REVIEW: Diana Takes a Chance
Diana Takes a Chance: Catherine Christian Blackie
'First appeared a a serial in The Guide under the title of ‘London Venture’.
I actually prefer the title ‘London Venture’ to the more generic and not strictly accurate ‘Diana Takes a Chance.’ Diana Tremaine isthe last of the Tremaines of Grey Ladies. Fatherless and indulged by her mother, she recently left a Swiss finishing school because she was homesick, although it’s suggested that she didn’t like the discipline after having things her own way with her governesses and nearly everyone for most of her life.
In the first chapter, she learns that that has to come to an end. The bailiff, who fought with her father, tells her that the Tremaines’ fortune is gone due to a series of bad investments. The house that Diana loves so much will at least have to be let, if not sold. Moreover, Robert Goodwin suggests that he could make Diana’s mother happy, but the only way to support the new blended family will be for him to go farm in Australia with his new wife, leaving Diana to look after his two motherless children, Hal, 11 and Audrey, 5. They can stay in a flat rent-free for a year in London.
Staggered, Diana is forced to accept the reality of the situation and the novel thought that other people (mainly her mother) may have other desires than pleasing and suiting Diana. So, somehow, feeling completely unprepared, Diana winds up at her new home, a flat in Battersea, with her stepsiblings. Their help Keziah doesn’t approve of her, but there are two families with children of a range of ages, one of which has a maid called Sally Sparrow, who is, like Diana, a Ranger.
But Diana only became a Ranger to support a friend and never took it very seriously, unlike Sally, the moody, driven eldest daughter of a large and poor brood. The other young folk in the block of flats are Gregory and Ruth Edmunds, a bit younger than Hal, who share his love of animals, and Tubby Rhys, a little younger than Audrey, and his uncle David - a clerk in a law firm who would like to work outdoors and seems to have a habit of clashing with Diana.
With the responsibility for two children, however dependable in some ways that Hal is, Diana is forced to be less selfish. She gradually earns Keziah’s loyalty by sticking to things and makes friends with Sally, whom she comes to see has many qualities - qualities that Diana lacks, for all her ‘superior’ education, which never taught her how to sew. Apart from Diana’s quiet growth as a person, entertaining the children, and discovering London on the cheao with David’s help keeps life absorbing. How Diana finds out more about Hal and how amusingly young Audrey, among other characters, are drawn adds to the flavour.
The story’s origins as a serial are, at times, rather apparent. There are some bits that feel like they were missing, linking bits mainly. It took me a while to sort out Diana’s new neighbours. The focus is episodic, with some lively events, mainly involving a second-hand car the gang of friends do up to allow them to travel, but Diana’s character development is somewhat jerky. I kept expecting more to be made of the Rangers, but although Diana attends a social event held by Sally’s Rangers and feels the lack of badges on her uniform, and worse, feels the lack of the practical skills they represent earning, she doesn’t go along to a meeting.
For the purposes of tagging, I'm counting the Rangers as coming under the Girl Guides.
This entry was originally posted at http://feather-ghyll.dreamwidth.org/110767.html. Please comment wherever you prefer to.
'First appeared a a serial in The Guide under the title of ‘London Venture’.
I actually prefer the title ‘London Venture’ to the more generic and not strictly accurate ‘Diana Takes a Chance.’ Diana Tremaine isthe last of the Tremaines of Grey Ladies. Fatherless and indulged by her mother, she recently left a Swiss finishing school because she was homesick, although it’s suggested that she didn’t like the discipline after having things her own way with her governesses and nearly everyone for most of her life.
In the first chapter, she learns that that has to come to an end. The bailiff, who fought with her father, tells her that the Tremaines’ fortune is gone due to a series of bad investments. The house that Diana loves so much will at least have to be let, if not sold. Moreover, Robert Goodwin suggests that he could make Diana’s mother happy, but the only way to support the new blended family will be for him to go farm in Australia with his new wife, leaving Diana to look after his two motherless children, Hal, 11 and Audrey, 5. They can stay in a flat rent-free for a year in London.
Staggered, Diana is forced to accept the reality of the situation and the novel thought that other people (mainly her mother) may have other desires than pleasing and suiting Diana. So, somehow, feeling completely unprepared, Diana winds up at her new home, a flat in Battersea, with her stepsiblings. Their help Keziah doesn’t approve of her, but there are two families with children of a range of ages, one of which has a maid called Sally Sparrow, who is, like Diana, a Ranger.
But Diana only became a Ranger to support a friend and never took it very seriously, unlike Sally, the moody, driven eldest daughter of a large and poor brood. The other young folk in the block of flats are Gregory and Ruth Edmunds, a bit younger than Hal, who share his love of animals, and Tubby Rhys, a little younger than Audrey, and his uncle David - a clerk in a law firm who would like to work outdoors and seems to have a habit of clashing with Diana.
With the responsibility for two children, however dependable in some ways that Hal is, Diana is forced to be less selfish. She gradually earns Keziah’s loyalty by sticking to things and makes friends with Sally, whom she comes to see has many qualities - qualities that Diana lacks, for all her ‘superior’ education, which never taught her how to sew. Apart from Diana’s quiet growth as a person, entertaining the children, and discovering London on the cheao with David’s help keeps life absorbing. How Diana finds out more about Hal and how amusingly young Audrey, among other characters, are drawn adds to the flavour.
The story’s origins as a serial are, at times, rather apparent. There are some bits that feel like they were missing, linking bits mainly. It took me a while to sort out Diana’s new neighbours. The focus is episodic, with some lively events, mainly involving a second-hand car the gang of friends do up to allow them to travel, but Diana’s character development is somewhat jerky. I kept expecting more to be made of the Rangers, but although Diana attends a social event held by Sally’s Rangers and feels the lack of badges on her uniform, and worse, feels the lack of the practical skills they represent earning, she doesn’t go along to a meeting.
For the purposes of tagging, I'm counting the Rangers as coming under the Girl Guides.
This entry was originally posted at http://feather-ghyll.dreamwidth.org/110767.html. Please comment wherever you prefer to.