Home is the Sailor by Rumer Godden and illustrated by Jean Primrose was first published in 1964. I counted just seven full page colour illustrations, but there are lots of black and white ones, all in a charming style.
This is the story of a doll’s house, its tiny doll inhabitants and the children who play with them. There are disasters and adventures, and a moaning character named Morello, supposedly the doll maid, she’s quite bitter about something, just like the cherry of her name. Mrs Lewis is another servant, she’s a Welsh doll, made of celluloid so when she heats up she crackles almost like she is laughing.
Mrs Raleigh is the mother doll, there’s her daughter Dora, twin girls called Opal and Pearl, a boy called Curly the sailor doll and Bundle the ‘long clothes’ baby. The disaster is that the doll husband Captain Raleigh has gone, no fault of his own. Miss Charlotte is the doll governess and the children were planning a wedding for her with the doll Thomas, but another disaster befell him, so Charlotte is distraught.
This is a lovely book with the lives of the dolls and the real children intertwining. When Bertrand a young French boy arrives to stay with the family he has a lot to learn. His own parents had sent him to England hoping that the experience would cure him of his know-it-all arrogance and surprisingly it does when he ends up having Curly the sailor doll as his mascot.
Rumer Godden wrote several children’s books featuring dolls and doll houses, she was very much in touch with the lives and thoughts of youngsters. This was a lovely relaxing read, for children of all ages. Thank you for letting me know about it Wilhelmina.
Susan Gordon
What a lovely surprise to see this review!
I absolutely adored this book . It was one that I borrowed again and again from the library .
I must have read it at just the right age to identify strongly with the dolls and also around the time of family holidays in N Wales.
It never received the acclaim of Rumer Godden’s other children’s books but it definitely was my favourite.
She really does capture the intensity of feelings of her characters, perhaps that’s what I remember most about her books.
Susan Gordon,
It’s one that I will probably read again, but I wish I had read it as a child. It is strange that it seems to have been overlooked, compared with some of the others. I really liked the illustrations too. I still have one called Candy Floss to read and I love the illustrations in that one, so of their time.
I was aware that Rumer Godden wrote books for children, but thus far I’ve read only her autobiography (“Two Under the Indian Sun” co-authored with her sister Jon), and an odd novel about a widowed English lady with two children who, against all advice from friends, insists on renting and redecorating an isolated bungalow in Kashmir. I have two or three of her novels on my bookshelf, but I’m not sure I’ll get around to reading them. I didn’t enjoy “Kingfishers Catch Fire” (1953) that much.
Janusz,
I have Two Under an Indian Sun on a shelf unread, and a book by Jon. I’ll get around to them sometime. I read Kingfishers Catch Fire years ago but I would have to read the blurb to be reminded of it.
Susan Gordon,
It’s one that I will probably read again, but I wish I had read it as a child. It is strange that it seems to have been overlooked, compared with some of the others. I really liked the illustrations too. I still have one called Candy Floss to read and I love the illustrations in that one, so of their time.