Saplings (Persephone Classics) [Paperback]

The Wiltshires are an ordinary middle class family just before the beginning of WWII. Mum, Dad and four children are portrayed in the opening chapter as almost too cloyingly contented on their annual seaside holiday. This first chapter does not prepare the reader for the course the book will take. As the war begins and the family has to adapt, the children's secure world begins to fragment. Streatfeild's insights into the psychology of children are excellent. She makes each of these children, Laurel, Tony, Kim and Tuesday an individual who reacts to the gradual breakup of their family in their own totally realistic way. The adults in the story, parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, teachers and servants, fail the children in fundamental ways, with few exceptions. This is a moving story of the disintegration of a family in wartime. The experience of evacuees, and the consequences of children being seperated from their parents and siblings is beautifully done. Above all, the novel is well-written, full of interest and packed with characters the reader grows to care about. I loved Ballet shoes as a child, and Saplings has the same quality of observing and understanding children.

It is true that this is not a happy book in many ways, the slow destruction of a happy family (although at the beginning you sense that happiness to be fragile) is not a cheerful topic. This however is a beautifully written novel, very readable, with fabulously drawn characters, realistic, and often flawed. Noel Streatfeild wrote about children so well, their voices are so authentic and the reader is able to identify with them, and their little agonies - and really feels the larger tragedies that enter their lives, as we can all remember what it was to be a child, not fully understanding the world around us. The reality of WW2 - and its effects upon family life is what is at the heart of this novel, and these effects are most keenly felt by the children of the family, but the adult characters are just as well portrayed and explored. I loved every page of this book.

Like many of us, I grew up secretly wishing I could be a member of the Fossil family from Noel Streatfeild's children's book 'Ballet Shoes'. This book was cherished throughout my childhood and is still loved today. Over the years I began to collect her other children's book, but I was quite surprised to discover last year that Noel Streatfeild had also written books for adults. So it was an easy decision for me to pick Saplings as my Persephone choice.

Saplings is a much darker tale then any of the children's books written by Streatfeild, but ultimately it deals with children. The story revolves around a happy, middle class family who are shown in the opening pages to be enjoying a family holiday at the seaside. The children are carefree and enjoying the holiday in the hope that it will last forever. The war is still just a rumour and they have no need to fear the future. However their father Alex, who is very much a family man, is more aware than others that their lives will change, so he goes to great lengths to make their holiday together one to remember.

As the story progresses, World War 2 commences and you are given a clear insight into how the war alters the family. Each and every person, from the young to the old are ravaged by the effects of war and you cannot help but want to comfort them all.

The main theme of this book is the effects of the war on the children. The last line of the book could not be more ironic, as the house help Mrs Oliver announces 'We got a lot to be thankful for in this country. Our kids 'aven't suffered 'o-ever else 'as' This could not be further from the truth, as you witness the downward spiral of devastation on each child within the book as war rips apart the close knit family.

I felt such grief for the children in the story. Each turning in a different direction, which took them further away from their mother. Those maternal ties, stretching and snapping the further they grew apart. Laurel, once a loving thoughtful child, now disagreeable and bringing shame on the family by being expelled from school. Tony, an inquisitive child, who turns into a 'surly, unco-operative boy.' Tuesday, such a delicate child to begin with, left in a world of imaginary friends, unable to communicate with the real people in her life. Kim was the only one I found to not have really changed. He had always been self centred, the war just increased this behaviour.

Their mother Lena, was not a loving mother to begin with; after the death of her husband, she lost her ability to cope and the children were separated and sent to live with different relatives. I couldn't feel angry by her behaviour, her abandoning the children, as I could not imagine how her devastating circumstances would affect me if I had experienced the same. You imagine that you would be strong for children, but you really could not determine your actions.

You witness all the adults within the family trying to help. Uncles and aunts and close household staff, trying to do what is best, but all failing the children dismally, unable to grasp the effects the separations and change of routines would have on them. They are too wrapped up with their own lives dramatically changing to see how the children are coping.

I felt that this book should be included in secondary school curriculums. The children of today would realise how lucky they are, if they could see the devastation that World War 2 caused to children just like themselves. Children being sent to live with complete strangers, never knowing whether they would see their parents again. Waiting for a telegram to tell them that their parents have died.

This book is so beautifully written; you believe so highly in the children, your motherly instincts kick in and you want to take them home and wrap them in cotton wool to preserve them from any more damage.

I adored this book. I adored the children in it, (even though they broke my heart) and I know it has only increased my love for Noel Streatfeild's books. This woman not only wrote for children, but she understood them.