This book concerns a family where the children consist of a couple of boys, and a few more than that of girls. They live in a Square in London, which bears the name of an existing London Square, but which is placed, according to the story, in quite a different place to the real one. The children are fascinated by the occupants of the various other houses, some of whom they gradually get to know.

The children grow up, the boys are away doing interesting things, and the girls become interested in their own clothes and appearances. This may be just a male’s view of the story, but it seems like it to me, for there doesn’t seem to be nearly as much life as you find in the same author’s Pixie books. Well, I suppose that’s not true: there is a subtle undercurrent of old love affairs revived that runs right to the very last page—and that is one of Mrs Vaizey’s greatest skills. If you haven’t done so, do read the little biography we have written of her, as it will help you to understand her writing rather better than if you don’t.

Still, you read the book, and see what you think. You may well be pleasantly surprised.

The first edition of this book is dated 1907. The edition used is dated 1907. The publisher was The R.T.S. Office, 4 Bouverie St, London EC4 The number of pages is 306.

Here we have yet again the lovable Pixie, the youngest child of the O’Shaughnessy family, who had all been brought up at Knock Castle, in Ireland, and about whom two previous books have been written. None of the family can quite get their minds round the fact that Pixie is now old enough to have affairs, and even to marry, especially as they are all aware how very plain she is.

But Pixie has other ideas. She becomes engaged to Stanor Vaughan, a very good-looking young rising businessman, whose very rich but disabled uncle is his guardian. The uncle suggests that Stanor should go to America for a couple of years, to become a bit more mature.

Meanwhile there is very nasty and sudden accident to little Jack, an angelic little boy, whom everybody adores. Will he survive?

Eventually Stanor returns to London. But things have sorted themselves out rather better than we would have thought after the first few chapters.

This book was printed in a very heavy type on thinnish paper. It was a mistake to scan it on the default brightness setting, and it was very difficult to clean out all the misreads. There may yet be a few, but not many, I hope. These will be taken out eventually, I hope.

The first edition of this book is dated 1895. The edition used is dated 1930. The publisher was The Religious Tract Society, London. The number of pages is 376.

This is another excellent book by Mrs de Horne Vaizey, dating from the end of the nineteenth century. While of course it is dated in its references to the world around its actors, yet nevertheless their emotions are well-described, and no doubt are timeless.

In some ways the world around the people in the book is recognisable today, in a way which a book written thirty or forty years before would not have been. They have electricity, telephones, trains, buses, and many other things that we still use regularly today. Of course one major difference is that few people today have servants, while middle-class and upper-class families of the eighteen nineties would certainly have had them.

Today we travel by aeroplane, while in those days, and indeed for much of my own life, we travelled by ship and train. It was normal when travelling back to England from India to disembark at Marseilles, and come on to the Channel Ports by train, perhaps even spending a week or two in Italy, en route. I have done it myself.

So it is not so very dated after all. But I do think there is a real value in reading the book. Oddly enough, I think that a boy would benefit from reading any of the author’s books, more than a girl would, because it would give him an insight into the girlish mind which he could not so easily otherwise obtain. And as the young ladies of this book are trying to sort out whom they should marry, matters do get quite girlish.

The first edition of this book is dated 1901. The edition used is dated 1901. The publisher was The Religious Tract Society, 4 Bouverie St, London. The number of pages is 287.

I have used part of the same introduction for this book, as I did for one of the books about Pixie O’Shaughnessy, not because the books are anything like the same, but because the observations are equally valid.

This is another excellent book by Mrs de Horne Vaizey, dating from the end of the nineteenth century. While of course it is dated in its references to the world around its actors, yet nevertheless their emotions are well-described, and no doubt are timeless.

Some older children are being educated at a Vicarage near Brighton, along with the vicar’s own three. Peggy Saville is a “new girl”, having previously lived in India, where her parents still are. She has great talent in some directions, but still has to add up by counting on her fingers! This is an abbreviated version of the book, but there are hints that she gets up to some tricks in what has been left out.

There is a fire at a dance given by the titled family of one of the pupils, from which Peggy rescues the daughter of the house. Both girls are injured, Peggy the more severely, but eventually they are both on the way to recovery.

In some ways the world around the people in the book is recognisable today, in a way which a book written thirty or forty years before would not have been. They have electricity, telephones, trains, buses, and many other things that we still use regularly today. Of course one major difference is that few people today have servants, while middle-class and upper-class families of the eighteen nineties would certainly have had them.

So it is not so very dated after all. But I do think there is a real value in reading the book. Oddly enough, I think that a boy would benefit from reading any of the author’s books, more than a girl would, because it would give him an insight into the girlish mind which he could not so easily otherwise obtain. N.H.

The first edition of this book is dated 1900. The edition used is dated 1935. The publisher was The Bouverie Educational Series. The number of pages is 89.

This book is not really in the same league as Pixie, but it certainly is a well-written story about the inner life of a young woman in search of a wooer and future husband in the months and years after she leaves school. All the characters, men and women, boys and girls, are well-drawn, and the book is an enjoyable read, which we would recommend, particularly to the fairer sex. Dated in 1895, it contains contains a good deal of local and historical colour, and is worth reading for the insight into the social background of girls of the professional middle classes of those days.

The first edition of this book is dated 0. The edition used is dated 0. The publisher was S.W. Partridge & Co., 8 & 9 Paternoster Row, London. The number of pages is 322.

This is an absolutely delightful book. Pixie is a totally unique character! Her mother had died and had left what money she had for Pixie’s education. The family live in a tumble-down old castle in Ireland, and are all and each totally eccentric, in an Irish kind of way. Pixies and her father travel to London, for she is to go to a school for girls in the London suburbs. Suddenly her father realises what a shabby little thing she is. Furthermore she has a very strong Irish brogue. So how does she get on with the other girls. Famously, in the end, but there were a few set-backs.

There is a very strongly written episode in the second half of the book, where Pixie takes the blame for the loss of a perfume-bottle that had been given to one of the mistresses by an old and beloved friend. Everything points to Pixie being the culprit. She actually knows who did it, but somehow had given her word that she wouldn’t give the other girl away. Pixie is punished severely, not only for having done the deed, as generally assumed, but also for refusing to talk about it. Could any of us show such strength of character? There are several sequels to this book, but though good, they are mere sequels. The inspiration that went into this book is unsurpassable.

The publisher was The Religious Tract Society, London. The number of pages is 309.

This is another excellent book by Mrs de Horne Vaizey, dating from the end of the nineteenth century. While of course it is dated in its references to the world around its actors, yet nevertheless their emotions are well-described, and no doubt are timeless.

In some ways the world around the people in the book is recognisable today, in a way which a book written thirty or forty years before would not have been. They have electricity, telephones, trains, buses, and many other things that we still use regularly today. Of course one major difference is that few people today have servants, while middle-class and upper-class families of the eighteen nineties would certainly have had them. It was a passing joke in the book that it was surprising that the butler, on discovering a young couple kissing, did not say, “Allow me, madam.”

Today we travel by aeroplane, while in those days, and indeed for much of my own life, we travelled by ship and train. It was normal when travelling back to England from India to disembark at Marseilles, and come on to the Channel Ports by train, perhaps even spending a week or two in Italy, en route. I have done it myself.

So it is not so very dated after all. But I do think there is a real value in reading the book. Oddly enough, I think that a boy would benefit from reading any of the author’s books, more than a girl would, because it would give him an insight into the girlish mind which he could not so easily otherwise obtain. N.H.

The publisher was The Religious Tract Society, London E.C. The number of pages is 313.