STREATFEILD NOEL — Mothering Sunday

Collins, London. 1950. Hardcover with dust jacket, 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Book, 256pp & less than 500g to post. This is the story of Anna Caldwell. She is the mother of five children, and when the book opens has taken to living alone. This makes her children anxious. Jane is the managing one of the family, and she arranges a mass visit on Mothering Sunday to see what can be done. The family co-operate, though unwillingly, Henry, the eldest son, a blimpish M.P.; Felicity, though she has been avoiding Anna, who does not know why, for years; Margaret, the dowdy but utterly happy Deptford doctor; the in-laws; Jane's sensible husband Simon; Henry's American wife Carol, anxious to believe the English less cold than they seem; Felicity's devoted and humble George - they all come. Their children turn up unasked. Only Tony, the youngest, is missing, the deserter and jailbreaker, the scapegrace skeleton in the respectable family cupboard. Noel Streatfeild sets her stage and tells her story with the consummate skill and understanding of human goodness and human foibles that readers expect from her. No novelist writing to-day has a surer touch in revealing ordinary people in ordinary situations with interest, sympathy and freedom from sentimentality. reviewer says >>> Streatfeild begins the book from Anna's point of view, then progresses through various other members of her family, revealing more and more about the family's history and their relationships as she goes. This works really well; the characterization is marvelous, and I really liked the gradual revealing of secrets. Very Good/Good.