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.