A French Summer: Gold, Green, and Amber

The Greengage Summer
By Rumer Godden

The five Grey children have frustrated their mother until she decides they should spend a summer in France to learn a lesson.  Instead, their mother becomes sick and they stay at a Hotel while mother gets better in the hospital. The next two months become a child's paradise - ripe fruit in the orchard, swimming in the river, basking in the sun, and growing up.

Goodreads recommended this to me for reading (and rereading) one of my favourite books "I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith. I had no idea this wonderful this book would sink into my heart. Truly it reminds me of "I Capture the Castle" in the best ways - the narrator is a girl on the verge of womanhood, she misinterprets many events because of her innocence, and in the end, has revelations when looking back at an older age.

It can be read by young readers and by adults, each gaining very different meanings. In essence, it's about a summer and its golden paradise, each day feeling like a year. Every child's dream to suddenly be allowed to do whatever they want - their mother being removed because of illness.

The hotel itself is peppered with characters that begin to influence each child differently - Monsieur Joubert the famous painter who takes Joss (the eldest) under his wing; Paul the boy-help who fights with Cecil (second oldest and narrator) and becomes the catalyst to much mischief;  Madame Zizi the jealous and elegant woman attached to Eliot the oddly placed English Gentleman who promises mother to look after the children.

Eliot is our biggest influence, doting on the children, allowing them expensive experiences, and encouraging their whims becoming an almost reverent figure in their eyes.

The best part of each character is that we never gain a full understanding of who they are. Cecil cannot grasps the minute details and therefore we are left with many gaps in our understanding. It adds to the charm. We the reader are thus just as innocent to the goings on.

The French atmosphere is divine and Godden immerses us in an English child's view of what it is to be 'French'. The descriptions are like a delicate desert, deliciousness to be savoured, and nibbled in tiny bites.

Upon searching multiple bookstore sites, this book is hard to find. I recommend, that if you find it, read it. It will bring you back to the cusp of childhood when anything was possible.

5 STARS