Nothing Said

by Lucy M. Boston, Peter Boston (Illustrator)

Before the visit with her mother's friend had ended, Libby saw the dryads and water nymphs that lived near the house.

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Fiction

64 pages, Hardcover

First published June 28, 1971

About the author

Lucy M. Boston (1892–1990), born Lucy Maria Wood, was an English novelist who wrote for children and adults, publishing her work entirely after the age of 60. She is best known for her "Green Knowe" series: six low fantasy children's novels published by Faber between 1954 and 1976. The setting is Green Knowe, an old country manor house based on Boston's Cambridgeshire home at Hemingford Grey. For the fourth book in the series, A Stranger at Green Knowe (1961), she won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject.[1]

During her long life, she distinguished herself as a writer, mainly of children’s books, and as the creator of a magical garden. She was also an accomplished artist who had studied drawing and painting in Vienna, and a needlewoman who produced a series of patchworks.

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short novella from the author of the beloved Green Knowe Chronicles follows young Libby as she goes to spend a week in the country with a family friend. When the local river overflows its bounds, and the house gardens are flooded by underground springs, Libby's holiday is transformed into an enchanted idyll, during which she gains a greater appreciation of the beauties of nature. But the week reaches its peak during an unexpected encounter with a lovely creature of myth...

Boston's luminously descriptive prose is in full force here, with some beautiful passages devoted to the river Babble, the garden, and the waterfalls on the mountain. Nothing Said has strong ecological themes, with some sharp comments made about development and the destruction of the environment. Its greatest strength though, lies in its author's understanding of a young person's need for privacy, and the necessity of secrecy for true enchantment.

Like so many of Boston's work, this was illustrated by her son, Peter Boston.

[Mathew · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first thing to note about Boston's novella is its incredible shortness. Spanning only 58 pages in which many of rather beautiful prints from Boston's son, Peter, this is a story which spans over a few days and is one in which Libby leaves London to stay in an idyllic cottage in the 'real' country.

When she is there she finds herself, almost literally, enveloped into the natural world and or love and respect for it in her teacher who has offered her a place to stay while her parents attend a conference. Whilst being there, Libby falls in love with the landscape and the river which runs past the house and even when a great storm showers the countryside she is there to enjoy its awakening of those inhabitants that are deeply rooted in mythology and history.

This is where the story became very interesting for me. Although it could be seen as a simple celebration of our love for the natural world, Libby's fascination with the spirits of the land is absolutely fascinating and a further exploration into the ideologies within Boston's work calls me even more.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful, strange, magical book - about a child rather than a children's book. Almost poetry.

[Phoebe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Libby gets to spend a week with Julia, a former painting teacher at Libby's school, far outside of London in a wonderful, beautiful place near a river. Libby is sure there is something magical about her new surroundings--and it turns out she is right--although her experiences have such a dreamlike quality that she isn't quite sure they were even real. Lovely writing, but this is a strange book, with some troubling aspects that probably only an adult of today's less innocent society might flag (Libby going off with a woman about whom it is said nothing is really known, and who encourages Libby to play completely naked in the flooded garden one day)...This book would never be written today. Stick with the Green Knowe series.

[Lexi V · Rating 5 out of 5]

always a delight. i want to live in an old english house by a river.