Grateful gods
Adults, as you know, are remote, powerful and unpredictable, giving them a striking resemblance to the Greek gods on Olympia. When...
A waste of an island
Wonderful notion this, from one of the best of Ransome's enchanting children's books. Of course if you land on an...
Alert to danger
This made me laugh out loud when reading Simon Winder's Danubia late one night. Parents ever-so-delicately trying to inveigle their...
Like a kitten
This novel is to a great extent about the relationship between brother and sister Maggie and Tom Tulliver. She loves...
Mutton-headed galoots
Arthur Ransome's characters have some out of date but still appealing ways to describe their own, or others', stupidity. I...
The best part of books…
Obvious when you put it like that. But it’s got me trying to think of what’s actually happening in books...
How to unlock a door
This is a curious and endearing account of the cleverness (aesthetic and psychological) of a child of two artists. Claude,...
Play more, work better
Of course, playing more with a view to working better isn’t going about it in the right spirit. But play...
War wounds
Listening time: 4 minutes.
Among the warm-hearted and even funny accounts of people they met in the Soviet...
Apple-cheeked children
It's an obvious one, but still a charming picture of innocence and health, apple-cheeked.
'I'm sure I never saw a...
As helpless as …
The wonderful little girl Maggie, in a fit of pique and sorrow, hacks off her glorious dark curls and then...
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