The Children of Green Knowe
by L. M. Boston
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Book Summary Information
Author: L. M. BostonIllustrator: Peter Boston
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-04-01
ISBN: 0152024689
Number of pages: 192
Publisher: Sandpiper
Book Reviews of The Children of Green Knowe
Book Review: For Anyone Who Wants to Explore An Old English House
Summary: 5 Stars
Reading this book was a strange experience for me, as even though I had never read it before in my life, it evoked a strange sense of familiarity that only the very best books, movies and music are able to achieve. Usually these are reserved for the ones that are experienced in childhood and carried through into adulthood, but every now and then one arrives that touch one on so deep a level that one feels they've always known them. "The Children of Green Knowe" is one such book.
This is the perfect book for anyone that has a love of old homes, and especially for those who have very little chances of exploring them, much less living in them. Since Lucy Boston wrote the Green Knowe series based on her own house and garden that was built nearly nine hundred years ago, the descriptions of the house and grounds are painstakingly created and thus utterly realistic. As her young protagonist explores them, so too does the reader, and her poetic imagery concerning all the marvels that he finds are vivid, mysterious and beautiful all at once.
The story itself is slow and dreamlike; it can hardly be called a story, rather it is better described as the record of a young boy and his semi-magical experiences throughout his winter at Green Knowe. Seven year old Toseland is sent to live with his great-grandmother during the school break whilst his parents are in Burma, and despite some initial fears concerning Mrs Oldknow and her strange existence in the flooded waters of the property, Toseland (or "Tolly" as she calls him) soon finds himself quite at home among the welcoming atmosphere of the house, the variety of friendly animals, and the myraid of interesting relics to be found. Outside, the wintery landscape goes through many changes, from a flooded lake to snow-covered hillocks, all watched over by the statue of St Christopher against the wall.
But there are other components at work that Mrs Oldknow and her manservant Boggis seem reluctant to talk about - the spirits of children that lived in the house over three hundred years ago still seem to be dwelling within the house: Alexander, Toby and Linnet. Tolly is eagar to get to know them, especially if it means seeing Toby's old horse Feste, and through several designs of his own, Tolly just might get his wish. The visitations with the "ghosts" come across as perfectly natural and not at all sinister, through there is just the right amount of mystery about them that keeps the normality of the house just forever verging on the magical.
Throughout the book, Lucy Boston's Catholicism is made clear, through her use of St Christopher and the descriptions of finely decorated cathedrals as opposed to the less-elabourate Protestant churches, and so with Catholic favour comes the barest touch of Paganism that (probably unintentionally) lies behind the animal hedge-sculptures that seem to come to life, the ghostly occurances and the personification of inanimate objects. There is even a touch of the sinister in Green Noah, the evil humped tree that lies as a curse upon the family...
For anyone who likes dreamy, meandering stories but have no idea where to find them, look no further than "The Children of Green Knowe". There's enough charm and mystery for any child or adult who long for such a place to live in, and Mrs Oldknow's stories-within-the-story, Tolly's wonderment at his home, and the many strange events that happen make this a hidden gem in children's literature.
Summary of The Children of Green Knowe
L. M. Boston's thrilling and chilling tales of Green Knowe, a haunted manor deep in an overgrown garden in the English countryside, have been entertaining readers for half a century. Now the children of Green Knowe--both alive and ghostly--are back in appealing new editions.
The spooky original illustrations have been retained, but dramatic new cover art by Brett Helquist (illustrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events) gives the books a fresh, timeless appeal for today's readers.
The spooky original illustrations have been retained, but dramatic new cover art by Brett Helquist (illustrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events) gives the books a fresh, timeless appeal for today's readers.
This is not an easy book, and therein lies its charm. L.M. Boston's classic is a sophisticated mood piece disguised as a children's ghost story. As young Toseland goes to live with his grandmother in the family's ancestral home, the reader is plunged immediately into the world of Green Knowe. Like Toseland, who actually rows up to his new home in the midst of a flood, we have a hard time finding our bearings. Toseland discovers a funny kind of grandmother awaiting him--one who speaks elliptically of the children and animals she keeps around the house: they might be memories, they might be ghosts. It's never quite clear where real life leaves off and magic begins. Toseland admires a deer: "A deer seems more magic than a horse." His grandmother is quick to respond: "Very beautiful fairy-tale magic, but a horse that thinks the same thoughts that you do is like strong magic wine, a love philtre for boys."
With this meshing of the magical and the real, Boston evokes a childlike world of wonder. She compounds the effect by combining gorgeous images and eerily evocative writing. Toseland goes out on a snowy morning: "In front of him, the world was an unbroken dazzling cloud of crystal stars, except for the moat, which looked like a strip of night that had somehow sinned and had no stars in it." The loosely plotted story is given more resonance still through liberal use of biblical imagery and Anglo-Saxon mythology. For those willing to suspend their disbelief and read carefully, the world of Green Knowe offers a wondrous escape. --Claire Dederer
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