Guest Author - Gillian Buchanan

Ever hear about the Green Knowe books by Lucy M. Boston? Written in the 1950s and 1960s, they were a favorite children's series at the time. Here's a look at the series by guest writer Gillian Buchanan,who hosts BellaOnline's tatting site:

The House at Green Knowe

Lucy M. Boston's books about Green Knowe are among the most enchanting children's stories I have ever read. They are written about children living and playing in and around an ancient house, and although in a sense the books are ghost stories they are not remotely frightening and, indeed,one of the characters describes them as "the others" and it's made clear that the characters are not to be considered as ghosts at all in the normal sense. The children are mainly from different generations of the same family although rhere are some others as well.

Book 1, The Children of Green Knowe, describes Tolly coming for the first time to stay with his grandmother during the Christmas holidays. He meets Linnet, Alexander and Toby, children from the time of the Great Plague in England (which took place just before the Great Fire of London in 1666), and who died during the plague. Tolly's grandmother Mrs Oldknowe also tells Tolly enchanting stories about these children which have been passed down through the generations of the family to her.

Book 2, The Chimneys of Green Knowe, again has a series of different strands in it. Tolly comes back from school to find the picture in which Alexander, Linnet and Toby were painted has been sent to an exhibition and may be sold. To alleviate his disappointment, Mrs Oldknowe tells him stories about Susan, a blind girl from the early 19th century, and her servant Jacob who is a black slave brought back as a playmate for his daughter by her father. Readers who are concerned about children’s books that refer to slavery should rest assured that the author in no way condones this terrible part of our history. Rather, she touches on it within the period she writes about. Of course Tolly meets Susan and Jacob during the story and there are quite a few adventures involving historic events of the time when Susan and Jacob lived. Also of importance in both books are the quilts which Mrs Oldknowe repairs while she tells the stories to Tolly, and the fabrics come to represent some of the characters in the book.

Book 3, The River of Green Knowe, brings in a completely new set of characters. The house has been rented by two elderly ladies who decide to have their niece over to stay during the summer and invite two boys from a refugee camp to join her as company. In the words of the book, "the two old ladies fortunately seemed to think that children were as well able to take care of themselves as cats. You only needed to feed them and turn them out." At that ime these words had a very different meaning from what would be considered acceptable today, that the children were free to do pretty well what they liked. As a result, again they have many adventures involving the river and the old house.

Book 4, A Stranger at Green Knowe, brings Ping, one of the two boys from the previous book, back to the house. Tolly is unable to come for the holidays and his grandmother agrees to have Ping stay after Ida writes to her. Remember again these books were written in the 1950s and '60s. A gorilla escapes from London Zoo and hides in the thicket in the Green Knowe garden concealed in part by Ping, and the book concentrates on this with all the associated natural history themes you would expect today. At that time this was an unusual topic for a children's book and it won Mrs. Boston the Carnegie Medal when it was published in 1961.

Book 5, An Enemy at Green Knowe, brings witchcraft into play. Tolly and Ping are together at Green Knowe with Tolly's grandmother and Melanie D. Powers uses every form of witchcraft to attempt to get Mrs. Oldknowe to sell her the house. Why only becomes apparent later on in the book and I won't spoil it for you by revealing the reason!

Book 6, The Stones of Green Knowe, the final one in the series is about Roger, the son of the man who built Green Knowe, finding he can travel in time using two ancient stone chairs. He meets Tolly and eventually their visits are ended when the chairs are removed to be placed in a museum - and this of course brings in the very early developments of the politics surrounding the removal of ancient monuments from their original resting place.

Apart from the wonderfully clear story lines, the fantastic thing about these beautifully written books is that a lot of it actually is real. You can go and see the house at Green Knowe by visiting The Manor, Hemmingford Grey near Huntingdon in Oxfordshire, and see the house and garden and of course the river. The thicket is real, and going into the house is almost like walking through the books. The house itself was built in the 11th century and is the oldest inhabited property in the United Kingdom.

The quilts hang in the Music Room (also real) where there is an original early gramophone with a gold standard collection of 78 records. They are also on display elsewhere in the house and by appointment only you may visit and be taken round to see Toby's sword, Linnet's doll, the witch's ball from An Enemy at Green Knowe and all sorts of other things related to the books. Many of course are not used or displayed as written in the books - St. Christopher is a statue at a church in Oxfordshire, not at Hemingford Grey at all - but that's all part of the magic of your visit. It becomes very difficult to disentangle fiction and reality and in the end you just accept it as it is, as the children do in the books.

The moated house has a wonderful garden with the national collection of roses, wonderful floral borders and of course the thicket and old beech trees described in the books. The topiaries described in the first book are also present, and you can walk down to the bottom of the garden to reach the River Ouse.

The books are back in print and can be purchased by visiting oldknowbooks.com
and you can get more information about visiting The House at Green Knowe by
visiting greenknowe.co.uk.

There is also a variety of biographical studies of Lucy M. Boston and a book
about her quilts by Diana Boston you can buy by visiting the shop at The Green Knowe Site Shop.


Article by Gillian Buchanan
Tatting Host at Bella Online
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