REVIEW: The Redheaded Patrol
The Redheaded Patrol: Mrs A.C. Osborn Hann The Girl’s Own Paper (published before 31 July 1938)
I don’t do this often, but I’ll quote the opening and closing lines of this book:
It really was a most extraordinary coincidence. All the girls in the Scarlet Pimpernel Patrol had red hair! And nobody could manage them! Leader after leader had tried and given it up in despair! (p.9)
Now, whether my readers wish to hear any more of Judy and Gladys, and the other members of the Redheaded Patrol, depends entirely on the reception given to this book. (p. 176)
On the first, that’s three exclamation marks and on the second, that’s shilling for a sequel. (This reminds me that the next Oldmeadow that I intend to read is The Pimpernel Patrol.)
One of the greatest strengths of this book, about a company of Guides in London in the 1930s is authenticity. Rare for a book of fiction, it’s illustrated by photographs by the author of people and animals purporting to be the characters (one of them has fabulous plaits). To whatever extent, as a reader, you’re convinced that what you’re reading about was influenced by real life, if not directly transposed from it.
St. Augustine’s Company is troubled by one patrol, all redheads, with the strong, mischievous personalities of Judy and Gladys in the lead. They’ve proven too much for successive patrol leaders and Captain is struggling to find a solution. Judy and co.’s pranks escalate, and although some fall flat, some have unexpected consequences - and aren’t as much of a laugh as the girls thought they’d be.
In the end, Captain is forced to disband the naughty patrol and separate the girls into the other patrols. Ray (of the plaits) volunteers to take on Judy. A devout young Christian, she seeks the advice of the Vicar on how to deal with Judy, and he suggests being her friend. It’s lightly done, but it is clear in the book that as the only child of the doctor and the only member of the Company to go to her school Ray’s life is very different to Judy’s, who is one of nine and not given to thinking out the consequences of what she does or, actually, what the Guide law means. But Ray sees the good in Judy’s character and Judy is clearly influenced by Ray during the course of the story.
Events are kept well within the bounds of possibility, with simple things like how a mocked up campfire in the church hall or how receptive the London-bred girls are to a daytrip to the country telling their own tale. We see that it’s not easy for the Captain, who has a weak heart and a young Lieutenant to support her, or the Vicar, in his seventies, to give so much to the Guides and parish, respectively, but we see that it’s a generous gift. Guiding brings focus and colour to the girls’ lives, teaching them observation, discipline and team spirit - although they’re not paragons! Ray is the most thoughtful, but we see it in how the older girls look after and out for their juniors.
This Company of Guides also find out about Brownies by post through a friend of the Captain’s - this section almost made me choke up, as we see how Guiding helped paralysed, bed-ridden and sick girls, giving them too a focus and an interest, self-discipline and selflessness.
I did find the ending rushed. Gladys’s story ends unsatisfactorily and the book could have done with another chapter about her and Judy. However Mrs A.C. Osborn Hann certainly sells Guiding as attractive and useful. She also brings forward girls from the lower social classes, who aren’t usually given such a prominent role in girls own, showing them to be fallible, enthusiastic girls.
Given the time it was set and written (in the book, there’s one reference to Hitler, which I could discuss and analyse, but prefer not to) and having read How the Guides Won the War - though it’s hard to judge how much the writer was thinking of coming war - there’s an added poignancy in reading this, because these characters and, presumably, the real girls who inspired the author, would be facing war, in at least the form of the Blitz, as young adults. I’d be interested in reading any books this author wrote about Guides set during the second world war.
This entry was originally posted at http://www.dreamwidth.org/12345.html. Please comment wherever you prefer to.
I don’t do this often, but I’ll quote the opening and closing lines of this book:
It really was a most extraordinary coincidence. All the girls in the Scarlet Pimpernel Patrol had red hair! And nobody could manage them! Leader after leader had tried and given it up in despair! (p.9)
Now, whether my readers wish to hear any more of Judy and Gladys, and the other members of the Redheaded Patrol, depends entirely on the reception given to this book. (p. 176)
On the first, that’s three exclamation marks and on the second, that’s shilling for a sequel. (This reminds me that the next Oldmeadow that I intend to read is The Pimpernel Patrol.)
One of the greatest strengths of this book, about a company of Guides in London in the 1930s is authenticity. Rare for a book of fiction, it’s illustrated by photographs by the author of people and animals purporting to be the characters (one of them has fabulous plaits). To whatever extent, as a reader, you’re convinced that what you’re reading about was influenced by real life, if not directly transposed from it.
St. Augustine’s Company is troubled by one patrol, all redheads, with the strong, mischievous personalities of Judy and Gladys in the lead. They’ve proven too much for successive patrol leaders and Captain is struggling to find a solution. Judy and co.’s pranks escalate, and although some fall flat, some have unexpected consequences - and aren’t as much of a laugh as the girls thought they’d be.
In the end, Captain is forced to disband the naughty patrol and separate the girls into the other patrols. Ray (of the plaits) volunteers to take on Judy. A devout young Christian, she seeks the advice of the Vicar on how to deal with Judy, and he suggests being her friend. It’s lightly done, but it is clear in the book that as the only child of the doctor and the only member of the Company to go to her school Ray’s life is very different to Judy’s, who is one of nine and not given to thinking out the consequences of what she does or, actually, what the Guide law means. But Ray sees the good in Judy’s character and Judy is clearly influenced by Ray during the course of the story.
Events are kept well within the bounds of possibility, with simple things like how a mocked up campfire in the church hall or how receptive the London-bred girls are to a daytrip to the country telling their own tale. We see that it’s not easy for the Captain, who has a weak heart and a young Lieutenant to support her, or the Vicar, in his seventies, to give so much to the Guides and parish, respectively, but we see that it’s a generous gift. Guiding brings focus and colour to the girls’ lives, teaching them observation, discipline and team spirit - although they’re not paragons! Ray is the most thoughtful, but we see it in how the older girls look after and out for their juniors.
This Company of Guides also find out about Brownies by post through a friend of the Captain’s - this section almost made me choke up, as we see how Guiding helped paralysed, bed-ridden and sick girls, giving them too a focus and an interest, self-discipline and selflessness.
I did find the ending rushed. Gladys’s story ends unsatisfactorily and the book could have done with another chapter about her and Judy. However Mrs A.C. Osborn Hann certainly sells Guiding as attractive and useful. She also brings forward girls from the lower social classes, who aren’t usually given such a prominent role in girls own, showing them to be fallible, enthusiastic girls.
Given the time it was set and written (in the book, there’s one reference to Hitler, which I could discuss and analyse, but prefer not to) and having read How the Guides Won the War - though it’s hard to judge how much the writer was thinking of coming war - there’s an added poignancy in reading this, because these characters and, presumably, the real girls who inspired the author, would be facing war, in at least the form of the Blitz, as young adults. I’d be interested in reading any books this author wrote about Guides set during the second world war.
This entry was originally posted at http://www.dreamwidth.org/12345.html. Please comment wherever you prefer to.