She never doubted for one moment that once she had the necessary training she would find the work. She knew with her whole being that she was a born mechanic. In what way she would have a chance to prove this she didn’t know, but her prayers always finished: “And oh God, if possible, let me fly".
 
1920s London: three adopted sisters train for the stage and support the household.

Maimie, Tania and Daisy Whichart have self-reliance thrust upon them. The Whicharts is the story of their dreams, friendships and loves. The drudgery of stage-work is set against their passion for family ties and realising their dreams.

Out of print since the 1930s, Noel Streatfeild's first novel is an exuberant portrayal of London cultural life in the inter-war years.

 

I’m thrilled to bits that The Whicharts is proving popular with collectors, bloggers and book-buyers and have had some lovely reviews. FOLLY Magazine (September 2010) was kind enough to write and print the following as well as giving me permission to add it here:

 

 

About ten years ago, I acquired from Gill Bilski the only one of Noel Streatfeild’s adult books not already on my shelves (Luke, if you’re interested); and having read it, sold the entire collection. While yielding to no one in my love for Streatfeild’s children’s books (and, indeed, her ‘Susan Scarlett’ romances), there was just so much fictional misery one could take. For those who haven’t encountered the books she wrote for grown-ups (and which she considered for many years to be her ‘real’ work), it should be explained that, with a handful of exceptions within the oeuvre, Streatfeild is a sort of minor league Thomas Hardy: cruelty, oppression, poverty, murder and child abuse stalk through her books, and though many of them end on an optimistic comment by the protagonist, one can’treally see what she has to be cheerful about.

Having cleared my shelves, however, I discovered that there was one book I regretted selling – and now it’s been re-issued by [...] Margin Notes Books [...] – in paperback, so affordable, and with a most beautiful cover. (See http://www.marginnotesbooks.com/index.html for more details.) The publication of The Whicharts is gratifying for all sorts of reasons. First, as many Streatfeild readers will know, it’s not only Streatfeild’s first book (written in 1931), but is the story which she adapted and (so to speak) prettied up when, five years later, she wrote Ballet Shoes. Not only is the plot similar and the characters (though re-named) more or less the same, there are many verbal resemblances, beginning with that well-known opening (“The Whichart children lived in the Cromwell Road. At that end of it which is furthest away from the Brompton Road, and yet sufficiently near it to be taken to look at the dolls’ houses in the Victoria and Albert every wet day, and if not too wet expected to ‘save the penny and walk…’”). There are plenty of differences, of course. Pauline and Maimie are both beautiful blondes who go on the stage, but Pauline is talented, hard-working and dedicated, whereas Maimie sleeps her way to the top; Sylvia (“Garnie”) and Rose (“Howdy”) care for the children in identical fashion, but Sylvia is Great-Uncle Matthew’s niece and Rose is the Brigadier’s cast-off mistress. Perhaps most importantly, though all three Whichart children are important, just as the Fossils are, there’s no doubt that Streatfeild’s real focus is Tania, the Petrova equivalent: the second half of the book is almost all devoted to her, and the upbeat ending (much more satisfying than most of its successors) leaves us in no doubt that Tania’s life is going to be fulfilled and happy.

Obviously the book is not without flaws. Because Streatfeild is covering about twenty years in 250 pages, the narrative often gallops through incidents which really need more development; and occasionally it’s a little frustrating, having to follow the fortunes of the three girls as their paths diverge (something which she avoids in Ballet Shoes by stopping at the point where Pauline is just about to depart for Hollywood). But it’s a great read in its own right, not just as a literary curiosity, and this new edition is hugely welcome. Thanks to Margin Notes Books, it will now sit on my shelves reminding me that not all Streatfeild’s adult books focus on lacrimae rerum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can buy directly from the publisher (via PayPal), visit my Amazon shop (UK) or Amazon.com.  

 

If you have any questions, please email me at info@marginnotesbooks.com or leave a comment on my blog.