My first foray into the work of English children's author Hester Burton, who came highly recommended by my friend Constance, The Henchmans at Home is a collection of six interrelated short stories that follow the lives of three Victorian children: William, Ellen and Rob Henchman.

Full of both humor and pathos, these stories demonstrate a true sensitivity to the young person's perspective, whether in the portrayal of William's feelings of being trapped by his duty and sense of love for his father, or in chronicling Ellen's amorphous fear of the changes she senses in those around her. Burton handles these difficult-to-articulate feelings with aplomb, crafting an absorbing story of the difficult but joyful process of growing up.

I was also impressed with how convincingly Burton locates her story in the Victorian era, somehow managing to avoid those anachronisms of language and concept that prove so irritating in many works of historical fiction. Although she includes plot elements that would have never been discussed in the children's books of that time - unwed pregnancy, madness, etc. - her understanding of the sensibilities of the period allow her to place these events in a realistic framework.

As a final note, I greatly enjoyed the black & white illustrations by Victor Ambrus. ( )