Brat Farrar

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Is there any hope that Brat can escape from the trap of his own making into a world where he really does belong and can be loved as himself? All I want is a cosy little weekly allowance for the rest of my life, so that I can thumb my nose at Equity, and management, and producers who say that I’m always late for rehearsal. I thought it was a great evocation of post war, upper middle class life; some elements of Tey’s writing are very much of their time (working class women are either comedy charwomen or vicious and vulgar) but I loved Brat himself and the way I found myself on the side of the imposter.

It was a highly entertaining old-fashioned mystery/suspense novel, one of the inspirations for Mary Stewart's The Ivy Tree (which I also recommend!The last one with Brat grimly hanging on at the edge of the quarry, with Simon's knife glistening in the darkness is probably my favorite. And like that book, what is most compelling are the many ways that this stranger changes the family's dynamics, and not whether the newcomer is the authentic long-lost child.

This second tragedy particularly surprised the family because Patrick was such a sweet and well-adjusted boy whom no one suspected was on the brink of taking his own life. One of the possibilities he considers is that Simon really knows that Patrick is dead because he was killed by Simon.

That said there is no viciousness in her attitude and the author comes across as a pleasant person who you would like to meet.