I have been familiar with this novel all my
life. Until a few weeks ago it lived on a bookshelf in Oldham
next to The Girls of Gwynfa, Keeper of
the Bees and Dimsie. They are part of a collection of Mum’s Sunday School
prize books. The House in the Floods is one of her favourite books.
I hadn’t read it for at least thirty years
but was drawn to it again as the storms and heavy rain hit Britain
They don’t send the telegrams and decide to
go and look at the flood. Dinah’s school hat blows into the river and Joan
decides that ‘this is a chance that only comes once in a lifetime’ and they
borrow a boat and set out on an adventure. The boat sinks and they have to use
Joan’s penknife to break into a house. They search the house to find food and
warm clothes. Joan justifies this by saying, ‘We can’t stop to think too much
about everything being other people’s possessions, it seems to me. It’s a case
of our being in a hole; and necessity like ours excuses almost anything.’
As a child reading this story I particularly
loved the sections where they search the house and hunker down. The girls are
brave and practical. They find a tin of cake and some apples in the attic and
rescue a kitten from drowning. There are, of course, no adults. As an adult I
found this section about children trying to define their world the most
satisfying.
Joan mentions her father once as she recalls
how he as a young man ‘had often to get up in the middle of the night and do
things in the Great War, in the most uncomfortable circumstances… Youth and not
having a light were neither of them excuses for being unenterprising.’
They are joined by two other schoolgirls, Isobel
and Anne (from the rival boarding school), and they have to decide who will be
in charge and maintain order and they all learn to trust each other and become
friends.
Yesterday I looked again at the dedication
and the date inside the book - 2nd January 1943. Mum was 10 years
old at this point and living through a war when she first encountered and
became so attached to this story. She had not been evacuated and was living in
a part of Manchester
I began to see more clearly why this story
might have been both a welcome escape into a world of controlled danger (the
floods are never made to feel life threatening) and also to reflect the experience
of food shortages, make-do-and-mend and the loss of homes and possessions. Does
anyone have any information about the author, Norah Pulling? I would love to
know more about her.
Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE
1 comment:
I haven't heard of Norah Pulling, but what a name! Nor had I come across this book, but I recognise the type of book, and know that I would have loved it as a child.
Post a Comment