Today's Christmas scene comes from a suggestion from a reader, who mentioned this book in a comment on one of the posts in early December...
A Vicarage Family by Noel Streatfeild
published 1963
set in the 1910s
Excerpt:
[lunchtime at the vicarage on Christmas Eve, Victoria’s
birthday]
Hester with a flourish put a dish of meringues bursting
with cream in front of the children’s mother.
‘What’s this?’ she asked. Then she turned to Miss Herbert.
‘I asked you to tell Annie we’d have baked apples.’
Miss Herbert flushed. ‘And so I did. Is it likely I would
order rich food like that on Christmas Eve?’
The children’s father beamed at Victoria. ‘I expect it’s
Vicky’s birthday treat…’
But the children’s mother was still annoyed. Grudgingly she
put a meringue on each plate. ‘Tell Annie I’ll see her after lunch.’
[Annie explains:] ‘I like to see justice done. I made
meringues for Miss Louise’s birthday and chocolate eclairs for Miss Isobel’s.
What’s Miss Vicky done to be palmed off with baked apples?’
There was really nothing the children’s mother could say
unless she gave Annie notice, and she had no intention of doing that.
Annie, head up, totally unbowed, strutted to the door.
There she turned and winked at Victoria. ‘Someone has to stick up for you,
don’t they ducks? I reckon it’s lucky you’ve got Annie.’
comments: In an earlier Christmas
entry, the family in Anne Hepple’s Piper in the Wind ate
on Christmas Eve ‘jellies and sweets and creams of a plainer make than the
morrow’s extravagances, since Hagar had said they mustn’t have too much rich
food the night before Christmas.’
And then one of my favourite things happened: readers
making connections and bringing me to more books. Staunch blogfriend Ann
Phillips came into the comments to recommend this:
Having 'plainer' creams because they're afraid of having too
much rich food on Christmas Eve reminds me of a scene in Noel Streatfield's
Vicarage Family. It's Vicky's birthday on Christmas Eve, but because it's
Christmas the next day her mother has ordered a plain pudding. But in defiance
of her instructions, the cook makes meringues and cream, and tells Vicky's
mother that it's not fair - she makes special puddings for the other children
on their birthdays so why not Vicky? The family are stunned and silenced. Vicky
assures her father that she won't be ill because there's a play to do on Boxing
Day. There's some other nice Christmas details in the book - lonely
parishioners with nowhere else to go being invited in for Christmas, and the
girls always making spare Christmas presents so there's something to give
everyone.
I told Ann I would be able to use this story in next year’s
Xmas entries, but I got hold of the book and read it straightaway, and then it
seemed a shame to wait, so here it is.
The description of the Vicarage Christmas entirely lives up
to Ann’s promise: Streatfeild always does such gatherings so well.
The book is unabashedly autobiographical, though NS has
changed names and a few details – she is Victoria, as above, and they share the
24th December birthday, born in 1895. And Victoria is a classic
Streatfeild middle child, who feels like an odd one out, less loved and less
talented than her siblings.
Streatfeild is an absolute blog favourite, and had already
been mentioned in the Xmas
entries, in regard to troupes of dancing children in panto. And in
this book we see the seeds of her own fascination, so well-communicated to the
generations of fans of Wintle’s
Wonders (aka Dancing Shoes) and of course Ballet
Shoes. She sees Lila Field’s Little Wonders in a seaside
show and is spellbound :
Where did they come from? Who
taught them to dance? Where did they do their lessons? Did they earn money? Did
their mothers travel with them, or perhaps someone like Miss Herbert? Victoria
wove endless stories round that fabulous dancing troupe – sometimes including
herself among them. Those lucky, lucky children, so miraculously free from the
boring life led by other girls, especially girls whose home was a vicarage.
There are many other recognizable features that make you
think of her wonderful children’s books. But all in all, A Vicarage Family
is a very strange book and I will undoubtedly do more entries on it – but for
now we will leave happy Victoria with her special birthday treat.
Picture is Breakfast by Edouard Vuillard from 1913 – wrong
meal, right date.
I like this description very much, Moira! There's a real sense of Annie's character here, and there's also a strong sense of place and time of year. And, of course, the wit... Little wonder Streatfeild is so well-loved here at CiB.
ReplyDeleteThanks Margot, and yes indeed! She knows how to tell a story, and, as you say, can tell you about a character in a few lines...
DeleteThe Vicarage Family was - perhaps unusually - my favourite Streatfield, and the only one I've kept rereading into adulthood, though not everyone shares my fascination. Annie the cook reappears in Streatfield's second volume of fictionalised autobiography Away From The Vicarage. She's been an army cook during the war, and is reluctant to cut the meat in as small portions as Victoria's mother would like, because she's got used to serving men with big appetites!
ReplyDeleteSo now you are going to make me read Away from the Vicarage next!
DeleteThanks again for the tipoff, I did enjoy reading Vicarage Family very much. It won't replace Ballet Shoes or Wintle's Wonders for me...
There's also Beyond The Vicarage, about her becoming a writer. Neither of the follow ups have the fascination for me that The Vicarage Family had, but they are interesting. They do include some odd fictionalised episodes though, and also some odd descriptions of real life concerns for people who had been brought up in her class before the wars - how to deal with the people who now cook, clean and care for them, but who aren't 'servants' in the way they would have been in the 1910s.
DeleteI had never heard of Noel Streatfeild before I watched You've Got Mail but read Ballet Shoes since. Nice to know he has written more lovely books.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to get the recommendation! There are lots of other books by her, you have some treats in store!
DeleteI know. I loved that movie and Meg Ryan spoke so passionately both about Ballet Shoes as well as Pride & Prejudice which I also love, so I just had to read it. And thanks, I'm looking forward to more of the Shoe books.
DeleteIsn't it great when you come to an author in a sideways manner like that? I love hearing about new-to-me books and authors via a favourite film or book
DeleteThis entry suddenly made a book cover from my childhood memories leap into my head with amazing vividity, an image I hadn't thought about in DECADES. And sure enough, when I Googled - it was the cover to this book!!
ReplyDeletehttp://kateconstable.blogspot.com/2020/02/a-vicarage-family.html
So glad to have brought you back a memory! I like the cover, but I think their hair is far too messy for the era...
DeleteMy understanding (based on Angela Bull's biography of Streatfeild) is that A Vicarage Family is a VERY fictionalised autobiography. I'm sure many of the events are real (such as the Christmas one - the other meal I particularly remember is the party they go to in Lent where they eat bread and butter with hundreds and thousands on it) and also the emotions she recaptures for Vicki. But there is a lot of rearranging, and I believe members of the family were unhappy with how some people were presented (also, the close relationship with John was considered to be Made Up).
ReplyDeleteI think Away from the Vicarage (about her ten years as an actress) is more autobiographical, and Beyond the Vicarage (her writing career, including WWII) the most so. While 'Beyond' is probably the weakest as a book, I think it is my favourite because of all the details about the war, and also the background to writing her early books.
As I child, I found Vicarage Family less enjoyable than Ballet Shoes and the other of her children's books we owned. But in my defence, I was very young, and found some bits of Vicarage Family a bit confronting. (I wasn't able to get hold of Away and Beyond until I was an adult.)
Thanks, that's helpful extra info. Siblings' reaction to a memoir is always a fascinating topic! I can completely understand their being annoyed, but also children's perceptions can be very different from each other. Look at the Mitford sisters' upbringing. Recollections may vary, as the Palace recently said.
DeleteI think I should try to read the two later books now - I read one of them many years ago, but I don't know which one.
I was disappointed when I read this. It fell somewhere between a novel and a memoir, and whilst I didn't dislike it, I felt it didn't quite come off. But I found it interesting to see how strongly her childhood influenced her writing - think of all those 'plain Jane' girls who turn out to be clever and talented. And were the various women who helped her fictional families deal with daily life, based on Miss Herbert, who acted as governess, nanny, maid, and secretary to Streatfeild's own family?
ReplyDeleteYes, I think that sums up how I felt about it. It was readable enough, but didn't quite fit into any genre. but yes, totally, you can see the roots of many later aspects...
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