I hope this site gives the impression of swan-like serenity, though if it does it's a wonder because underneath there is frantic paddling going on. In addition to posting here, and keeping up with various other commitments, I'm writing for three periodicals at the moment, so there's much prioritising of reading, and shaping vague thoughts and impressions into coherent, reasonably authoritative commentary, while feeling that I'm really just an ugly duckling and the end result is bound to be more 'waddle and splash' than 'effortless glide'.
With a lot of work on, I do try to keep my bedtime reading to 'relaxing' books, something I've picked up purely for my own interest and not because I'm expected to write about it. Currently on the bedside table is a delightful memoir of two Scots sisters written by the daughter-in-law of one of them. 'Alicella': A Memoir of Alice King Stewart and Ella Christie by Averil Stewart is about a pair of redoubtable ladies, one of them an intrepid traveller and keen gardener, who lived from the 1860s to the 1940s. A reference to them cropped up in Catherine Horwood's very interesting Gardening Women
and I realised then that I'd heard my grandmother mention them when I was a child. She lived close to what had been their castle home - both it and the ladies were long gone by that stage but their memory lingered in the district, and as we drove past the gate lodge and I peered up the drive, imagining the place full of oriental treasures as Granny described it, something stuck in my mind - funny how all these years later and through the book, my curiosity about what had lain behind the high walls of the estate is satisfied - well, partially, as I'd love to go and see what remains of the garden.
Connected to that in some way that I can't quite put my finger on is a book I thought of when I was answering Simon's questions, specifically the one on childhood reads. I remembered a book called The Green Linnet, written (I now discover because I've looked it up) by Gwyneth Vacher and illustrated by Victor Ambrus. I have no clue now what it was about, or where and when it was set, but I do recall at the time I read it (when I was ten or eleven, I think) that I associated it in some way with what I imagined Miss Christie's house was like. Does anyone know the book, or anything about it? It may not be as I remember it at all and I could be confusing it with something else, but in my mind The Green Linnet and the sisters with their eastern artifacts in the castle hidden from view are forever linked.
I haven't heard of the book, but have to admit that I did a fair amount of mental cobweb cleaning myself in answering Simon's questions. Each new post in the series seems to be bringing more and more reading memories back -- much fun. :) I hope someone can answer your query, though.
Posted by: Susan in TX | 30 March 2011 at 07:43 PM
I have never heard of,much less read "The Green Linnet", but as a bird lover who made extensive use of the "bird" pages in World Book Encyclopedia as a child/teenager, I must say I love the name. However, what really entranced me was the word "redoubtable", which I had to immediately Google!
PS - Somehow all of this reminds me vaugely of Rima the Bird Girl of W. H. Hudson's "Green Mansions". I am probably way, way off base here! LOL!
Posted by: Julie Fredericksen | 02 April 2011 at 04:07 AM
"Green Mansions" is a great title, and it sounds an interesting book, too. Thanks, Julie.
Posted by: Cornflower | 02 April 2011 at 10:03 PM
I read The Green Linnet also as a child, and remember that I loved it. I think it was about a tiny bird the little girl rescued then set free.
Posted by: Janine | 13 November 2018 at 12:21 AM
Thank you, Janine!
Posted by: Cornflower | 13 November 2018 at 11:14 AM