Oriel Malet (1923–2014)

Whimsical little tale that I'd have rreally liked when I was about 13. Sort of in the stable of Dodie Smith's "I Capture the Castle." When 17 yr old Jemima is "let go" from her boarding school, following her parents' scandalous divorce, it's unclea what to do with her. With a rich (but preoccupied) father, a floozy mother and a jealous aunt intervening in her time at Grandmother's house...she is sent, with another girl to Paris to be "educated".
As Jemima comes to adore the magic of life in an old French house, and befriends two children....and the handsome Frederick...there is a second story going on with their deeply corrupt "governess" who has plans of her own.… (mehr)

As I read this, it was ...verging on...spring here, and there's a certain charm in this little (140p) tale of a single day in the life of a school for performing arts in the years of WW2
Taking a number of characters...student Linda, about to leave for a career on the stage; the German music professor, thinking of his lost loved ones back home; a housemaid; a young pupil, a put-upon Companion ....Their lives pan out against a background of blue skies and daffodils.
The mystery of life, ever moving forwards..
Has a certain charm.… (mehr)