In post-war London, two street-tough children attempt to build a hidden garden, an act that awakens hidden courage in the children and profoundly disrupts the neighborhood.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
RUMER GODDEN (1907-1998) grew up in India, where her father ran a steamship company. When her husband left her penniless in Calcutta with two daughters to raise, she started to write books to pay off her many debts. She wrote over sixty books for adults and young adults, including The Doll’s House, Impunity Jane, and The Greengage Summer.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A gem of a book,
By
This review is from: An Episode of Sparrows (New York Review Children's Collection) (Hardcover)
This tiny little book is an absolute gem of simplicity, love and hope. A precociously aware, yet innocent little girl has been left with the owner of a struggling restuarant and his wife, to raise, by her mother, a woman on the fringes of show business, who cares for no one but herself. The child, Lovejoy, becomes obsessed with the idea of creating a garden in the ruins of a bombed out church, and enlists the aid of a local boy, Tip Malone. When they remove earth from a nearby enclosed garden, they are prosecuted by Miss Angela Chesney, an opinionated, domineering woman who can see no other path in life except her own, and who rules even her elder, more compassionate sister with the iron fist of mockery. It's a short story but one which made me laugh and cry because I could feel the sheer frustration, as well as the determination of Lovejoy as she battles the inexorable might of the adult world, a world which can not, or will not, see things from a child's perspective. I'm sorry that I've missed this beautiful book until now, but am grateful to have found it in an op-shop.
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A simple, but heart-wrenching book,
By
This review is from: The Episode of Sparrows (Paperback)
As a child I read this book. I read it again. I remembered the poignant moments of this novel. Lovejoy's heartbreak over the destruction of her garden, her intense loneliness and desperation when she learns her mother has left her, Olivia's pain when she realizes she cannot live to belong to someone. Godden writes of the gritty streets of London in the post-war years. Her story of Lovejoy, Tip and Sparkey fighting against the brutal realities of survival to create something beautiful ins both inspiring and charming. Overall stands the statue of the Virgin disturbing and consoling the efforts of the girl who tries to keep things clean and pretty. The characters of this story, the Chesneys, Mrs Combie and her husband Vincent, Father Lambert and Charles and Liz give flesh and spirit to the bleakness of a world trying to rise from ashes, with hope, tarnished and torn, but insistent.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a work of art,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Episode of Sparrows (Paperback)
"An Episode of Sparrows" captures, with the consummate artistry of Rumer Godden, a little sparrow-girl who nearly falls to the ground. Lovejoy's garden, in the shadow of a ruined church in postwar London, blossoms with such awful frailty that one holds one's breath with suspense. Vincent's West End-style restaurant, trapped in Catford Street, blossoms as well. thanks to Miss Olivia's at last fulfilled desire for "an ordinary little bit of life." Lyrical use of language, touches the heart,lifts the mind. A marvel of restraint and poetry.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
THE Garden Committee had met to discuss the earth; not the whole earth, the terrestrial globe, but the bit of it that had been stolen from the Gardens in the Square. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
good garden earth, vinegar bottle, candle box Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Catford Street, Father Lambert, Miss Dolben, Jiminy Cricket, Inspector Russell, Blue Moons, Miss Chesney, Sister Agnes, Tip Malone, Garden Committee, Number Eleven, Lovejoy Mason, Miss Challoner, Mortimer Street, Doctor Wychcliffe, Garden Row, Hail Mary, Priest's House, Uncle Francis, Doctor Dagleish, High Street, Our Lady of Sion, Angelica Kauffman, Miss Angela Chesney, Mortimer Square New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
THE Garden Committee had met to discuss the earth; not the whole earth, the terrestrial globe, but the bit of it that had been stolen from the Gardens in the Square. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
good garden earth, vinegar bottle, candle box Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Catford Street, Father Lambert, Miss Dolben, Jiminy Cricket, Inspector Russell, Blue Moons, Miss Chesney, Sister Agnes, Tip Malone, Garden Committee, Number Eleven, Lovejoy Mason, Miss Challoner, Mortimer Street, Doctor Wychcliffe, Garden Row, Hail Mary, Priest's House, Uncle Francis, Doctor Dagleish, High Street, Our Lady of Sion, Angelica Kauffman, Miss Angela Chesney, Mortimer Square New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 3
books:
14
books
cite this book:
See all 14 books citing this book
- Jenny and the Cat Club: A Collection of Favorite Stories about Jenny Linsky (New York Review Children's Collection) by Esther Averill in Back Matter
- The Magic Pudding (New York Review Children's Collection) by Norman Lindsay in Back Matter
- The Island of Horses (New York Review Children's Collection) by Eilis Dillon in Back Matter
- Happiness and Education by Nel Noddings in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The School for Cats (New York Review Children's Collection) by Esther Averill in Back Matter
- Captains of the City Streets (New York Review Children's Collection) by Esther Averill in Back Matter
- Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes on page 241
- D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths by Ingri d'Aulaire in Back Matter
See all 14 books citing this book
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