New edition of the Smarties-Prize-winning story of escape and adventure, with wicked guardians, evil plots and a lively young female heroine. Now published into the First Modern Classics list, fantastic stories for young readers. When Dimanche is orphaned at the tender age of one, Chief Inspector Barry Bullpit advertises for any known relative to come forward. Unluckily for Dimanche, her real aunt does not see the message, but an evil money-grabbing imposter does. Dimanche, heir to an enormous fortune, is sent to live with the dreaded Valburga Vilemile, who tries to rid herself of Dimanche at every opportunity. But her lack of success is partly due to Dimanche's wits and courage, and partly to Polly Pugh, Dimanche's young and pretty nanny, who foils all Valpurga's attempts and helps Dimanche find long-term happiness with her real aunt. All the ingredients for a brilliant, attention-grabbing shorter novel are here; evil plots, kidnapping, wicked villains and gorgous heroines. Every chapter makes you want to shout 'Look behind you' or 'Oh no she doesn't' at almost every page turn.
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Editorial Reviews
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"An extraordinary story with an amazing set of characters." Michael Rosen "!brilliantly written fantasy adventure - completely compelling." Junior Bookshelf "A galloping story of escape and adventure." The Guardian
About the Author
Henrietta Branford was born in India and lived with her husband Paul Carter and three children in Southampton. Her books are all based on people she knew. As well as winning the Smarties Prize for Dimanche Diller, she won The Guardian Fiction Award for her longer novel Fire, Bed and Bone [Walker]. Her other books include the picture book Little Pig Figwort ], Ruby Red, Spacebaby, Spacebaby and the Megavolt Monster [all Collins], The Fated Sky [Walker]. Henrietta Branford died in 1999. The Branford Boase award for a first novel is in memory of Henrietta and her editor at Walker, Wendy Boase who both died in the same year.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
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This review is from: Dimanche Diller. Henrietta Branford (First Modern Classics) (Paperback)
Reason for Reading: Specifically I was intrigued with the publisher's new list under the title of "First Modern Classics" aimed at younger readers. Originating from the UK house the titles on this list, which started last year (2009) are a unique selection for North American readers. The plot of this title intrigued meA delightful story with a plot that has become somewhat overdone since this book was written especially in the form of Lemony Snicket who wrote his first book five years after this book was written. However, I still found this story to be fresh and fun, reading it in hindsight. This was my first time reading the book and to tell the truth had never heard of the author previously. Even though she has a large backlist of books, has a British Children's fiction award named after her, and this book specifically won, at the time, a prestigious UK children's award The Smarties Book Prize, which, however, is now defunct. The story features Dimanche, an orphan, raised in a very small nunnery until at three years old a letter arrives from a supposed aunt, a fellow Sister from a French order of Nuns. She has been given a reprieve to look after her niece while she grows up and they move into the family home. The reader is shown right from the start that this is not really Dimanche's aunt but the horrible Valburger Vilemile who has found out about Dimanche and is impersonating the aunt so she can collect the millions of pounds when Dimanche reaches the age of consent. Of course, if she were to die sooner .... that could only make V.V.'s life simpler since she can't stand even the sight of children. Dimanche goes through a series of nannies who just can't stand the treatment of Dimanche or themselves until her beloved Polly Pugh arrives as nanny and Polly is determined that this child shall be seen to properly and loved. A delightful romp! All sorts of shenanigans going on with Valburger Vilemile's attempts to put Dimanche in harm's way. Then when her trickery is discovered Polly and Dimanche come up with clever schemes to outwit the villain. It is pure delicious, rollicking fun all the way. I truly loved this one. Fortunately there are a couple of sequels as I'd like to see how Dimanche gets on now. The book is illustrated with chapter heading drawings. These were added in 2002, but I cannot find any earlier illustrator listed. The drawings are cute and a welcome addition to the story. While most of them are original, there does come a point when several illustrations do start to repeat themselves which is a bit of a cop-out. If you are going to add illustrations to an already published book, then do it 100%. Naturally enough, I expected this to be a girl's book. There are no male character's except for the police chief whose part is not very major. But the whole time I was reading I kept thinking how much my son would enjoy this book. Throughout the book one never really thinks about whether Dimanche is a boy or a girl and I think the author did a splendid job in creating a female character that boy readers are going to be drawn to just as much as girls. I shall definitely be moving this book over to his bedside table pile. Finally, an aspect of the "First Modern Classics" series I really like is first at the beginning there is a short paragraph by a famous author called "Why You'll Love this Book" which Vivian French provides in this instance. Then at the back there is "More Than a Story" section with its own Table of Contents. This one includes information on real famous orphans, two limericks about aunties and uncles, a magic trick, plenty of jokes and puzzles (and these do have a connection to the story you'll find after reading) and a recipe for a Traveler's Tart (this relates to one of their disguises) . Not quite as impressive as I found this section in "I, Houdini" but still worthy of inclusion. The late Henrietta Brandford is a delightful find as a new author for me, a shame she didn't make a name for herself in North America. Hopefully, this book will have others this side of the pond searching out her other titles along with me.
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