If it was through reading that I first came to it, it was no doubt because of the title; some of my earliest memories are visiting my grandma in the house where she and grandpa then lived, which had a marvellous collection of fruit trees in the front and back garden, the best of which were the greengage trees. This, principally because the Complete British Housewife, however sound a Briton at heart, was by no means an expert Briton at expressing herself with clearness in the British tongue and sometimes might have issued her directions to equal purpose in the Kamskatchan language. On the wilderness and orchard side was an older, more truthful world; every day as we passed into it, I caught its older, simpler scents.

stars, rounded up, said she, her tongue swiping wide to catch the last bit of greengage juice racing down her chin. This is an old-fashioned novel in the very best sense and Godden has such superb control over all of the elements of character, setting and plot. This initially seems to be a novel about every child’s secret dream; the opportunity to run free without any adult supervision, spending all day simply pursuing your own pleasures. I figured that anything by Godden would be worth the investment, and as 'The Greengage Summer’ had been made into a film (starring a young Susannah York), I didn’t think I’d be disappointed.It was meant to be one of several the two made together, a never-filmed adaptation of The Mousetrap intended to be another, [2] with the third being Legacy of a Spy. Joss and I felt guilty; we were still at the age when we thought being greedy was a childish fault, and this gave our guilt, a tinge of hopelessness, because, up to then, we had believed that, as we grew older, our faults would disappear, and none of them did. There were a few, on the trees, overripe in the sun but still firm under the leaves; I ate both kinds and they added to the chaotic feeling in my stomach.

Four and a half stars, with a half star off for all the French--I quite enjoyed it and I think even those who don't speak any French would be able to follow the plot, but it might be off-putting for some.The children are left in the care of the proprietress, Mademoiselle Zizi, who had little use for them, and her assistant, Madame Corbet, who had so many duties that she paid little attention to them. I do not know, but, as if the first greengage had been an Eden apple, I was suddenly older and wiser and did not try to speak to him. Running a fever and given nothing more than a sugar pill from an Indian doctor in a filthy village….

To say any more would be to spoil the story (which we see through 13 year old Cecil's eyes) For me the only good thing that happens is the feasting on greengages.I think now that the discontent was because we were never quite comfortable in Southstone and the rudeness came from the discontent; it was as-if a pattern-mould were being pressed down on us into which we could not fit. In this case, at the Hotel Ouilletts in France, where Cecil and her 4 siblings are stranded after their mother is hospitalized for weeks.