The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris [Hardcover]

Leon Garfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 16, 2001

An experiment to see if a wolf will adopt an abandoned baby turns into a desperate situation for two schoolboys in early nineteenth-century England when the child is recovered by well-meaning passersby.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Two Leon Garfield novels are now available in hardcover and paperback editions. In The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris (1971), the author describes, with wit and droll humor, two 18th-century schoolboys' experiment to see if a wolf will adopt and nourish a baby; originally published in the U.S. as Footsteps (1980), John Diamond relates the tale of young William Jones, who desperately seeks John Diamond, the son of a man wronged by William's father.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Open a Leon Garfield novel and you'll be powerless until you've finished it." -- Suzan Cooper

"A mad eigthteenth-century farce is set in motion by the actions of two schoolboys, Harris and his devoted, but none-too-bright, friend Bostock . . . A wildly funny and clever work by a master of confusion." -The Horn Book

"It is a fine thing that Leon Garfield's rip-roaring and funny tales should be brought back into circulation for a new generation." -- Joan Aiken

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); Farrar, Straus and Giroux ed edition (April 16, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374372772
• ISBN-13: 978-0374372774
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,882,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Kind of Insane Charles Dickens, June 2, 2002

By 

CodeMaster Talon (Orlando, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris (Paperback)

Oh how I wish someone had told me about Leon Garfield when I was a child! I would have just eaten these books right up. Garfield writes beautifully and wittily, with well drawn, likable characters and intelligent dialogue. But his plots! Dear lord, the plots. "The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris" features the classic Garfield plot structure of beginning with about a dozen characters, sending half in one direction and the other half the opposite way to gradually form a giant circle. Way leads unto zany way as the people in his decidedly eccentric world try desperately to stave off their respective fates, to no avail. The good guy gets the girl, the bad guys end up confused, and Bostock and Harris go on to "Night of the Comet", (which if memory serves is actually a prequel, but never mind). If you have never read one of Leon Garfield's loopy tales, please do so immediately. You won't regret it. And if you like "The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris" you absolutely MUST read "Black Jack", Garfield's masterwork. Murderers, con-men, insane asylums, the end of the world- it's not be to missed.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Of Bostock and Harris and other things ...., April 11, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris (Paperback)

This is a book by a well-known writer of novels for young adults, but it isn't really a book for children.

It's a comic tale of two troublesome boys, Bostock and Harris, from Dr Bunion's Academy in England in the early 1800s, who decide as an experiment to leave Harris's baby sister, the young Adelaide of the title, exposed to the elements just like the babies of ancient Sparta were (this is just the kind of thing kids pick up from history lessons). They expect a she-wolf to come along to suckle her, but instead .....

The book features a wonderful cast of funny characters, my favourites being the scheming and devious Major Alexander, who can't look anyone in the eye, and the awful enquiry agent, Mr Selwyn Raven, who sees a spider web of sin in the world and notes it all down on ever-increasing bits of paper.

There is adventure, romance, and some very funny happenings in a delighfully told tale that will have you smiling your way through. Very highly recommended for all readers.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Leon Garfield's funniest book, December 1, 2003

By 

L O'connor (richmond, surrey United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris (Library Binding)

Timid schoolmaster Mr Brett is striving to teach his class Ancient History. He tells them of the Spartan custom of exposing unwanted infants on the mountain side (looking fearfully at the boys in front of him, he wonders why the custom was ever abandoned). One of the boys, the crafty harris, comes up with the idea of exposing his own infant sister, Adelaide, to see if she will be suckled by a she-wolf (or, this being England in the Regency period, a fox). He enlists the help of his slow-witted but admiring friend Bostock, and together they expose Adelaide and wait hopefully for the fox to turn up. Unfortunately, the baby is rescued by romantic Tizzy Alexander, the schoolmaster's daughter (loved hopelessly by Mr Brett) who takes her home. Her father suspects the worst when his daughter turns up with a baby, and challenges her bumptious admirer Ralph Bunnion to a duel. The hapless Mr Brett finds himself acting as second to both participants. Meanwhile poor Adelaide ends up ina foundling hospital. As Harris and Bostock try desperately to get her back, more and more characters are drawn into a complex web of misunderstandings and deceits. This is an absolutely hilarious book, told in Leon Garfield's inimitable style.