REVIEW: The Marigolds Make Good
The Marigolds Make Good: Catherine Christian
St Bridget’s Guide Company is to be temporarily disbanded is the edict of the school’s new headmistress, Miss Nesbitt. Like all extracurricular activities, it is to be set aside so that the school will concentrate on doing the basics of schoolwork and sports better. After a term and a summer, its status will be reconsidered.
Patrol Leader Norah is horrified, although she admits that her patrol, the Marigolds, could have approached guiding in such a way that it would have been unthinkable to get rid of it, but they didn’t. The other PLs and the prefects seem to be content to take a break from guiding. Vowing to revitalise her patrol, taking pirates as their model, Norah promises adventures to the Marigolds: her second Patsy and Patsy’s sister Biddie, and young Pixie. Joined by Mary a new scholarship girl, who is bookish but eager, they are also helped by the surprising Lady Royston, gypsies and the brilliant, impetuous Andrea.
My impression is that guides in books are far more likely to have red hear than the general population of the British Isles in the twentieth century, for whatever reason. The Marigolds are no exception, having been given their name because of the colour of their hair. Many of them seems to have Irish connections - Norah is Irish or pretends to be a lot of the time, Patsy and Biddie are presumably Patricia and Bridget and Pixie’s name reminds us of Pixie O’Shaughnessy, and St Bridget’s isn’t the first name you’d think of for a Protestant day school. Very little is said about the school, as the focus of the story is guiding, but it’s clearly set in England. There’s a lot of interest in Romany culture, even if it’s portrayed from friendly outsiders’ points of view.
Having said that, although it’s a story of a string of adventures/escapades for the lone patrol, Christian did delve deeper with the characterisation than I expected. From our introduction to Norah, during the angry outburst in response to the news about the company, I would not have expected the depths that we discover in her. Occasionally inspired, quick-minded and enthusiastic, she has a strong vein of sense to her, and turns out to be an inspirational leader. Quaint Mary is nicely set off by the others, with Biddie flourishing as the Guides spent a lot of time outdoors. Yes, they are familiar types, like half-Hungarian violin prodigy Andrea, but the author is interested in their psychology and what all these different girls get out of guiding.
As with many guiding books, there’s a sense that this is propaganda for the movement. Occasionally, Norah will make some pronouncement about some aspect of guiding, whether it’s a good example or an example of slackness, where she feels like the author’s mouthpiece. But I finished the book with some sympathy for the headmistress who derives a good deal of quiet pleasure from visiting a herb garden the Marigolds have restored and are showing off in a fundraising summer fete.
This entry was originally posted at http://feather-ghyll.dreamwidth.org/104227.html. Please comment wherever you prefer to.
St Bridget’s Guide Company is to be temporarily disbanded is the edict of the school’s new headmistress, Miss Nesbitt. Like all extracurricular activities, it is to be set aside so that the school will concentrate on doing the basics of schoolwork and sports better. After a term and a summer, its status will be reconsidered.
Patrol Leader Norah is horrified, although she admits that her patrol, the Marigolds, could have approached guiding in such a way that it would have been unthinkable to get rid of it, but they didn’t. The other PLs and the prefects seem to be content to take a break from guiding. Vowing to revitalise her patrol, taking pirates as their model, Norah promises adventures to the Marigolds: her second Patsy and Patsy’s sister Biddie, and young Pixie. Joined by Mary a new scholarship girl, who is bookish but eager, they are also helped by the surprising Lady Royston, gypsies and the brilliant, impetuous Andrea.
My impression is that guides in books are far more likely to have red hear than the general population of the British Isles in the twentieth century, for whatever reason. The Marigolds are no exception, having been given their name because of the colour of their hair. Many of them seems to have Irish connections - Norah is Irish or pretends to be a lot of the time, Patsy and Biddie are presumably Patricia and Bridget and Pixie’s name reminds us of Pixie O’Shaughnessy, and St Bridget’s isn’t the first name you’d think of for a Protestant day school. Very little is said about the school, as the focus of the story is guiding, but it’s clearly set in England. There’s a lot of interest in Romany culture, even if it’s portrayed from friendly outsiders’ points of view.
Having said that, although it’s a story of a string of adventures/escapades for the lone patrol, Christian did delve deeper with the characterisation than I expected. From our introduction to Norah, during the angry outburst in response to the news about the company, I would not have expected the depths that we discover in her. Occasionally inspired, quick-minded and enthusiastic, she has a strong vein of sense to her, and turns out to be an inspirational leader. Quaint Mary is nicely set off by the others, with Biddie flourishing as the Guides spent a lot of time outdoors. Yes, they are familiar types, like half-Hungarian violin prodigy Andrea, but the author is interested in their psychology and what all these different girls get out of guiding.
As with many guiding books, there’s a sense that this is propaganda for the movement. Occasionally, Norah will make some pronouncement about some aspect of guiding, whether it’s a good example or an example of slackness, where she feels like the author’s mouthpiece. But I finished the book with some sympathy for the headmistress who derives a good deal of quiet pleasure from visiting a herb garden the Marigolds have restored and are showing off in a fundraising summer fete.
This entry was originally posted at http://feather-ghyll.dreamwidth.org/104227.html. Please comment wherever you prefer to.