REVIEW: An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden
This much-loved English novel from Rumer Godden is reminiscent of The Secret Garden, telling a fairy tale-esque story about neighborhood children and a mysterious garden in post-WWII London.
An emergency meeting of the Mortimer Square Garden Committee has been convened to discuss a most alarming matter: someone has been digging in the garden and making off with buckets of dirt. Miss Angela Chesney is sure that a gang of boys from run-down Catford Street is to blame. But Angela’s sister, Olivia, isn’t so sure.
Olivia has always wondered why the neighborhood children—the “sparrows” she sometimes watches from the window of her house—are kept out of the private garden. Don’t they have a right to enjoy the place, too? But neither Angela nor Olivia has any idea what sent the neighborhood waif Lovejoy Mason and her few friends in search of good, rich earth. Still less do they imagine where their investigation of the incident will lead them—to a struggling restaurant, a bombed-out church, and at the heart of it all, a hidden garden.
Review
It’s been a while since I’ve read a Rumor Godden book but this one looked interesting as it’s set in post WWII London and deals with class differences – namely who is allowed access to what. To paraphrase a GR review – understatedly hiding behind the story is a discussion of morality, religion, entrepreneurship, and social responsibility.
The iron railings surrounding the garden in the middle of an upper class Square of houses in London might have gone to the war effort but the efficient and officious Miss Angela Chesney has seen that they were replaced with wood palings in order to keep the sparrows (e.g. riffraff) out. Sparrows are what she and her older, and quieter, sister Olivia call the street children who live nearby on the working class street. But someone has been stealing the garden dirt!
Meanwhile, young anti-heroine Lovejoy Mason lives with a restaurateur and his wife while her own mother, a singer, travels the country. Lovejoy has been taught the importance of clothing and is meticulous with hers but she hasn’t had much love in her life. Vincent has dreams of running a superior restaurant and is willing, to his wife and sister-in-law’s dismay, to take advantage of the new buy on credit plans to achieve it. Lovejoy disdains most of the people around her and is adept at filching this and that from stores as well as a packet from Sparkey, a young, invalid boy. The packet turns out to have seeds and Lovejoy decides to start a garden. But first she must find a place for it.
This, however, is spoiled by a gang of local boys. Something about Lovejoy impresses the leader of the gang, Tip Malone, to whom Lovejoy unusually bears her soul. Tip finds her a different place, the bombed ruins of a local Catholic church, where she can regroup and then finds himself volunteering to work for her as well as gleefully goading Lovejoy into repaying the candle money from the Church which she stole in order to buy gardening tools. Lovejoy’s relationship with religion is sketchy but she feels (and doesn’t like it) that the statue of the Virgin Mary is looking into her soul about the money. Needing more dirt, Tip, Lovejoy, and Sparkey (who still loathes Lovejoy for stealing that packet) begin sneaking into the garden in the Square to get prime dirt which none of them sees as actually stealing because – it’s dirt. A showdown about it, though, is coming.
The book focuses most of its time on the children but I’m not sure this is really a children’s book. Godden’s writing style is full of semicolons and m-dashes with many sentences having many of both. It took me a while to get into the rhythm of reading them and I honestly don’t think many teens, much less middle grade readers would be up for it. Many of the characters are not easy to like, including most of the well-to-do. Lovejoy and Sparkey both have their charms as well as moments when they’re exasperating. They are definitely ‘fight for what you want’ children and not sentimental moppets. They do have their reasons which for Lovejoy, at least, are a bit heartbreaking. We see what it is like for these children to grow up poor and a bit of why Lovejoy, who has little, is so single minded about the garden and getting others to help her.
Godden paints a detailed picture of the people and places. Some might say the details are too detailed. The pace of the story is leisurely but I enjoyed getting an almost cinematic slice-of-life glimpse of this world and its people. There are lovely moments sprinkled through the book but some of the scenes feel a bit disjointed and subplots often aren’t explained for all the details given. Who are the wealthy couple who flit in and out of the neighborhood? Why did Vincent think an upscale restaurant would work in a working class neighborhood? And who is Manley?
But as I read on, I became invested in Lovejoy’s determination to build an Italian garden amidst the bombed ruins, come hell or high water. Watching the interactions and relationship grow between Tip and Lovejoy was fun before it became fraught. Lovejoy grows as she faces her actions and what this has caused others. Since Lovejoy is eleven and Tip is fourteen, they might eventually become childhood friends to lovers but it doesn’t happen in the book.
One thing to prepare for is the fact that when the fit hits the shan about what Lovejoy and Tip have been up to, there is fallout. Adults get involved and much of what we’ve come to love in these character’s lives gets upended. This is also the impetus for one character to stand up for herself after a lifetime of allowing others to, frankly, trample her while another gets to see how people who are not in her circle view her. But just when things look bleak, a light appears and some characters are given chances to fight for their dreams again. Maybe, in the future, relationships can be mended.
The ending might seem unfinished to some readers and hopeful to others. The realizations some characters gain about themselves are subtle. The social commentary about the haves vs the have-nots might land a bit lightly but it’s pointed. Dreams that the characters have might not be practical, but I breathlessly read the scene when Vincent gets to finally serve a gourmet meal to people who appreciate it. Lovejoy might appear to be headed for a life of being made to be thankful that there are rich people who pity her but then we learn there might be another fate for her. Olivia might have been overlooked for all of her life but in the end she gains knowledge of herself and manages to make sure that her wishes could help others. This is not a happy children’s book but I think the underlying messages still ring true today. B
~Jayne
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I have meant for a few decades now to read a book by Rumer Godden. Your review makes me think I will like this one. Thank you.
@LML: This is a book which will reward patience. I tried to mention all the things which might annoy readers and you might want to read a sample to get an idea of the writing style.
Another one of Godden’s books I enjoy is “In this House of Brede” which is on sale now.