The Young Pretenders by Edith Henrietta Fowler

The second Persephone book I read this year is The Young Pretenders by Edith Henrietta Fowler. It felt like going from one extreme to the other. (I’m trying to get three reviews done this week for the Persephone Readathon.) The other two are ones I had planned to read for A Century of Books. I already reviewed The Hopkins Manuscript, which was really too bleak to enjoy (I don’t think enjoyment is ALWAYS the point of reading, however), and now I have to say I didn’t particularly love The Young Pretenders either. These are the only two Persephone books out of about thirty (no, I disliked Heat Lightning by Helen Hull—do not have any recollection of why that was) that I cannot give my highest recommendation. Anyway, this certainly wouldn’t be one of my favorite Persephone books, though I didn’t dislike it. But it’s really hard when it’s up against so many other great books on their list.

The Young Pretenders is a book about two children who are left in England while their parents are in “Inja.” It is told from the child’s point of view, and Fowler was able to accomplish this, even though she wrote The Young Pretenders (and another children’s book) long before she had children of her own. Really, it’s about Babs, the younger child, who is the ringleader of all happenings in the story. Older brother Teddy has a capable imagination too, but hers is completely redoubtable. At first they live out in the country where they are able to run about and play, chat with the home farmer and help him in the muck, but then Granny dies and the children are sent to live with their uncle and aunt in London. Aunt Eleanor has quite a social life and despairs of making Babs into the beautiful little society girl she had hoped for. She really wanted a little doll she could dress up and manipulate to be a cute diversion for her friends.

But Babs has no interest in clothing or playing manners, she certainly is not tame, and like most children, what she thinks comes out of her mouth! Poor Babs is always in trouble, largely because no one takes the time to explain things to her, so she pretends and that leads to misunderstandings. Eleanor is totally self-absorbed and cannot see how her constant onslaught of punishment and harsh words for Babs is driving Uncle Charley, the children’s father’s brother, away from her.

Babs has quickly discerned that Uncle Charley loves her, though he doesn’t always show it. Uncle Charley had wanted to have children of his own, but that did not mesh with the life Eleanor had planned. Uncle Charley, for his part, was quite taken with Babs and her imagination and ability to find playfulness all around her. He began to love the children more and more and the story for grown-ups is about how he finds that his happiness will have to be away from his society wife.

Her husband did not answer her. He was angry, but he was also suddenly conscious of a great mistake somewhere, which could never be set right; and the pain of such a consciousness silenced all this hurry words of irritation and displeasure.
Aunt Eleanor saw the strange look on his face, and she too know that a crisis had come, though of its nature she was ignorant…         
And Uncle Charley, in his hunger for something he had missed, was thinking how hopeless it all was.

What is a bit off-putting is that Babs constantly lisps (yes, I’m fully aware that this was a style of the times. Right now I’m reading the second volume of the life of the Woolcot family in Australia (written in the same era) and one of the children lisps continually in it). Generally, I prefer for the writer to give us a taste of whatever language phenomenon or dialect is being spoken, but to then revert back to normal usage. (I’m going to review National Velvet for ACOB and I find the dialect is constantly in the way.) Anyway, Babs never stops lisping. Once you get over that though it’s fairly smooth sailing. She’s really quite charming and often makes you laugh out loud with her wry observations about adult life and her own likes and dislikes. I love reading about children who have really well-developed imaginations and whew, she certainly does! 

The Young Pretenders was written for children. Persephone say 9-13, though clearly from the quote above, not only for children, but I don’t really know any children today that I think would really appreciate this book. My daughter was one of the most voracious and perceptive readers I have known and I don’t think she would have appreciated it as a child. There is some moralizing, but honestly, not as much as I often think children’s books of this era will have.

One nice feature was the book’s illustrations by Philip Burne-Jones. They are engaging and really nicely limn the features of Babs with her honest and cheerful face. Philip Burne-Jones was the son of Edward Burne-Jones, and uncle of Angela Thirkell (just thought I’d throw that out to those of you other Thirkell lovers). It’s unclear to me how much illustrating he did but I’d definitely like to see more of his work.

I certainly do not want to distract any readers from this book if it sounds like what you like, but with so many really awesome Persephone books awaiting (about 125 published now), I wouldn’t put this one at the top of my list.