I’ve been trying, rather unsuccessfully, to
pace myself on reading the series of children’s books authored by Lucy
Boston. I tend to read books I really
like too fast and I’m always disappointed when they’re finished! In spite of all my rationing efforts, I
finished reading the fifth book in the series, “An Enemy At Green Knowe”, last
week. Each of the books is so different
it’s hard to resist seeing which direction Lucy Boston will head off in next.
You can just see the reflection of Lucy’s love for her
surroundings and her home’s imagined history in all of her books. I think you’ll love the enchanting way house, garden, and statuary become characters as important as the people! All old
houses, over time, gather some sort of magic, and none more so than Green
Knowe. Green Knowe is the old house, founded in Norman times, that turns into a refuge for
ghosts, time travelers and gorillas alike in Lucy’s books.
In "An Enemy At Green Knowe" both Tolly and Ping are
staying at the manor. Mrs. Oldknow tells them the story of Doctor Vogel, a
tutor and magician who came to a diabolical end at Green Knowe
centuries before. The next day, Professor Melanie D. Powers appears, hunting
for Vogel's occult
papers. Professor Powers' interest is far from
academic, however, and a mounting confrontation between the holy magic of Green
Knowe and the forces of Evil, represented by Melanie Powers, commences. Spells,
potions, secret languages written on bat’s wings, cobwebs, black cats, snakes –
it’s all in the story, but you’ll have to read the book to see how creatively
Tolly and Ping thwart the evil!
With the introduction of
witchcraft, this book takes a decidedly darker turn than previous novels in the
series. For me, that wasn’t a
negative -there are certainly places where you hold your breath with
anticipation - Dr Powers is genuinely scary - but the frightening episodes are
over quite quickly, and not drawn out in a disturbing way for children. There are minor victories all through the book,
allowing for bedtime readings which see Tolly and Ping secure within the walls
of Green Knowe for another night, at least.
Peter
Boston's illustrations are an essential part of the Green Knowe books - done on
scraperboard, they are rather hard to reproduce here, but, in the books, the
intricacy of the drawings makes you want to study the detail. They provide the
perfect reflection of the delicacy with which the stories are told, and their
deep sense of magic and history.
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