T
he Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston ~ 1954. This edition: Faber & Faber, 1962. Illustrations by Peter Boston. Hardcover. 157 pages.
My rating: 7.5/10
A subtle classic of children’s literature, this novel calls one back to the elusive world of imaginative childhood, when all things are possible, and some things are downright magical.
Synopsis cut and pasted in directly from the Green Knowe Wikipedia page, because whomever wrote it did a lovely job of summation of the story set-up:
The Children of Green Knowe is the first of the six books written by Boston about the fictional manor house of Green Knowe. It was a commended runner up for the 1954 Carnegie Medal.
The novel concerns the visit of a young boy, Toseland, to the magical house of Green Knowe. The house is tremendously old, dating from the Norman Conquest, and has been continually inhabited by Toseland’s ancestors, the d’Aulneaux, later Oldknowe or Oldknow, family. Toseland crosses floodwaters by night to reach the house and his great-grandmother, Linnet Oldknow, who addresses him as Tolly.
Over the course of the novel, Tolly explores the rich history of his family, which pervades the house like magic. He begins to encounter what appear to be the spirits of three of his forebears—an earlier Toseland (nicknamed Toby), Alexander, and an earlier Linnet—who lived in the reign of Charles II. These meetings are for the most part not frightening to Tolly; they continually reinforce the sense of belonging that the house embodies. In the evenings, Mrs. Oldknow entertains Tolly with stories about the house and the children who lived and live there. Surrounded by the rivers and the floodwater, sealed within its ancient walls, Green Knowe is a sanctuary of peace and stability in a world of unnerving change.
The encounters of Tolly and his ghostly companions are reminiscent of similar scenes in some of Elizabeth Goudge’s books, being serenely beneficent rather than at all frightening. Though there are a few twists…
The full-page and in-text illustrations by Lucy M. Boston’s artist son Peter are intricately detailed in pen-and-ink and scraperboard technique; make sure the copy you share with your child (or read for yourself) has these included; many of the cheaper paperback and some later hardcover editions are missing these.
Perhaps I should have kept this review for closer to Christmas, as that celebration features strongly in one of the most charming incidents in the story.
In a word: Nice.
Leaves & Pages 
I love the Green Knowe stories – they’re so wonderful and atmospheric and strange!
Aren’t they wonderful? I am currently doing some long overdue blog housekeeping, linking up reviews to the Classics Club website, and I find myself feeling a strong urge to settle down with some gentle reads from the “juvenile” bookshelves. (Of course, this may merely be in response to my recent kind-of-emotionally-traumatic reading of Muriel Spark’s Memento Mori, which deals with the bitter subject of losing one’s faculties while aging. 😉 )
Spark’s a wonderful read, but not a soothing one, definitely! 🙂
I am a big Green Knowe fan, and would love to visit the actual house (near Cambridge, I think?). I have not tried it on my nephews yet and I wonder if it is too subtle for children used to the more dramatic Harry Potter. I was always slightly weirded out by the Treasure of Green Knowe in which there is a complex sampler made out of human hair. As an embroiderer myself, this seemed more unnerving than many scarier thingss.
Very subtle books in many ways, aren’t they? I wonder if they would appeal to children of today. To the discriminating few, for sure, but perhaps not to a broader audience?
And Victorian hair embroidery – those “mourning wreaths” made of flowers artfully created by the hair of the deceased – beautiful but macabre! Yes, unsettling.
Last summer, I was able to visit The Manor at Hemingford Grey and tour the gardens. I have rarely spent a more pleasant day. The real house and gardens are inspirations for Boston’s books, and elements from the books are everywhere–the chaffinch’s cage, the netsuke mouse, the bamboo garden, the mirror ball–too many to remember! The real story of Lucy Boston is also wonderful: she held musical evenings for airmen during WWII (We got to listen to the same records on our tour!), and her life gardening, writing her books, and quilting, seems almost as charming as her children’s stories. Diana Boston, her daughter-in-law, gives the tours to visitors. There is a ramble along the stream to the village church..and so many roses and gardens. You can friend “Green Knowe at the Manor” on facebook to see pictures. The hold M. R. James readings at the Manor, also. Wished I lived near!