Wonderful Noel Streatfeild book about an English family who stay with a relative in Los Angeles for a winter. The painted garden the title refers to is the painted sets of a film version of The Secret Garden that Jane, the youngest child, gets to be a part of. Not her strongest, but a lovely read.
Oh, I loved this so much it is hard to write about it. Noel Streatfeild, my favorite writer, wrote this "autobiographical novel" about growing up the middle daughter in a family living in a vicarage in the years between 1910 and 1914. I am starting to cry as I type, it was so good. An absolutely unvarnished, clear eyed look into what must have been one of the last homes of it's kind- a kind of late Victorian life lived in the early 20th century, with all that was to come hidden from view, thank god. This really might be the best book I've read all year, all sentiment aside- absolutely magical, and unexpectedly devastating. I'm hunting down a copy to own. I love this book.
My favorite book. I seriously cannot begin to estimate how many times I've read it- I would honestly think its in the hundreds. I love it each time. It still even makes me cry.
One of my all time favorite books that I was recently, and blissfully, reunited with. Thank you, Mom, if you read this.
Noel Streatfeild's books were my constant companions as a girl. That sounds so incredibly drippy and naff but it's the truth. I read them all, and loved them all hugely. Ballet Shoes, Tennis Shoes, Circus Shoes, Dancing Shoes, Theater Shoes, Traveling Shoes, Party Shoes, Margaret Thursday's adventures and Gemma's successes- I couldn't (and can't) get enough.
Skating Shoes is one of my favorites of these, though, because, I think, Skating Shoes dealt with something I knew nothing about (I had more of an idea what the characters were up to in the other books tennis, ballet, music- well, not the circus one or the Margaret Thursdays) but also, because Lalla Moore in Skating Shoes does something so bad it's shocking. Streatfeild's characters are almost all good, very good, and although there is competition in some cases (Nicky and Susan Heath, in Tennis Shoes are competitive, but never directly, and although Pauline in Ballet Shoes often experiences success at Winifred's expense, it is never, ever intentional, and Pauline and her sister Petrova even offer to give up a part in a play that Petrova has already won, so that Winifred might have it.)
Lalla Moore, however, really is willing to tank her friend Harriet's chances of having a career- and it wouldn't even benefit her directly. Interesting stuff, and that Streatfeild was able to bring in that level of complex moral dilemma and have the reader (me!) understand why Lalla did it and why Harriet did what she did- well, I honestly think that it was for me an introduction into reading on a new level.
I know that sometimes I can seem ornery and point to something that looks trivial or seem glib when I say Skating Shoes made me a deeper reader, or that Gossip Girl books are damn good, but I do mean it. I guess that's why it's nice to keep this record, so I have a place to try to make sense of it.
Skating Shoes (good luck if you can get it- the books are (criminally) out of print, and I feel so so thrilled to have a copy) Quality: 10 Popularity: 9 Overall 19 C/YA/All
