Young Visiters The [Hardcover]

Daisy Ashford ASHFORD (Author)

Book Description

Mr Salteena was an elderly man of 42 and was fond of asking peaple to stay with him. He had quite a young girl staying with him of 17 named Ethel Monticue. Mr Salteena had dark short hair and mustache and wiskers which were very black and twisty. He was middle sized and he had very pale blue eyes. He had a pale brown suit but on Sundays he had a black one and he had a topper every day as he thorght it more becoming. Ethel Monticue had fair hair done on the top and blue eyes. She had a blue velvit frock which had grown rarther short in the sleeves. She had a black straw hat and kid gloves.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fiction by nine-year-olds is rare, but the precocious Ashford redeems her unremarkable story in ways she could never have imagined. Written in 1890 but not published until 1919 (and kept in print in Britain since that time), this novel proves to be a completely innocent yet inadvertently amusing spoof of Victorian society. The guileless author (whose photo nonetheless shows a deep self-satisfaction) writes of 42-year-old Alfred Salteena, who, born on the wrong side of the blanket, wishes to become a gentleman. The suave and well-connected earl of Clincham imparts to his apt pupil (without irony and with telling accuracy) the essence of becoming one of the upper class: have plenty of money, keep your unsavory past hidden, wear the right clothing and, above all, know how to hunt, shoot and ride. Armed with this knowledge, Salteena is instantly transformed into Lory Hyssops and gets a job with the royal family. His story is a perfect vehicle for the author's parade of pious, hard-drinking, tight-fisted, socially stratified and hypocritical Victorians. Ashford's fractured syntax, phonetic spelling and imaginative grammar eventually become wearing, but fortunately the book is brief. According to Kendrick's prefatory note, Ashford gave up literary ambitions after she wrote a second novel at age 14; she died in England in 1972.

Copyright 1991 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Daisy Ashford, full name Margaret Mary Julia Ashford (1881–1972) was an English writer who is most famous for writing The Young Visiters, a novella concerning the upper class society of late 19th century England, when she was just nine years old. The novella was published in 1919, preserving her juvenile spelling and punctuation. She wrote the title as "Viseters" in her manuscript, but it was published as "Visiters". She was born in Petersham, Surrey, the daughter of Emma Georgina Walker and William Henry Roxburgh Ashford, and was largely educated at home with her sisters Maria Veronica 'Vera' (born 1882) and Angela Mary 'Angie' (born 1884). At the age of 4 Daisy dictated her first story, The Life of Father McSwiney, to her father; it was published in 1983. From 1889 to 1896 she and her family lived at 44 St Anne's Crescent, Lewes, where she wrote The Young Visiters. As well as The Young Visiters, she wrote several other stories; a play, A Woman's Crime; and one other short novel, The Hangman's Daughter, which she considered to be her best work. She stopped writing during her teens. In 1896 the family moved to the Wallands area of Lewes, and in 1904 she moved with her family to Bexhill, and then to London where she worked as a secretary. She also ran a canteen in Dover during the First World War. When published in 1919, The Young Visiters was an immediate success, and several of her other stories were published in 1920. In the same year, she married James Devlin and settled in Norfolk, at one time running the King's Arms Hotel in Reepham. She did not write in later years, although in old age she did begin an autobiography which she later destroyed. Ashford's name was sometimes used as a way to criticize adult authors of the 1920s if their style was deemed too childish or naïve; Edmund Wilson referred to the novel This Side of Paradise by his friend F. Scott Fitzgerald as "a classic in a class with The Young Visiters." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 105 pages
• Publisher: Academy Chicago Publishers (August 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0897333659
• ISBN-13: 978-0897333658
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #455,414 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The adult world through the eyes of a child, June 17, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Young Visiters The (Hardcover)

This book was written by an eight year old girl some time around the turn of the century. It is a story of courtship. The author had read many of the clasic novels on the subject. Combined with the experiences of a child, the result is a book filled with unintentional humour.

The result is that her characters are at once children and adults. When taken for a ride in a cariage, her heroin kneels on her trunk and looks out the window, bouncing up and down in her excitement. When Mr. Salteena, whose ambition it is to be a "real gentleman," is presented at court the Prince of Whales offers him ice cream. When he goes to visit London, Mr. Salteena sees nothing improper about sending the heroin to stay with the hero, unchaperoned. They fall in love and marry, much to the disapointment of Mr. Salteena who loves her too. He consoles himself by eating some of the wonderful deserts at their wedding supper.

This is one of the funniest books ever written.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic just waiting to be rediscovered, July 22, 2003

By 

Gavin Wilson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Young Visiters The (Hardcover)

This is the book that started the schoolchild genre subsequently defined by '1066 and All That' and Molesworth's various manuals such as 'Down with Skool' and 'Whizz for Atoms'. As with 'The Young Visiters', the grammar, the language and the authorial viewpoint of those classics contribute much to our enjoyment. But unlike its descendants, 'The Young Visiters' wasn't written by an adult ... probably.

To my knowledge, there isn't an audiobook version of the full text. But there are a couple of gushing extracts contained on the Naxos compilation '1000 Years of Laughter' which demonstrate that it isn't just the troubled spelling which make the book so amusing. The introduction to those extracts lead us to believe that JM Barrie, who wrote the introduction, could have had much to do with the entire work. Certainly once Barrie had died, she never wrote again, but my feeling is that the nine-year-old Ashford probably was the author. The story is less than 60 pages long, and can be enjoyed in a couple of sittings, then repeatedly re-read.

This work is likely to experience a dramatic surge in popularity this year. A TV adaptation starring Jim Broadbent (of 'Moulin Rouge' fame) will be broadcast, and this recently overlooked masterpiece will return to prominence once again.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Laugh on every Line, May 5, 2004

By 

A. Griffiths "Adrian" (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Young Visiters The (Hardcover)

How many self styled "comic" novels could hope to be as funny as this one...not many in my opinion. When a novel can be read through in a couple of hours and give you laughs on every page, you'd be mad not to buy it. Plus you'll probably want to read it again. There's plenty of information surrounding the background to this unique book, so I won't repeat any of it here. But basically, anyone with an interest in humour, absurd romantic situations, social history and a love of the English language simply has to have a copy of this. The charm of this book lies chiefly in the reading, it cannot be understood by just having it explained to you. Nor does it translate well to filmed adaptation; the recent BBC dramatisation with Jim Broadbent made a real ham-fisted job of it, adding their own extra plot and even making up new dialogue and mis-spellings...unforgivable!!
I agree with another reviewer who has mentioned that the J.M. Barrie forward is almost as entertaining as the book itself, drawing attention as it does to many of the best passages. Everybody I have introduced this book to has fallen in love with it, because it's nothing less than a pleasure to read. And its cheap too. In fact, my review could really be confined to two words - "Buy It!"