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Book Description
'One reason why wood-engraving makes such a good medium for books,' writes Frances Spalding in her Afterword to the new Persephone Books edition of The Runaway, ' is that it can be locked in the chase with the type and printed in one fell swoop. Cut in to the end grain of the wood, it is necessarily a severe and disciplined medium, and is also very satisfactory in the way that the taut, crisp results, with their sparkling interplay of blacks and whites, can balance the weight and density of the text. Gwen Raverat exploits this cleverly in The Runaway: her designs punctuate each new chapter with headings; infiltrate single figures every time a new character is introduced; occasionally slice unexpectedly at an angle across the page, or unfold in a double-page spread...Text and illustrations transmute this charming, lively tale into a small work of art.'
The author of The Runaway was a Victorian writer and cousin of Lewis Carroll's who published poetry, novels and children's books. But this is her 'most completely successful book,' wrote the critic Roger Lancelyn Green, ' because of its admirable plot which is a brilliant and undeservedly forgotten foretaste of the understanding of childhood which was so near.' And Anne Harvey has also written an Afterword to the 'engaging, moving and funny' Runaway, telling us something about the elusive Mrs Hart - elusive because, although she wrote many novels and collections of poetry, very little has so far been discovered about her life.
The novel is about a girl named Clarice who lives in a 'charming home, at a convenient (railway) distance from the city, where her father repaired every morning, returning to a late dinner. Clarice had no mother and no sisters.' One day she discovers Olga, a girl of her own age who has run away from school, crouched in the shrubbery and agrees to hide her in her bedroom. The subsequent plot is delightful rather than dramatic, for the joy of The Runaway is the way its style and tone pays tribute to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (which had appeared seven years before) and anticipates E.Nesbit. 'It's girls that are kept under and kept down,' says Olga; 'and so there's nothing left for girls but to run away, just as I did; and it would be hard to blame a poor creature for that.'
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Customer Reviews
Both text and illustrations are quite, quite wonderful. It's impossible to imagine them separated, and I pity the children between 1872 and 1936 who had to make do without - but more do I pity myself and all other children who didn't get this read aloud to them in their infancy. The protagonist is Clarice, an imaginative fifteen year old (who acts more like a modern day ten year old - whether that is a sign of the times, or simply Clarice alone, I'm not sure) who regrets that her father is not the army, and in the opening line, redolent of Emma, is described: 'Clarice Clavering - young, ardent, and happy -'. Longing for adventure, she finds it in the form of Olga, hidden amongst the thicket. The eponymous Runaway, she persuades Clarice to allow her to hide in the house. The plot is about whether or not Olga will be discovered; whether or not she is telling the truth about her origins; what the consequences of her running away will be for all.
But, for me, the plot is less significant than the lively characters. Clarice is a fairly typical good, obedient Victorian child, but without the slightly sickening edge that certain members of the March family have for me(...) Her spirited eagerness for adventure set her apart from her less attractive compatriots. And then there is Olga! What a delight - airy, impetuous, irrepressible, and vibrant, she reminded of nothing so much as Clarissa from Edith Olivier's The Love Child.
Had the text been printed alone, this would be a lovely book - but Gwen Raverat's wood-cuts take it to the next level. I didn't really know what wood-cuts were before I started reading Persephone Books six years ago, but now I love them. Often featured in the early Persephone Quarterlies, an article by Pat Jaffe in PQ 4 speaks of the 'bookish, talented, visual twentieth-century women [who] have taken such delight in the intimate, intricate craft they were at last allowed to learn.' Each of Raverat's must have taken so long, and they are enchanting. Not twee (though personally I never find a touch of twee goes amiss) but as spirited as Olga herself.
Any parents or grandparents out there, I do encourage you to get a copy of this for your child. If you catch them at the right age, I suspect The Runaway will become a favourite for years to come. And, like all the very best children's books, it's one which you'll have to buy a copy of for yourself too.
This is a delightful book that any child would identify with... Poor Clarice is forever lamenting the dull monotony of her comfortable upbringing, but when something exciting does indeed happen, she wonders if maybe it's more trouble than it's worth!
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