so imaginatively real one feels like one knows them, and then what happens when the actual reality of the person intrudes. In the book this happens
So that is two of the levels of the book, and of course they are interwoven to reinforce each other; I think one can argue that the imaginative life, with its many male characters, is to some extent compensating for the lack of their father, and that for Deirdre and Sheil in particular, But there is also a third level, about what I would in my everyday life call 'energy' -- Deirdre talks about how places get under one's skin, how things come to her attention and suddenly obsess her and how it is exhausting to be so obsessed, how the new governess comes with such an aura of a particular setting that it pervades the house and makes it difficult for Deirdre to interact -- these are all experiences I have had in my own life, and it is utterly strange to find them laid out so clearly in this novel written decades before I was born. And this part of the book dips into ghosts and spirits as well, but it is all woven in with all the other parts, so that the Brontës going to Woolworths is at many different levels and the reader is asked just to accept all these realities as part of the novel without coming to a judgement about which are the most real -- real and important are not at all the same thing in this book, anyway.
That still does not do it justice, but it is a very good, very strange book that I have read three or four times now, and I love it more every time.
I am writing this backwards, because that is what I think the book is about underneath, but what the book is about on top -- what all the reviews talk about, what makes it unusual and bizarre and fascinating -- is the imaginative life of this family of women, which is rich and detailed and right out in the open in their everyday life. Over the years they have created a large cast of imaginary characters, some of them beginning as dolls and other toys belonging to the girls, others based on real people they came across briefly who somehow caught fire in the ongoing story. Conversations in the Carne household mix the real and the imagined freely, such that an outsider cannot easily tell which is which -- and Ferguson positions the reader first as this outsider, while giving just enough information from Deirdre's perspective that it is possible to sort it all out. The book has very interesting things to say about what we would now call fandom, how certain characters become so imaginatively real one feels like one knows them, and then what happens when the actual reality of the person intrudes. In the book this happens
So that is two of the levels of the book, and of course they are interwoven to reinforce each other; I think one can argue that the imaginative life, with its many male characters, is to some extent compensating for the lack of their father, and that for Deirdre and Sheil in particular, But there is also a third level, about what I would in my everyday life call 'energy' -- Deirdre talks about how places get under one's skin, how things come to her attention and suddenly obsess her and how it is exhausting to be so obsessed, how the new governess comes with such an aura of a particular setting that it pervades the house and makes it difficult for Deirdre to interact -- these are all experiences I have had in my own life, and it is utterly strange to find them laid out so clearly in this novel written decades before I was born. And this part of the book dips into ghosts and spirits as well, but it is all woven in with all the other parts, so that the Brontës going to Woolworths is at many different levels and the reader is asked just to accept all these realities as part of the novel without coming to a judgement about which are the most real -- real and important are not at all the same thing in this book, anyway.
That still does not do it justice, but it is a very good, very strange book that I have read three or four times now, and I love it more every time.
Read
January 23, 2020Pues me lo he pasado pipa con esta pequeña novelita de las entreguerras.
Una lectura con ese humor british que tanto disfruto y que me ha recordado mucho a Stella Gibbons y Monica Dickens.
No sé si es un libro para todo el mundo, porque es bastante peculiar, pero si conectáis con su sentido del humor y os dejáis llevar por las hermanas Carne sin querer darle un sentido lógico a todo, os aseguro unos momentos divertidísimos entre sus páginas.
A pesar del humor, creo que Rachel Ferguson refleja con inteligencia el paso de la infancia a la edad adulta (bueno, más bien su resistencia), y todo lo que eso implica...y es que estas hermanas (madre incluida) tan únicas, creativas y entrañables son la representación absoluta de ese
" defender la alegría como una trinchera"; qué queréis que os diga, tal y como está el mundo, yo, me uno a ellas.
March 14, 2010
Reason for Reading: I've heard much praising of this book over the years. And lamenting as it seems it was a Virago Classic at one time but went out of print. I've always wanted to read it since I enjoy early 20th century literature.
Summary: The Carnes, three daughters and a mother since the father died, are not a well-to-do family but they get by and do employ a governess for the youngest, while the two elder are both in their early twenties. Katrine is an aspiring actress attending Dramatic School and Deirdre is a working journalist who works on her book at home. The family has invented a whole passel of imaginary friends (often based on real life people) and guests who have become a part of their daily lives. They've invented complete fairy tales around these subjects and live quite an extraordinary and romantic life through them. When mother must go sit as a backup for jury duty they add Judge Toddington to their assemblage, calling him Toddy, and his wife and staff. But one day Deirdre is sent to cover a charity bazaar at which she meets the real Lady Toddington and is invited to her home for tea.
Comments: This really is quite some book! First I'll admit that as it starts off I found myself very confused as to who was real and who was imaginary and just what the heck was going on. It all seemed rather strange to have twenty year olds living an imaginary life and I wondered what I had got myself into reading! Little by little over the first several chapters the method of the madness is revealed and everyone is sorted out for the reader. The governess, recently hired, is a drop of reason for the reader as she writes to her sister of the "weird" family and "weird" goings on. Eventually, the sisters' characters emerge and one is smitten with them and truly engaged with the farcical goings on. Once the Toddington's (the real ones) appear on the scene the tone of the book takes a new direction and while the imaginations continue to be farcical they also become a catharsis which I can't really talk about any more as it would give away what happens. And just how the Brontes figure into things not to mention ending up at Woolworths I'm not going to tell though I will mention one word ... seance.
Truly a joy to read! The second half of the book is by far the better half and I was so taken with Toddy (Sir Toddington) and the narrator of the book Deirdre. A delight to read and at less than 200 pages a quick one at that. This is certainly something very different than what is written nowadays and I recommend for those looking for a trip back to the Bohemian British thirties.
Summary: The Carnes, three daughters and a mother since the father died, are not a well-to-do family but they get by and do employ a governess for the youngest, while the two elder are both in their early twenties. Katrine is an aspiring actress attending Dramatic School and Deirdre is a working journalist who works on her book at home. The family has invented a whole passel of imaginary friends (often based on real life people) and guests who have become a part of their daily lives. They've invented complete fairy tales around these subjects and live quite an extraordinary and romantic life through them. When mother must go sit as a backup for jury duty they add Judge Toddington to their assemblage, calling him Toddy, and his wife and staff. But one day Deirdre is sent to cover a charity bazaar at which she meets the real Lady Toddington and is invited to her home for tea.
Comments: This really is quite some book! First I'll admit that as it starts off I found myself very confused as to who was real and who was imaginary and just what the heck was going on. It all seemed rather strange to have twenty year olds living an imaginary life and I wondered what I had got myself into reading! Little by little over the first several chapters the method of the madness is revealed and everyone is sorted out for the reader. The governess, recently hired, is a drop of reason for the reader as she writes to her sister of the "weird" family and "weird" goings on. Eventually, the sisters' characters emerge and one is smitten with them and truly engaged with the farcical goings on. Once the Toddington's (the real ones) appear on the scene the tone of the book takes a new direction and while the imaginations continue to be farcical they also become a catharsis which I can't really talk about any more as it would give away what happens. And just how the Brontes figure into things not to mention ending up at Woolworths I'm not going to tell though I will mention one word ... seance.
Truly a joy to read! The second half of the book is by far the better half and I was so taken with Toddy (Sir Toddington) and the narrator of the book Deirdre. A delight to read and at less than 200 pages a quick one at that. This is certainly something very different than what is written nowadays and I recommend for those looking for a trip back to the Bohemian British thirties.
November 25, 2021
Absolutely loved this! One of the best books I’ve read this year, and one of the funniest. Also one that I will eventually reread. I’m surprised by how divisive the ratings are.
Here is one of many favorite quotes from just the 4th page:
“Three years ago I was proposed to. I couldn’t accept the man, much as I liked him, because I was in love with Sherlock Holmes. For Holmes and his personality and brain I had a force of feeling which, for the time, converted living men to shadows. After all, isn’t most love the worship of an idea or an illusion? Isn’t flesh and blood the least part of the business?”
This kind of sums up the book in the best way possible.
Here is one of many favorite quotes from just the 4th page:
“Three years ago I was proposed to. I couldn’t accept the man, much as I liked him, because I was in love with Sherlock Holmes. For Holmes and his personality and brain I had a force of feeling which, for the time, converted living men to shadows. After all, isn’t most love the worship of an idea or an illusion? Isn’t flesh and blood the least part of the business?”
This kind of sums up the book in the best way possible.
January 8, 2012
This novel I found enjoyable and confusing in equal measure. I read this in an old Virago VMC edition the jacket of which does not contain such a fulsome synopsis like that which is available on Amazon. In this way the reader is allowed to be confused at the beginning - sorting out what is real and what is not - and seeing as some of the characters have trouble with this it does get puzzling. This I am sure was the original intention of the author - and it does make it fun! This mix of fantasy and reality is utterly mad, and very charming.
The Carne sisters, and their mother live a fantasy life in the midst of their real existence - Katrine is an aspiring actress, Diedre a journalist, their eleven year old sister Sheil is in the rather pitiful control of troubled governess, Miss Martin - who is driven rather mad herself by the stories and make believe. The women's lives are enhanced by their "friends", some imagined - like Ironface the doll, some real people whom they've never met - and yet they know all about them, what they do, what they eat, what they say etc. When Diedre meets the real life "Lady Mildred" and "Toddy" the objects of the Carne's "Saga" reality and make believe begin to merge. This is a delightful read, quirky and a little bonkers.
The Carne sisters, and their mother live a fantasy life in the midst of their real existence - Katrine is an aspiring actress, Diedre a journalist, their eleven year old sister Sheil is in the rather pitiful control of troubled governess, Miss Martin - who is driven rather mad herself by the stories and make believe. The women's lives are enhanced by their "friends", some imagined - like Ironface the doll, some real people whom they've never met - and yet they know all about them, what they do, what they eat, what they say etc. When Diedre meets the real life "Lady Mildred" and "Toddy" the objects of the Carne's "Saga" reality and make believe begin to merge. This is a delightful read, quirky and a little bonkers.
June 20, 2022
While I enjoyed the linguistic playfulness of this book, the thing, as a whole, didn’t really grab me.
March 27, 2010
This is quite simply one of the strangest books I've ever read. One of those books you finish and then head back to the beginning to check out all those things you missed the first time through. And while I didn't actually dislike the book (and I certainly applaud Bloomsbury for bringing back these early 20th century works), finishing it was a struggle at times.
The story is, in part, narrated by Deirdre Carne, one of three sisters living with their widowed mother in 1930s London: Deirdre is a journalist working on her first novel, Katrine is an aspiring actress, and the youngest, Sheil, is still at home being looked after by her governess Miss Agatha Martin (my favorite character). The girls, led by Deirdre and Mrs. Carne, have invented an intricate fantasy life to amuse themselves, which includes many imaginary friends – some of them based on real-life characters. One of these fantasy objects of desire is high-court Judge Herbert Toddington – the Carne women refer to him affectionately as "Toddy" and create a lavish make-believe story around him. Then one day Deirdre is introduced to Toddy's living and breathing real wife at a charity bazaar, and this new relationship leads to complications as the real world and the imaginary one collide.
Those other sisters, the Bronte girls, do figure in the story as well, in a very shadowy fashion. I did enjoy that part of the book, and wished they could have stayed around a little longer. Similarly, I would have been grateful for a little more time spent with Miss Martin, the governess; she provided a bit of welcome relief from all that frenzied whimsy and fabrication.
I believe the reader's enjoyment of the book is probably completely tied up with whether or not you succumb to the (supposed) charm of the narrator and her seemingly deranged family. I guess I wasn't charmed, or at least not enough. Just like many other readers, I spent the first half of the book trying to decide what was real and what wasn't, before I finally realized that question wasn't getting me anywhere. Once I got that reality/fantasy problem out of the way, I actually had some fun with the second half of the book.
And although I never really warmed to the story or its major characters, I was impressed with Ferguson's ability to create a unique world of her own and people it with characters who feel and sound like they belong there, even though they might also be annoyingly silly. According to the information on the back of the book, The Brontes Went to Woolworths was her second novel, after which she wrote nine more before she died in 1957. I think those other novels are worth seeking out.
Note: My copy of this book was provided by the publisher, through Library Thing's Early Reviewer program.
The story is, in part, narrated by Deirdre Carne, one of three sisters living with their widowed mother in 1930s London: Deirdre is a journalist working on her first novel, Katrine is an aspiring actress, and the youngest, Sheil, is still at home being looked after by her governess Miss Agatha Martin (my favorite character). The girls, led by Deirdre and Mrs. Carne, have invented an intricate fantasy life to amuse themselves, which includes many imaginary friends – some of them based on real-life characters. One of these fantasy objects of desire is high-court Judge Herbert Toddington – the Carne women refer to him affectionately as "Toddy" and create a lavish make-believe story around him. Then one day Deirdre is introduced to Toddy's living and breathing real wife at a charity bazaar, and this new relationship leads to complications as the real world and the imaginary one collide.
Those other sisters, the Bronte girls, do figure in the story as well, in a very shadowy fashion. I did enjoy that part of the book, and wished they could have stayed around a little longer. Similarly, I would have been grateful for a little more time spent with Miss Martin, the governess; she provided a bit of welcome relief from all that frenzied whimsy and fabrication.
I believe the reader's enjoyment of the book is probably completely tied up with whether or not you succumb to the (supposed) charm of the narrator and her seemingly deranged family. I guess I wasn't charmed, or at least not enough. Just like many other readers, I spent the first half of the book trying to decide what was real and what wasn't, before I finally realized that question wasn't getting me anywhere. Once I got that reality/fantasy problem out of the way, I actually had some fun with the second half of the book.
And although I never really warmed to the story or its major characters, I was impressed with Ferguson's ability to create a unique world of her own and people it with characters who feel and sound like they belong there, even though they might also be annoyingly silly. According to the information on the back of the book, The Brontes Went to Woolworths was her second novel, after which she wrote nine more before she died in 1957. I think those other novels are worth seeking out.
Note: My copy of this book was provided by the publisher, through Library Thing's Early Reviewer program.
August 1, 2015
I devoured this novel in about 36 hrs due to yet another sleepless night. At first I was sort of "WTF is this?" due to Dierdre's choppy internal narration, but once you get into the family dynamic of inventing friendships with public figures (major or minor, fictional or real) it begins to make sense, in a weird sort of way--especially if like the Carne girls and their mother (and this reader) you grew up lonely and set apart from those around you. What child hasn't found imaginary playmates in books or TV shows to talk to when alone? And aren't some of those the best conversations?
The fun really starts when some of their imaginary friends impinge on their real lives; but I must say the "paranormal" Bronte thread doesn't really fit. . What was the deal with the encounter with the governess? What was the POINT of the paranormal bit? And why would you want to make friends with someone who hits your dog? I felt that there was a little backstory missing there, though of course as we know "table turning" (ie ouija), seances and all forms of occultic messing about were very popular in those days.
That said, it is refreshing to read a novel set in the 20s and 30s that was actually written then. Of course, the language and activities are spot on! Period fiction writers please take note!! It's light, entertaining and a good read. The title grabbed my attention and made me curious, and I could forgive the plotholes for these lines alone:
A woman at one of my mother's parties once said to me, "Do you like reading?" which smote us all to silence, for how could one tell her that books are like having a bath or sleeping or eating bread--absolute necessities which one never thinks of in terms of appreciation.
Indeed.
I want more; alas, where I live, there isn't any more.
The fun really starts when some of their imaginary friends impinge on their real lives; but I must say the "paranormal" Bronte thread doesn't really fit. . What was the deal with the encounter with the governess? What was the POINT of the paranormal bit? And why would you want to make friends with someone who hits your dog? I felt that there was a little backstory missing there, though of course as we know "table turning" (ie ouija), seances and all forms of occultic messing about were very popular in those days.
That said, it is refreshing to read a novel set in the 20s and 30s that was actually written then. Of course, the language and activities are spot on! Period fiction writers please take note!! It's light, entertaining and a good read. The title grabbed my attention and made me curious, and I could forgive the plotholes for these lines alone:
A woman at one of my mother's parties once said to me, "Do you like reading?" which smote us all to silence, for how could one tell her that books are like having a bath or sleeping or eating bread--absolute necessities which one never thinks of in terms of appreciation.
Indeed.
I want more; alas, where I live, there isn't any more.
March 6, 2009
The Carne family lives a blurry line between reality and fantasy. It's blurry to the beginning reader, anyway. To the family members, it's often delicious, sometimes obsessive, and occasionally frightening. My enjoyment and appreciation for the book snuck up on me and what I thought would be a quirky little read, turned into much more. Ferguson gave me lots to think about re: imagination and what makes something real.
I got this from the library, but I think I'm going to need my own copy so that I can re-visit the sharp comments and dialogue. And the Toddingtons. The scenes with Toddy and Lady Mildred are all pleasure.
This is not a Persephone book, but Ferguson is a Persephone author.Plus, Jane Brocket (celebrity Persephone reader) is a great fan of it. (I think I was mistaken about this. Brocket may very well like it, but I think I got her confused with another blogger.) I'm now considering buying the Persephone copy of Ferguson's ALAS, POOR LADY, because it deals with governesses from a different perspective.
I got this from the library, but I think I'm going to need my own copy so that I can re-visit the sharp comments and dialogue. And the Toddingtons. The scenes with Toddy and Lady Mildred are all pleasure.
This is not a Persephone book, but Ferguson is a Persephone author.
September 27, 2010
In short: chatty, lunatic, disorienting, and near-genius.
Ferguson tells the story of three sisters who have constructed an elaborate fantasy life, conferring both their obsession and a weird celebrity status on such characters as: an ugly and long-lost doll, the family dog, and several people (living and dead) whom they have never met. During the course of the novel fact collides, of course, with fiction, and even the supernatural world seems to come into play. In some ways, I would compare this to Muriel Spark's wry and complex little novels--except that Ferguson's characters are, in fact, likable.
Hint for readers who find this book challenging: I read the first few chapters and then started over from the beginning, which helped a lot. Ferguson just drops you into the weirdness with no force-feeding of exposition, so the book takes a fair amount of concentration to "master," but it's very much worth the effort.
Ferguson tells the story of three sisters who have constructed an elaborate fantasy life, conferring both their obsession and a weird celebrity status on such characters as: an ugly and long-lost doll, the family dog, and several people (living and dead) whom they have never met. During the course of the novel fact collides, of course, with fiction, and even the supernatural world seems to come into play. In some ways, I would compare this to Muriel Spark's wry and complex little novels--except that Ferguson's characters are, in fact, likable.
Hint for readers who find this book challenging: I read the first few chapters and then started over from the beginning, which helped a lot. Ferguson just drops you into the weirdness with no force-feeding of exposition, so the book takes a fair amount of concentration to "master," but it's very much worth the effort.
February 28, 2016
An adorable little book. As an only child who actively imagined social lives with toys and tv show characters, this book gained a special place for being about a family that collectively imagined such things. And written in a beautiful style. A lovely book, written about nothing in particular, to make you forget how troubling the world can be today.
May 29, 2010
If it weren't for Chris of Book-a-Rama, I might not have known about this book - for a while, anyway! So thanks again, Chris, because I think I just found my new favourite book.
It is 1930s England and the Carne sisters - Deirdre, a journalist and hopeful author; Katrine, a drama student; and Sheil, their much younger sister - are deep in a make-believe world of their own creation. There is Ironface, a doll with tin arms and head who
There is the pierrot, who they named Dion Saffyn after a real man of minor celebrity status, and discuss his wife and children and their jobs with endless enthusiasm. There's also their dog, Crellie, who has had quite the adventurous life. Sheil's governess, Agatha Martin, is aghast at this make-believe, which she sees as lying and deception, but nothing she says will curb it.
When their widowed mother sits for jury duty they are drawn to the judge, Sir Herbert Toddington, whom they fondly nickname "Toddy". He and his wife, Lady Mildred, become familiar figures in the Crane household, complete with in-jokes (Toddy and Katrine sometimes argue, and Toddy's refrain is to ask to be introduced to this young lady, again), a court assistant who takes pride in choosing Toddy's lunch every day, and help with Deirdre's first novel.
At a summer holiday in Yorkshire - which none of them enjoyed - they had a go at table-turning, in which they communicated with the Brontë sisters and agreed to have them visit the Carnes at home. It being a very silly kind of game, the girls thought nothing of it - especially in light of new events that sees Deirdre meeting Lady Mildred, the real Lady Mildred! Far from being put-out by all the stories and false history the Carne sisters and their mother have engaged in about them, the Toddingtons join in enthusiastically. It all becomes a bit much for Miss Martin, the governess, but for the Carne sisters, even a visit by the ghostly Bells, Charlotte and Emily, isn't so far from their reality.
This book had me laughing out loud, it's so witty and ironic and fun! Deirdre narrates (except for chapters that slip into third-person omniscient that focus on poor Miss Martin and her replacement), and she's a modern woman, very intelligent, a very astute observer, and they all have that distinctive way of speaking that manages to make fun of itself while sounding perfectly cultured and sophisticated; especially delightful when they're discussing darling Toddy:
While at the first I wasn't sure what was real or what a "pierrot" was (had to look that one up - I recognise the doll, but it's been a while since I heard what they were called), you quickly get into the swing of things. This is an interesting time period, the 30s - the 20s are more famous, the 30s dowdy by comparison, but it strikes me as a decade in which society really matured. It comes across in the way Deirdre and Katrine speak, in what they talk about, how frank they are, and how sometimes moving across class boundaries is okay, permissible, and having a job, as a woman, is nothing to make a fuss over.
Oh it makes me laugh! And what's more, because it's not always a straight-forward read, I can read it again and again and find more to marvel at. For a short book, there's a lot going on here. I bought another copy, to send home to my sister Tara, because I know she'll absolutely love this as much as me. I'd say the tone is along the lines of Stella Gibbons' Cold Comfort Farm and Nightingale Wood (from the same period), but much less cynical - The Brontës Went to Woolworths takes delight in life and living and imagination and creativity and having a sense of humour and really relishing people. At times, the three sisters reminded me a little of the Dashwoods, from Sense and Sensibility - but they're quite different personalities.
This is published by the Bloomsbury Group, an imprint of Bloomsbury which is reprinting old forgotten classics. You can recommend a book to them to publish ... and I think I will do just that! I have been lamenting the fact that no nice new editions of The Blue Castle exist; this could be just the thing! I don't know if it's one they can do, because probably Bantam still has the rights, but they're not doing anything with it and someone has to reprint the book as it deserves!
You can email The Bloomsbury Group at: info@bloomsburyusa.com (that's the address I have; they'd have a UK one as well) with your recommendations of lost classics from the early twentieth century. What a great idea!!
It is 1930s England and the Carne sisters - Deirdre, a journalist and hopeful author; Katrine, a drama student; and Sheil, their much younger sister - are deep in a make-believe world of their own creation. There is Ironface, a doll with tin arms and head who
developed an intolerably overbearing manner, married a French Count called Isidore (de la so-and-so, de la Something Else), and now lives in feudal state in France, whence, even to this day, she makes occasional descents upon us by private aeroplane-de-luxe, patronising us in an accent enragingly perfect and bearing extravagant gifts which we have to accept. (p8)
There is the pierrot, who they named Dion Saffyn after a real man of minor celebrity status, and discuss his wife and children and their jobs with endless enthusiasm. There's also their dog, Crellie, who has had quite the adventurous life. Sheil's governess, Agatha Martin, is aghast at this make-believe, which she sees as lying and deception, but nothing she says will curb it.
When their widowed mother sits for jury duty they are drawn to the judge, Sir Herbert Toddington, whom they fondly nickname "Toddy". He and his wife, Lady Mildred, become familiar figures in the Crane household, complete with in-jokes (Toddy and Katrine sometimes argue, and Toddy's refrain is to ask to be introduced to this young lady, again), a court assistant who takes pride in choosing Toddy's lunch every day, and help with Deirdre's first novel.
At a summer holiday in Yorkshire - which none of them enjoyed - they had a go at table-turning, in which they communicated with the Brontë sisters and agreed to have them visit the Carnes at home. It being a very silly kind of game, the girls thought nothing of it - especially in light of new events that sees Deirdre meeting Lady Mildred, the real Lady Mildred! Far from being put-out by all the stories and false history the Carne sisters and their mother have engaged in about them, the Toddingtons join in enthusiastically. It all becomes a bit much for Miss Martin, the governess, but for the Carne sisters, even a visit by the ghostly Bells, Charlotte and Emily, isn't so far from their reality.
This book had me laughing out loud, it's so witty and ironic and fun! Deirdre narrates (except for chapters that slip into third-person omniscient that focus on poor Miss Martin and her replacement), and she's a modern woman, very intelligent, a very astute observer, and they all have that distinctive way of speaking that manages to make fun of itself while sounding perfectly cultured and sophisticated; especially delightful when they're discussing darling Toddy:
From the bedrooms a flight below came voices.
DEIRDRE'S: 'What's Toddy doing now?'
MRS CARNE'S: 'Asleep. It's late. Hurry into bed, lamb.'
DEIRDRE'S: 'With one ivory claw against his little face!'
KATRINE'S: 'What are his pyjamas like?'
MRS CARNE'S: 'Blue and white, from Swan and Edgar.'
DEIRDRE'S: 'Darling! Can you see Toddy getting his things there!'
MRS CARNE'S: 'I expect he gets them by the half-dozen from the place in St James's Street where he bought the dressing-gown last summer that was too long for him, and he was so annoyed with us for offering to shorten it.' (p.38)
While at the first I wasn't sure what was real or what a "pierrot" was (had to look that one up - I recognise the doll, but it's been a while since I heard what they were called), you quickly get into the swing of things. This is an interesting time period, the 30s - the 20s are more famous, the 30s dowdy by comparison, but it strikes me as a decade in which society really matured. It comes across in the way Deirdre and Katrine speak, in what they talk about, how frank they are, and how sometimes moving across class boundaries is okay, permissible, and having a job, as a woman, is nothing to make a fuss over.
'It would be a lark, K. Think of the frightful people you'd meet, and singing "Bird of Love Fly Back" at auditions, and being told by an overdressed Hebrew in a hat two sizes too small that he'd "let you know in a few days"! They all say that. It means you don't get the job and he doesn't write to you,' I urged. Katrine brightened.
'I can't guarantee that you'll be kissed much,' I admitted, 'and you'll almost certainly not get "insulted" by the offer of a flat and diamonds, because there's too much competition, so hardly anybody gets offered that any more, and there's a perfect queue waiting to be insulted, and in any case, most chorus girls come from perfectly nice homes in South Kensington and behave like nuns, these days. But you'll be called Kid and Dear by the other sort, and I once heard a producer telling a troupe to "dance it with debunnair".' (p.40)
Oh it makes me laugh! And what's more, because it's not always a straight-forward read, I can read it again and again and find more to marvel at. For a short book, there's a lot going on here. I bought another copy, to send home to my sister Tara, because I know she'll absolutely love this as much as me. I'd say the tone is along the lines of Stella Gibbons' Cold Comfort Farm and Nightingale Wood (from the same period), but much less cynical - The Brontës Went to Woolworths takes delight in life and living and imagination and creativity and having a sense of humour and really relishing people. At times, the three sisters reminded me a little of the Dashwoods, from Sense and Sensibility - but they're quite different personalities.
This is published by the Bloomsbury Group, an imprint of Bloomsbury which is reprinting old forgotten classics. You can recommend a book to them to publish ... and I think I will do just that! I have been lamenting the fact that no nice new editions of The Blue Castle exist; this could be just the thing! I don't know if it's one they can do, because probably Bantam still has the rights, but they're not doing anything with it and someone has to reprint the book as it deserves!
You can email The Bloomsbury Group at: info@bloomsburyusa.com (that's the address I have; they'd have a UK one as well) with your recommendations of lost classics from the early twentieth century. What a great idea!!
November 11, 2013
Wow...this is a weird book. For the first half I had difficulty even figuring out which characters were real, imaginary, real but personally unknown to the other real characters, or ghosts. Yes ghosts. By the second half of the book I had that figured out...for the most park. But honestly...these people are just NUTS.
This story doesn't have much of a plot, but the little it as revolves around 3 sisters and their mother who 'amuse' themselves by imagining ELABORATE interactions with other characters that they have never actually met, some characters that are actors/actresses they have only seen perform, imaginary characters, and their own toys/dolls. But this all gets super complicated when the oldest sister is actually introduced to one of the most prominent characters in their fantasies, a court judge and his wife.
Frankly at this point I expected 1 of 2 things happen...
1. The judge things they are all stalking him and presses charges, and they end up in alysums.
2. We the reader find out this is all in one persons head who actually IS in an alysum and the normal people in her live (doctors, nurses, other patients) are these other characters in her massive delusion.
I DID NOT EXPECT these 2 characters to find it joyful and hilarious and join in. Seriously...WTF? If I found out people were following me, and living their lives as if I were actually a part of it, and snagging pictures of me from others, I would get a restraining order - not play along.
So yeah...I guess you could say that I just did not get this book at all, and frankly if it hadn't been for a book club I would have given up a quarter of the way through.
This story doesn't have much of a plot, but the little it as revolves around 3 sisters and their mother who 'amuse' themselves by imagining ELABORATE interactions with other characters that they have never actually met, some characters that are actors/actresses they have only seen perform, imaginary characters, and their own toys/dolls. But this all gets super complicated when the oldest sister is actually introduced to one of the most prominent characters in their fantasies, a court judge and his wife.
Frankly at this point I expected 1 of 2 things happen...
1. The judge things they are all stalking him and presses charges, and they end up in alysums.
2. We the reader find out this is all in one persons head who actually IS in an alysum and the normal people in her live (doctors, nurses, other patients) are these other characters in her massive delusion.
I DID NOT EXPECT these 2 characters to find it joyful and hilarious and join in. Seriously...WTF? If I found out people were following me, and living their lives as if I were actually a part of it, and snagging pictures of me from others, I would get a restraining order - not play along.
So yeah...I guess you could say that I just did not get this book at all, and frankly if it hadn't been for a book club I would have given up a quarter of the way through.
January 30, 2011
What fertile imaginations the characters in this little novel display as they create elaborate lives for people they see in a play or in court or spot on the street. Three sisters and their widowed mother (and their succession of stuffy governesses) entertain themselves by learning all they can about, for example, the judge presiding over the trial on which the mother is a reserve juror.
Judge Toddington and his wife, in the imaginations of the girls, come to tea and invite them to dinner. Toddy, as the judge soon becomes, drives them home in his big car and phones them at night to chat. The careless reader, like the confused governess, may not recognize at first that these activities are entirely in the minds of the characters.
Until the day when one of the girls meets the judge's wife in real life and begins a friendship with her and Toddy that soon includes the entire family.
The Brontes? I can't tell you much without this becoming a spoiler, but they do go to Woolworth's, at least in someone's imagination.
Charming, whimsical, very much of its time (the late 1920s). This book is not for everyone, but it was certainly the book for me. I loved it.
2011 No 17
Coming soon: Lyrical Balads by Wordsworth and Coleridge
Judge Toddington and his wife, in the imaginations of the girls, come to tea and invite them to dinner. Toddy, as the judge soon becomes, drives them home in his big car and phones them at night to chat. The careless reader, like the confused governess, may not recognize at first that these activities are entirely in the minds of the characters.
Until the day when one of the girls meets the judge's wife in real life and begins a friendship with her and Toddy that soon includes the entire family.
The Brontes? I can't tell you much without this becoming a spoiler, but they do go to Woolworth's, at least in someone's imagination.
Charming, whimsical, very much of its time (the late 1920s). This book is not for everyone, but it was certainly the book for me. I loved it.
2011 No 17
Coming soon: Lyrical Balads by Wordsworth and Coleridge
February 20, 2008
A brilliant and neglected out of print classic. A family of three sisters and their mother live a slightly eccentric and bohemian life. They make imaginary friends of strangers and build wonderful stories around them perplexing a string of governesses. But things change when they really meet some of their friends and have a ghostly visitation from some other sisters -the Brontes.
September 1, 2010
This my second time through reading the book. I've always loved the first half which introduces us to the Carne sisters with Deidre Carne, the middle daughter, as our narrator. Deidre is a journalist and this leaves her with plenty time on her hands. We find out the two older sisters, Katrine and Deidre, have a deep abiding love for the theater with the Katrine trying to make her way into that world. The youngest, Sheil, is too small to go theater but is already an avid fan. So the family loves theater but they also love making up stories about people. They'll latch on to a famous person and then make up that person's life. They'll impersonate the famous person and various family members will "act" and stand in for that famous person. The poor governess who teaches Sheil cannot tell where fantasy begins and reality leaves off with this odd family. And keeping a firm grip on reality vs. fantasy is where the book's dilemma lies.
The day comes when Deidre gets to meet the wife of a judge that her family's become obsessed with. She then meets the judge himself. You can imagine what follows.
But what's also included in this story is the weaving in and out of ghosts. You can guess from the title who comes to pay a visit on All Hallow's Eve.
The ending is not promising and it seems like Sheil will bear the brunt of being possibly quite mad when she's older. But is this what the book is leading us to? What is it saying about reality and fantasy? At first, the pretend world Deidre leads us into seems so refreshing and crazy and delightful but as we watch Sheil unable to cope with the real judge rather than the fantasy version of the judge her family made, we see the possible cost of this enchanting world. The author does seem to point to the Bronte sisters as to a clue what the Carne sisters will be like in later life. Are the Bronte sisters harbingers or do they bring a warning?
The day comes when Deidre gets to meet the wife of a judge that her family's become obsessed with. She then meets the judge himself. You can imagine what follows.
But what's also included in this story is the weaving in and out of ghosts. You can guess from the title who comes to pay a visit on All Hallow's Eve.
The ending is not promising and it seems like Sheil will bear the brunt of being possibly quite mad when she's older. But is this what the book is leading us to? What is it saying about reality and fantasy? At first, the pretend world Deidre leads us into seems so refreshing and crazy and delightful but as we watch Sheil unable to cope with the real judge rather than the fantasy version of the judge her family made, we see the possible cost of this enchanting world. The author does seem to point to the Bronte sisters as to a clue what the Carne sisters will be like in later life. Are the Bronte sisters harbingers or do they bring a warning?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 6, 2011
Quirky, whimsical, and eccentric are the words that spring easily to mind when describing this book. Since I enjoy all of those in fiction, I found it a delight, albeit a difficult to describe one.
The Brontes Went to Woolworths throws you, from the very first page, right into the rich fantasy life of the Carne family, a trio of sisters and their widowed mother. Told primarily by the eldest, Deirdre, we learn of their family enjoyment of imaginary friends. Some of these are of the familiar sort, pets with lives and attitudes, former nursery toys who have moved abroad; and some are real people with whom they have taken a fancy, and created lives for and imaginary relationships with.
One gets the sense that, since most of these characters are male, and older, that the loss of their father looms large in these fantasies, but this is not analyzed or explored. Nothing is. It is simply told, which I find delightful. I like that the author throws you right into their lives, and leaves you to sort out which bits are imaginings and which are real. She also throws in an occasional letter from a governess to her family, so we get glimpses of how the family is perceived by outsiders.
About midway through the book, Deirdre, the oldest sister and primary teller of their story, meets an object of their fantasy lives: Lord Doddington, an elderly judge with whom the family became infatuated when their mother had jury duty. Watching the integration of the real Doddington and his wife into the Carne's lives was so sweet.
Ferguson creates such sympathetic characters, with so little exposition. It begins and ends abruptly, as if a window had been opened and closed, and yet the story within is enough.
The Brontes Went to Woolworths throws you, from the very first page, right into the rich fantasy life of the Carne family, a trio of sisters and their widowed mother. Told primarily by the eldest, Deirdre, we learn of their family enjoyment of imaginary friends. Some of these are of the familiar sort, pets with lives and attitudes, former nursery toys who have moved abroad; and some are real people with whom they have taken a fancy, and created lives for and imaginary relationships with.
One gets the sense that, since most of these characters are male, and older, that the loss of their father looms large in these fantasies, but this is not analyzed or explored. Nothing is. It is simply told, which I find delightful. I like that the author throws you right into their lives, and leaves you to sort out which bits are imaginings and which are real. She also throws in an occasional letter from a governess to her family, so we get glimpses of how the family is perceived by outsiders.
About midway through the book, Deirdre, the oldest sister and primary teller of their story, meets an object of their fantasy lives: Lord Doddington, an elderly judge with whom the family became infatuated when their mother had jury duty. Watching the integration of the real Doddington and his wife into the Carne's lives was so sweet.
Ferguson creates such sympathetic characters, with so little exposition. It begins and ends abruptly, as if a window had been opened and closed, and yet the story within is enough.
June 2, 2012
One of those books that totally (well, almost) made me forget the worries of everyday life. I didn't want it to end, but as is the case with a large number of outstanding books, this one ended far too soon, after a mere 188 pages.
As soon as I became engrossed in it I loved it for its quirky, true-to-life and unconventional characters, the author's remarkably light-hearted style – which is no less unconventional – and the recurring motives of love of literature, theatre, the festive season, allusions to Yorkshire & the Brontës … And last but not least the bonds of sisterhood. Unlike the Carne girls, I do NOT 'loathe that kind of novel which is about a lot of sisters' (pp 1). 'Little Women' is one of my favourite books ever - who'd have thought it …
I loved it, because it celebrates the realms of imagination rather than subtly condemn it. Even the mother proves to be quite a playful person.
Still, I have to agree with some of the other critics who found it hard to tell the real characters from the fictitious ones. That's why I would have given 4 ½ stars out of 5, if I'd had the option. Another point that shouldn't go unmentioned: Even though this book's charm arises from its delightful blend of fantastic and realistic elements, I think some scenes are too far-fetched or don't really fit in. But thanks to the narrator's sarcasm and wit even those awkward passages in the subplot are given a lively twist.
Oh, and this is one of the few books where I loved both the content and the design/type/paper etc. I presume the whole Bloomsbury edition ('new library of books from the early twentieth century') is as fab on the inside as it is on the outside. We'll see.
As soon as I became engrossed in it I loved it for its quirky, true-to-life and unconventional characters, the author's remarkably light-hearted style – which is no less unconventional – and the recurring motives of love of literature, theatre, the festive season, allusions to Yorkshire & the Brontës … And last but not least the bonds of sisterhood. Unlike the Carne girls, I do NOT 'loathe that kind of novel which is about a lot of sisters' (pp 1). 'Little Women' is one of my favourite books ever - who'd have thought it …
I loved it, because it celebrates the realms of imagination rather than subtly condemn it. Even the mother proves to be quite a playful person.
Still, I have to agree with some of the other critics who found it hard to tell the real characters from the fictitious ones. That's why I would have given 4 ½ stars out of 5, if I'd had the option. Another point that shouldn't go unmentioned: Even though this book's charm arises from its delightful blend of fantastic and realistic elements, I think some scenes are too far-fetched or don't really fit in. But thanks to the narrator's sarcasm and wit even those awkward passages in the subplot are given a lively twist.
Oh, and this is one of the few books where I loved both the content and the design/type/paper etc. I presume the whole Bloomsbury edition ('new library of books from the early twentieth century') is as fab on the inside as it is on the outside. We'll see.
April 29, 2013
This book is a difficult one to rate. I read a lot of books, and I was lost through a good portion of the book. Yet it was delightful, and I want to re-read it. That being said, I struggled with it. But through out the book there are little gems like these:
"A woman at one of mother's parties once said to me, 'Do you like reading?' which smote us all to silence, for how could one tell her that books are like having a bath or sleeping, or eating bread--absolute necessities which one never thinks of in terms of appreciation."
Or this one (my favorite):
"Three years ago I was proposed to. I couldn't accept the man, much as I liked him, because I was in love with Sherlock Holmes."
Only a book lover, a sort of book-addict, could write those sentences, and they made feel connected to the author in a way that it's difficult for many other readers (but not addicts) to understand. It was like she'd seen right into my soul. I'm in love with Mr. Darcy, with Archie Goodwin, with Bulldog Drummond, with writers of amazing books. Alan Bradley, I love you. I almost worship J.K. Rowling and Jane Austen. And seeing someone put those feelings into one laugh-out-loud sentence earned my admiration without reserve.
The book became a sort of treasure hunt looking for more of these diamonds and trying to figure it all out. Now that I have, however, I expect the next read will earn the 4 stars I gave the book in this review. After all, next time, I'll have a clue about what is going on. :)
"A woman at one of mother's parties once said to me, 'Do you like reading?' which smote us all to silence, for how could one tell her that books are like having a bath or sleeping, or eating bread--absolute necessities which one never thinks of in terms of appreciation."
Or this one (my favorite):
"Three years ago I was proposed to. I couldn't accept the man, much as I liked him, because I was in love with Sherlock Holmes."
Only a book lover, a sort of book-addict, could write those sentences, and they made feel connected to the author in a way that it's difficult for many other readers (but not addicts) to understand. It was like she'd seen right into my soul. I'm in love with Mr. Darcy, with Archie Goodwin, with Bulldog Drummond, with writers of amazing books. Alan Bradley, I love you. I almost worship J.K. Rowling and Jane Austen. And seeing someone put those feelings into one laugh-out-loud sentence earned my admiration without reserve.
The book became a sort of treasure hunt looking for more of these diamonds and trying to figure it all out. Now that I have, however, I expect the next read will earn the 4 stars I gave the book in this review. After all, next time, I'll have a clue about what is going on. :)
October 23, 2012
"Three years ago I was proposed to. I couldn't accept the man, much as I liked him, because I was in love with Sherlock Holmes. For Holmes and his personality and brain I had a force of feeling which, for the time, converted living men to shadows".
Oooh there is so much to love about this strange little book! Deirdre lives with her two younger sisters and mothers in 1930s London, much like any other family. However, the sisters and their mother are prone to creating complete worlds and personalities about real people they've never met. The poor governess never know what's going on, and, admittedly, I had a hard time following it at first. After a bit though one settles into the story and it is absolutely charming. The sisters meet in real life one of their fantasies and shenanigans follow. Sadly this is the only book by Rachel Ferguson that my library has, but the Internet Archive has her first one, False Goddessesavailable for free. Of course it's on my to read list.
Absolutely read these if you can find them!
Other quotes I liked:
"He is very pretty, and yawns just like jam tarts."
"Running away from love is never any good at all, to our sort. It only deepens the feeling, and it's better to stay and wear it down."
Oooh there is so much to love about this strange little book! Deirdre lives with her two younger sisters and mothers in 1930s London, much like any other family. However, the sisters and their mother are prone to creating complete worlds and personalities about real people they've never met. The poor governess never know what's going on, and, admittedly, I had a hard time following it at first. After a bit though one settles into the story and it is absolutely charming. The sisters meet in real life one of their fantasies and shenanigans follow. Sadly this is the only book by Rachel Ferguson that my library has, but the Internet Archive has her first one, False Goddessesavailable for free. Of course it's on my to read list.
Absolutely read these if you can find them!
Other quotes I liked:
"He is very pretty, and yawns just like jam tarts."
"Running away from love is never any good at all, to our sort. It only deepens the feeling, and it's better to stay and wear it down."
October 3, 2009
A whimsical, fey novel about a family whose games of imagination make dear friends out of complete strangers and bring characters and the dead to life. The Carnes' ability to create memories and histories out of thin air echo the precocious Brontes' own inventiveness. But the Brontes are not impervious from being summoned as well...
This is about to be reissued by Bloomsbury and is a sharp, intelligent and fantastic novel.
This is about to be reissued by Bloomsbury and is a sharp, intelligent and fantastic novel.
June 10, 2015
A few months ago, I read Let's Kill Uncle from the Bloomsbury Group. I loved it, when I get round to writing my Top Ten Books of 2015 so far, it will most certainly feature. This one, also published by the Bloomsbury Group, will not. Based purely on components, it ought to have been a sure-fire winner. It had a strong female cast. There were frolics and high-japes. It had a strong vintage aesthetic. But ... it just felt silly. And weird. Like a bizarre Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf meets The Magic Roundabout and there is a reason why those two sound strange as a mash-up. Fortunately, it was short and I rattled through to the end, finishing at what felt like a sprint and then reached gasping for something less cloying (A God In Ruins here we come!)
This novel features the Carne family; the mother and then the three sisters, Deirdre, Katrine and then little Sheil. They are compulsive fantasists, spinning webs of stories around everything from household objects and old toys to well-known public figures who they have never met. The drama comes when they genuinely become acquainted with their main target, the high court judge Sir Herbert Toddington. There is a muffled tragedy to what is going on here as Deirdre repeatedly has her novel rejected and Katrine's acting career flounders, then in the background there is the stoically miserably governess but the over-arching silliness of it all made me lose all patience. I understood it was a farce and that I was supposed to laugh along at these bright young things and their charming ways, I just ended up feeling like the boring stick-in-the-mud sitting in the corner refusing to join in the fun and bored out of my mind.
It was not that the writing was bad, indeed there were some very attractive turns of phrase. I particularly liked Katrine's description of how a fellow actress had become so overwrought that she had 'prayed all over the stage', with the same tone of disgust as if the unfortunate girl had thrown up. Still, the way in which all the Carne women drooled over the elderly 'Toddy' was rather nauseating and gave a very claustrophobic feel to the narrative. To be honest, I was with the governess - they just all seemed off their rockers. It felt truly sad to read of how the young Sheil was being inducted into this society of the bizarre and so eagerly losing her grip on reality. I can't think of another book where I found it so hard to suspend disbelief.
Rachel Ferguson
The thing is, I spent the greater part of my childhood in a dreamworld. I still do write stories. A few years ago, someone was relating a story about a friend of theirs and I was just about to chime in about how a friend of mine had had a similar experience when I remembered that no, this was not true because said friend was not real, I had written him and thus he had no part in the conversation. Before I learnt to read, I told myself stories. As a toddler, I remember my mother telling me long and epic tales about the adventures of the face-cloths. My Playmobil and Sylvanians were sent on long quests (often influenced by Narnia or The Dark is Rising). I am a story-teller. However, the Carnes' attempts to refashion those around them to suit their make-believe world just seemed unhealthy - closer kin to Misery than anything actually amusing.
I think as well though that the Puritan in me just disliked all of the Talk about a man who was married. The Carne girls' mother observed to the girls as part of their game that to give Mildred (Toddy's wife) 'her due, she does see to his comforts.' This massive overstep of the line set me against the characters right from the off. I appreciate that adultery was not what was happening here, but there was disrespect. Similarly, the way that the Bronte sisters were crow-barred into the narrative also annoyed me, mainly because Ferguson gaily shoved Anne Bronte out the picture yet briskly appropriated the elder two as natural allies of the Carnes' objectives. First of all, I love the Brontes and felt offended on their behalf that they were being used in such an idiotic novel. Second of all, Anne Bronte is my favourite Bronte of all and seeing her forgotten just seemed rude. I felt as though I finished the book with a real scowl on my face. This may have been intended as comic - possibly even cringe-comic - but it just came off as stupid. Silly. And not funny.
For my full review:
http://girlwithherheadinabook.blogspo...
This novel features the Carne family; the mother and then the three sisters, Deirdre, Katrine and then little Sheil. They are compulsive fantasists, spinning webs of stories around everything from household objects and old toys to well-known public figures who they have never met. The drama comes when they genuinely become acquainted with their main target, the high court judge Sir Herbert Toddington. There is a muffled tragedy to what is going on here as Deirdre repeatedly has her novel rejected and Katrine's acting career flounders, then in the background there is the stoically miserably governess but the over-arching silliness of it all made me lose all patience. I understood it was a farce and that I was supposed to laugh along at these bright young things and their charming ways, I just ended up feeling like the boring stick-in-the-mud sitting in the corner refusing to join in the fun and bored out of my mind.
It was not that the writing was bad, indeed there were some very attractive turns of phrase. I particularly liked Katrine's description of how a fellow actress had become so overwrought that she had 'prayed all over the stage', with the same tone of disgust as if the unfortunate girl had thrown up. Still, the way in which all the Carne women drooled over the elderly 'Toddy' was rather nauseating and gave a very claustrophobic feel to the narrative. To be honest, I was with the governess - they just all seemed off their rockers. It felt truly sad to read of how the young Sheil was being inducted into this society of the bizarre and so eagerly losing her grip on reality. I can't think of another book where I found it so hard to suspend disbelief.
Rachel Ferguson
The thing is, I spent the greater part of my childhood in a dreamworld. I still do write stories. A few years ago, someone was relating a story about a friend of theirs and I was just about to chime in about how a friend of mine had had a similar experience when I remembered that no, this was not true because said friend was not real, I had written him and thus he had no part in the conversation. Before I learnt to read, I told myself stories. As a toddler, I remember my mother telling me long and epic tales about the adventures of the face-cloths. My Playmobil and Sylvanians were sent on long quests (often influenced by Narnia or The Dark is Rising). I am a story-teller. However, the Carnes' attempts to refashion those around them to suit their make-believe world just seemed unhealthy - closer kin to Misery than anything actually amusing.
I think as well though that the Puritan in me just disliked all of the Talk about a man who was married. The Carne girls' mother observed to the girls as part of their game that to give Mildred (Toddy's wife) 'her due, she does see to his comforts.' This massive overstep of the line set me against the characters right from the off. I appreciate that adultery was not what was happening here, but there was disrespect. Similarly, the way that the Bronte sisters were crow-barred into the narrative also annoyed me, mainly because Ferguson gaily shoved Anne Bronte out the picture yet briskly appropriated the elder two as natural allies of the Carnes' objectives. First of all, I love the Brontes and felt offended on their behalf that they were being used in such an idiotic novel. Second of all, Anne Bronte is my favourite Bronte of all and seeing her forgotten just seemed rude. I felt as though I finished the book with a real scowl on my face. This may have been intended as comic - possibly even cringe-comic - but it just came off as stupid. Silly. And not funny.
For my full review:
http://girlwithherheadinabook.blogspo...
July 9, 2015
This book is not suited to an audio format; moreover, the narration makes the situation worse.
We're dropped "in media res" as it were, and expected to keep track of all the many names bandied about; the closest I could manage was to distinguish new ones, from those previously introduced. Core family consists of a widow and her (three) daughters, along with a some people who are "adopted" as close family friends by the kids, even though they've never met them, with stories of their doings sounding as though the family sees these (unknown) people regularly. Reading a print book one might be able to keep better track of which character is which, but the audiobook keeps rolling along so that by the end of a long bus ride to a further part of town my ears were glazing over. At first I had thought the action was set in the 1930's, but by the end it seemed much earlier; I never got an idea of the ages of the kids either, assuming roughly that the oldest was university age, the middle (through whose voice we hear the story) a high school student, and the youngest in later grade school? The father apparently died when the latter was fairly young as she has no memory of him at all. All very confusing. I'll spoil the ending by saying that if you hate endings like " ... and then she woke up" you won't be happy here.
As for the narration ... an American reader making (almost) NO attempt at anything British at all! Had they been specifically an expat American family, who'd relocated to London later, that might be barely tolerable, but they're not. Instead, it's incredibly confusing hearing an American voice blithely quoting prices in "bobs" etc. I believe the name Chisholm is pronounced "Chizzum" rather than CHIS-holm, the spectacles without ear pieces are called "PANS-nay" rather than "PINSE-nezz"; and yes, Ms. Allen butchers Leicester Square entirely. And on, and on.
Not recommended.
We're dropped "in media res" as it were, and expected to keep track of all the many names bandied about; the closest I could manage was to distinguish new ones, from those previously introduced. Core family consists of a widow and her (three) daughters, along with a some people who are "adopted" as close family friends by the kids, even though they've never met them, with stories of their doings sounding as though the family sees these (unknown) people regularly. Reading a print book one might be able to keep better track of which character is which, but the audiobook keeps rolling along so that by the end of a long bus ride to a further part of town my ears were glazing over. At first I had thought the action was set in the 1930's, but by the end it seemed much earlier; I never got an idea of the ages of the kids either, assuming roughly that the oldest was university age, the middle (through whose voice we hear the story) a high school student, and the youngest in later grade school? The father apparently died when the latter was fairly young as she has no memory of him at all. All very confusing. I'll spoil the ending by saying that if you hate endings like " ... and then she woke up" you won't be happy here.
As for the narration ... an American reader making (almost) NO attempt at anything British at all! Had they been specifically an expat American family, who'd relocated to London later, that might be barely tolerable, but they're not. Instead, it's incredibly confusing hearing an American voice blithely quoting prices in "bobs" etc. I believe the name Chisholm is pronounced "Chizzum" rather than CHIS-holm, the spectacles without ear pieces are called "PANS-nay" rather than "PINSE-nezz"; and yes, Ms. Allen butchers Leicester Square entirely. And on, and on.
Not recommended.
January 20, 2010
Did I mention in previous reviews that I like the covers of the Bloomsbury Group novels (of which this is one?) Well, I do. They have lovely soft pastel colors with stylized silhouetted figures on them. Covers matter, y'all.
I'm finding it somewhat difficult to summarize this one, I confess. The Carne sisters, Deirdre (the narrator), Katrine, and little Sheil, have a lighthearted habit of pretending to close friendships with people they have met only briefly or perhaps not at all; they tell each other stories of their imagined intimacies, and it becomes hard for the reader at times (for me, at least) to differentiate the real from the imagined. I found the book hard going at first - a little bit dull, really - until the girls actually have a real-life encounter with the wife of one of their most beloved imagined friends, Judge Toddinton ("Toddy", who, according to the girls, pops in often when he is bored and "wholly adores" lamb cutlets.) That part is great fun.
I wasn't so keen on the way the girls treated Sheil's confused governess, whose bewilderment with their fantasies is mocked rather mercilessly. (I felt like saying, "Yo, Deirdre, I'M confused too, okay? A little less with the patronizing attitude.") And the whole slightly eerie bits about the Brontes...hm. Didn't really seem to fit the story...but I kind of liked it anyway.
I'm finding it somewhat difficult to summarize this one, I confess. The Carne sisters, Deirdre (the narrator), Katrine, and little Sheil, have a lighthearted habit of pretending to close friendships with people they have met only briefly or perhaps not at all; they tell each other stories of their imagined intimacies, and it becomes hard for the reader at times (for me, at least) to differentiate the real from the imagined. I found the book hard going at first - a little bit dull, really - until the girls actually have a real-life encounter with the wife of one of their most beloved imagined friends, Judge Toddinton ("Toddy", who, according to the girls, pops in often when he is bored and "wholly adores" lamb cutlets.) That part is great fun.
I wasn't so keen on the way the girls treated Sheil's confused governess, whose bewilderment with their fantasies is mocked rather mercilessly. (I felt like saying, "Yo, Deirdre, I'M confused too, okay? A little less with the patronizing attitude.") And the whole slightly eerie bits about the Brontes...hm. Didn't really seem to fit the story...but I kind of liked it anyway.
November 19, 2023
Der erstmals 1931 erschienene und neu aufgelegte Klassiker lässt mich etwas zwiegespalten zurück.
Insgesamt hat er mir aber gut gefallen.
Manchmal war es etwas schwierig den Dialogen zu folgen, denn plötzlich wechselten die Perspektiven und man konnte die Wahrheit und die Fantasiegebilde der Protagonisten nur schwer unterscheiden.
Die Geschichte erinnerte mich an eine Mischung aus einem „altmodischen Sex and the City“ und einem „modernen Betty und ihre Schwestern“.
Der Schreibstil ist flott und humorvoll.
So begleiten wir Mrs. Carne und ihre drei Töchter, die unheimlich gerne lesen und sich die wildesten Geschichten über bekannte Persönlichkeiten aus ihrem Umfeld entspinnen. Bis hin zu einer Séance in der die Bronte Schwestern herbeigerufen werden und dann auch noch in der Geschichte
herum spuken.
Eines Tages lernen sie den Richter Toddington wirklich kennen und so wird der Alltag der Familie gehörig durcheinander gewirbelt. Ist er so wie sie ihn sich vorgestellt haben oder doch ganz anders und wird er ihre kleinen Spiele mit spielen ?
In Klassikern mag ich besonders gerne die „altmodische“ Redeweise und umgangsart miteinander.
Ein skurriler und witziger Lesespass für zwischendurch, der mit einem Weihnachtsfest endet.
Insgesamt hat er mir aber gut gefallen.
Manchmal war es etwas schwierig den Dialogen zu folgen, denn plötzlich wechselten die Perspektiven und man konnte die Wahrheit und die Fantasiegebilde der Protagonisten nur schwer unterscheiden.
Die Geschichte erinnerte mich an eine Mischung aus einem „altmodischen Sex and the City“ und einem „modernen Betty und ihre Schwestern“.
Der Schreibstil ist flott und humorvoll.
So begleiten wir Mrs. Carne und ihre drei Töchter, die unheimlich gerne lesen und sich die wildesten Geschichten über bekannte Persönlichkeiten aus ihrem Umfeld entspinnen. Bis hin zu einer Séance in der die Bronte Schwestern herbeigerufen werden und dann auch noch in der Geschichte
herum spuken.
Eines Tages lernen sie den Richter Toddington wirklich kennen und so wird der Alltag der Familie gehörig durcheinander gewirbelt. Ist er so wie sie ihn sich vorgestellt haben oder doch ganz anders und wird er ihre kleinen Spiele mit spielen ?
In Klassikern mag ich besonders gerne die „altmodische“ Redeweise und umgangsart miteinander.
Ein skurriler und witziger Lesespass für zwischendurch, der mit einem Weihnachtsfest endet.
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