The first in a series of three memoirs. Molly Hughes writes of her suburban London Victorian family in the 1870s. In this first book she describes her happy childhood, growing up with her 4 brothers. She describes outings in London and holidays with her mother's family in Cornwall. Hughes notes details when describing people, places and things that make the story come alive. The foreward by Adam Gopnik tells the real, not so happy, story of what happened to her family.
I discovered this memoir through a readalong on Goodreads. I'd never heard about the author or the book, but I thought it would be interesting to see that period through the eyes of a "nobody" who experienced it first rate.
And I was surprised because, prejudiced as I was, I thought it would be a London childhood that would look like the ones in the paintings : stiff, severe, surrounded by serious adults and dark furniture. It wasn't ! The only thing that looked Victorian to me (except the high church/low church rivalry, the no traveling on sundays, Jane Eyre not being a proper book for children, etc) was this quote : "My father's slogan was that boys should go everywhere and know everything, and that a girl should stay at home and know nothing." - she had four brothers. The author doesn't mention precise ages or years, her memoir is built on themes : school, holidays in Cornwall, how the day went, the (numerous) pranks they would play on their own family or their neighbours, even perfect strangers !
The father was often away at work, but their mother was very easy-going, except when it came to religion. "No master seemed to have taught Barnholt anything, and all he brought home was detention-cards. "Never mind", mother used to say, "mark my words, he will be the first to earn his own living." And she was right."
The children were home schooled for a long time, but they seemed to be doing fairly well. They read a lot, loved books, even the "good books for children" : "death itself usually befell the leading characters. Indeed, the mortality among children was so great that Mina and I wondered how any of them remained alive to grow up."
Another quote about books : "Charles broke our rule of never discussing a book's plot with one still reading it, when he saw me one day deep in "A journey to the interior of the Earth." "Have you come to where they all die ?" said he. I read on, expecting the worst on every page, until the end showed them all alive and well. I went to Charles in no little heat. "Well," said he, "I never said they all died, I only asked if you had come to it. And if you weren't a little silly you would know that they couldn't have all died, or who was left to tell the story ?".
In undertones, we hear mentioned the alcoholism of women (if I had to stay home, spend my time gossiping with neighbours, embroidering and think of nothing but houses, menus and children, I would drink too !) and marital violence (aunt Lizzie). But honestly, it was a very happy childhood, with strong bonds between children and parents, lots of books and fun, except at the end. I read it with a smile on my face and would love to read the other two memoirs published by the author, "A London girl of the 1880s" and "A London home in the 1890s". Molly Hughes was born in 1866 and died in 1956, imagine all the changes that came through her life ! When I tell my children about my youth in the 20th century, I almost feel like we had a pet dinosaur, so...
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