The House in Norham Gardens

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MASTERSTROKE IN SKETCHING CHARACTERS. - Rated
Anyone who needs guidance in sketching characters in a novel, look no further than this book. With consummate skill, Penelope Lively brings to life the two aunts who live in the house in Norham Gardens and their niece, Claire.

She loves them very much, as well she might because they appear to be extremely intelligent old ladies, nothing fluffy about them, the sort of old women who graduated from Oxford Colleges and sat on various committees and are able to keep up with world affairs through the newspapers. Claire looks after them and sees to their financial needs by taking in first one lodger, then another, but she worries constantly about them.

She discovers a tamburan in the attic, and realises that it is one which is displaced and wonders how the people who originally owned it, are coping without it.

Only after some problems of her own and finally an accident, does she realise that it is better off now because the people of its village have moved on, as life moves on and we move with it.

This book can be read on different levels by people of all ages. I find it delightful to dip into at times. The descriptions of Oxford are excellent and very comforting.

I'm so glad that it's been re-printed.
Do buy it, it's well worth it.

The struggle to accept the unpredictability of life - Rated
This book, ostensibly for young people but interesting to adults too, is a subtle account of a young girl's struggle to accept the unpredictability of life. She has lost both parents at eight and now lives with very elderly aunts: she is terrified of losing them too. The book contrasts the anthropology of the past with the multiculturalism of the present and attacks the 'fencing off' of the young,the old or any other group. The aunts are really beautifully drawn and so are the other characters. The book deals with time, history, the importance of memory and concludes that loss can be contained and faced. It shows an unusual family configuration that still provides what the child needs. Altogether a subtle and reflective piece.

Good old fashioned kids and big kids story - Rated
I live in Norham Gardens where this book is set and I loved the way Lively recreated the old atmosphere of North Oxford. This book is for kids but Clare, the lead character, is mature and intelligent and through her Lively evokes an easily imagined world and perspective. I wish that they would reprint this book, if only just so the huge numbers of my friends at College in Norham Gardens could buy it.

AN EXCELLENT BOOK - NOT ONLY FOR CHILDREN. - Rated
This is a captivating book, by the author of "Moon Tiger' one of the best books I've ever read. In this book, we see the relationship between Clare Mayfield, who lives with her aunts in Norham Gardens, in North Oxford. The aunts, highly intelligent old ladies,are distanced from the day to day economic necessities of everyday life, and Clare takes on these problems. She discovers a tamburan in the attic, and the past of this relic is described in notes above each chapter. As she encounters more worries about the aunts and their health, she becomes more absorbed in the lives of the people who carved the tamburan. Eventually everything becomes very difficult for her and she needs to be rescued from her plight and the plight of the tamburan......