The Greengage Summer

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When their mother is suddenly taken ill on holiday, five siblings are left to fend for themselves at the elegant, faded hotel, Les Oeillets. It is very late at night and they are very much the worse for their journey—grubby, wearing school uniforms that make them look like orphans, terribly hungry and desperate.

Uncle, William and Mother had had those pictures when they were children, but Joss had taken them down and put up a Chinese painting instead; she took that with her to Willmouse’s room, and I brought the prince back. Joss Grey (Susannah York), a 16-year-old English girl, finds herself responsible for the care of her three younger siblings on a summer holiday in France when their mother is suddenly taken ill and rushed to the hospital. Here at the hotel there is intrigue, mystery, love affairs and coming of age angst, as well as peaceful days of summer exploration.

Thanks to Godden's bifocal storytelling, we know that Cecil lives, unscathed, for the most part, to tell the story vividly in this unforgettable book. Best quality of read in spirit and in lyrical prose for the year and exactly what I needed for a gloomy spring. However, things do not get easier when they reach the hotel – the mother’s condition deteriorates, language being a barrier the children struggle to communicate, and the hotel manager, Madame Courbet, is not particularly welcoming.

I wondered why Godden chose a difficult name to pronounce, even for a fairly competent French speaker. I know I first read The Greengage Summer as a girl, and was mostly puzzled then at how different it was from Godden's children's books - how unsettled and lacking in resolution. I looked quickly round, but no one came, no voice, scolded, and, after a moment, I bit into the ripe golden flesh. If you read that one, you can read the short Foreword written by the author’s daughter, but don’t read the Introduction by Jane Asher or the author’s Preface until after you have read the book, or it will spoil it for you.Lazy days of pleasurable picnics, bathing and roaming the local medieval town with Eliot follow, with Cecil and her younger siblings forgetting their poor mother entirely in their happiness at such freedom. Madame Zizi, the owner, is obsessed with her handsome, well-dressed English lover, Eliot, who, when he is the mood, takes the Grey children under his wing. A lyrical, atmospheric family story, with a surprising amount of suspense and some great plot twists at the end. They are virtually abandoned as their mother is taken ill and has to stay in hospital and they are looked after by the owner of the hotel, Madam Zizi, and her English lover, Eliot.

Godden brilliantly portrays the culture of outsiders, and in this book the outsiders are English children on vacation in France. It’s SO good I’m worried you would read it and then find all future Rumer Godden books disappointing.Our important had receded only on Father’s rare visits; Uncle William and his friends were uninteresting as the dead to us and children’s doings, problems, ideas, and Jose had filled all our horizons. The children’s mother is packed off to a hospital, which must be good since it serves wine with luncheon, and the children are on their own, running free in the town by the river and in the splendid orchards. Joss’s recent maturity is made obvious by the attentions of a louche and seemingly selfish Englishman, Eliot, who is one of the aforementioned lovers. The scenes with boring old Uncle William, Hester and Willmouse (whose every line made me laugh out loud and whose name I might have to use for my future cat) were among some of my favorites, and even the darker moments weren't as dark as they'd be if written by a different author.