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Clothes of a King's Son #1
Sing for Your Supper
Clean bright cover with light wear. Pages are perfect, but toning. Same day shipping.
- GenresFiction
311 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1963
44 people want to read
About the author
Pamela Frankau
51 books9 followersPopular British novelist. Her father was novelist Gilbert Frankau, her mother satirist Julia Davis, and her uncle British radio comedian, Ronald Frankau.
Her writing success came when she was only twenty, with The Marriage of Harlequin (1927). A relationship with the married Humbert Wolfe ended only with his death in 1940. She then ceased to write for a long period.
During the Second World War, she worked for the BBC, the Ministry of Food, and the Auxiliary Territorial Service.
First published in 1954, A Wreath for the Enemy is perhaps her best loved novel and still in print on both sides of the Atlantic. In the novel the events of one night transform what appears at first to be a typical adolescent crisis into a prolonged struggle for self-definition on the part of the novel's teenage protagonist. In part autobiographical, Frankau clearly identified with her lead character who is presented as a writer in development.
Frankau became a Roman Catholic convert in 1942, and spent much time in the United States. She was married there, though only for a few years. She returned to England in 1953. A long lesbian relationship with the theatre director Margaret Webster began in the 1950s.
Her writing success came when she was only twenty, with The Marriage of Harlequin (1927). A relationship with the married Humbert Wolfe ended only with his death in 1940. She then ceased to write for a long period.
During the Second World War, she worked for the BBC, the Ministry of Food, and the Auxiliary Territorial Service.
First published in 1954, A Wreath for the Enemy is perhaps her best loved novel and still in print on both sides of the Atlantic. In the novel the events of one night transform what appears at first to be a typical adolescent crisis into a prolonged struggle for self-definition on the part of the novel's teenage protagonist. In part autobiographical, Frankau clearly identified with her lead character who is presented as a writer in development.
Frankau became a Roman Catholic convert in 1942, and spent much time in the United States. She was married there, though only for a few years. She returned to England in 1953. A long lesbian relationship with the theatre director Margaret Webster began in the 1950s.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 3, 2017
Here is a very good contemporary review of this book (but unfortunately, it completely spoils the ending, so anyone who plans on reading it should stop at the three dots, or better still, a couple of paragraphs before them):
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/19...
Like the reviewer, I found it marvelously vivid, with really delicious characterization. I enjoyed the sequels almost as much, although the books get progressively darker, and the Weston children are harder to relate to as grownups. In the second book, Frankau puts her stint as an advertising copywriter to good use, with comic effect. The third is a WWII story. The paranormal aspects of the trilogy put me off slightly, because when I read fiction from the mid-20th century I do so for the realism, for the feeling of almost time traveling to another era, and so found the recurring themes of clairvoyence and preternatural healing slightly jarring, although they are major movers of the plot. I kind of feel that their presence reflects the decade the books were written in (the 1960s).
I still have no idea why the trilogy is called "Clothes of a King's Son." My sister kindly took the trouble to google the phrase and found that it appears in an Edna St. Vincent-Millay poem ( http://digital.library.upenn.edu/wome... ), but its significance is still enigmatic at best. I also, reading through the trilogy, held out hope up to the very end that we would find out why a major character (a girl) is named "Rab." Is it short for something? A nickname? But no joy.
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/19...
Like the reviewer, I found it marvelously vivid, with really delicious characterization. I enjoyed the sequels almost as much, although the books get progressively darker, and the Weston children are harder to relate to as grownups. In the second book, Frankau puts her stint as an advertising copywriter to good use, with comic effect. The third is a WWII story. The paranormal aspects of the trilogy put me off slightly, because when I read fiction from the mid-20th century I do so for the realism, for the feeling of almost time traveling to another era, and so found the recurring themes of clairvoyence and preternatural healing slightly jarring, although they are major movers of the plot. I kind of feel that their presence reflects the decade the books were written in (the 1960s).
I still have no idea why the trilogy is called "Clothes of a King's Son." My sister kindly took the trouble to google the phrase and found that it appears in an Edna St. Vincent-Millay poem ( http://digital.library.upenn.edu/wome... ), but its significance is still enigmatic at best. I also, reading through the trilogy, held out hope up to the very end that we would find out why a major character (a girl) is named "Rab." Is it short for something? A nickname? But no joy.
October 31, 2016
Spending a few days away with family in Devon – this novel seemed a great companion with its Devonshire setting. Sing for Your Supper is the first book in the Clothes of a King’s Son, trilogy – and I already have the third, and just ordered the second.
The summer of 1926 and as the novel opens Blanche Briggs is preparing to rejoin her beloved Weston children. Fourteen years earlier Blanche was employed as the family Nanny, now Blanche exists looking after wealthy London ladies in between summer seasons when the children return from school. The three children, Gerald (15) Sarah (13) and Thomas (10) are the children of Phillip Weston a widowed gentleman Pierrot star and owner of the Moonrakers troupe; who do the summer seasons in Devon and elsewhere, with diminishing success. The children are well aware of their father’s hopelessness with business, resigned to fairly constant genteel poverty. Even poor Blanche is not paid for her much longed for summers. Gerald is particularly obsessed by the question of money.
Full review https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2016/...
The summer of 1926 and as the novel opens Blanche Briggs is preparing to rejoin her beloved Weston children. Fourteen years earlier Blanche was employed as the family Nanny, now Blanche exists looking after wealthy London ladies in between summer seasons when the children return from school. The three children, Gerald (15) Sarah (13) and Thomas (10) are the children of Phillip Weston a widowed gentleman Pierrot star and owner of the Moonrakers troupe; who do the summer seasons in Devon and elsewhere, with diminishing success. The children are well aware of their father’s hopelessness with business, resigned to fairly constant genteel poverty. Even poor Blanche is not paid for her much longed for summers. Gerald is particularly obsessed by the question of money.
Full review https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2016/...
April 23, 2023
I think I read this back in the '70s first. My mom was the only person I know who also read it. She was quite the reader back then. She preferred mysteries and also introduced me to the Lord Peter Wimsey books.
I enjoy this book immensely every time I read it. Something new pops out, or I find a new meaning The characters are all well-written. I don't love every character, but I don't think you should. It's like life, you don't love everyone you meet. However, you will care about each character.
It captures pre-WW2 Britain's atmosphere.
I think it resonates with me because, as children the Westons have moved around a lot and had to adapt to new situations, and I, as an military brat, also moved and adapted.
And, I always cry at the end!
I enjoy this book immensely every time I read it. Something new pops out, or I find a new meaning The characters are all well-written. I don't love every character, but I don't think you should. It's like life, you don't love everyone you meet. However, you will care about each character.
It captures pre-WW2 Britain's atmosphere.
I think it resonates with me because, as children the Westons have moved around a lot and had to adapt to new situations, and I, as an military brat, also moved and adapted.
And, I always cry at the end!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews