If you’ve read (or cried over) this novel as a teenager, it’s time for another look. Often described as The Secret Garden’s urban cousin, An Episode of Sparrowsfollows two troubled children in post-Blitz London as they attempt to make beauty (literally) grow from the ashes. Originally published for adults, the tale has an ageless appeal and poignancy for anyone in similar search of ‘good garden earth’ just below the ruins of life.
Having loved In This House Of Brede, I wanted more of Godden's books. This one reads as if Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant were watching over a mixed London neighborhood in the 1950s: sweet, even saccharine, but nice.
Lovejoy, a street girl, is cared for by a penurious landlady and her restaurateur husband--who dreams of being a great chef, but has no money to do it. (L's real mother, a singer, has abandoned her.) Outwardly tough but longing for love and beauty, the girl plants a stolen packet of seeds in a bombed area, running afoul of the gang whose turf it is. But wait... can it be that the gang's leader is also a leather-covered marshmallow?
In a nice neighborhood nearby, two old spinsters notice that someone has been stealing topsoil from "their" square's garden, and they have a pretty good idea who. Will the nasty Angela put Lovejoy away for good in an orphanage? Will the sensitive Olivia figure out a way to help her?
No surprises here, it's all urban fairy tale, but still fun to read.
شركة المثالية لتنظيف المنازل
ReplyDeleteشركة المثالي ماكس