Juliana Horatia EwingRecensioni

Absolutely delightful storytelling, full of joy, sadness, morality and mischief. I wonder why I have not been introduced to Juliana Ewing before.½

This collection of mid-19th-century children's fantasy fiction exceeded my expectations. While Mrs. Ewing usually included a moral in her children's stories, she also displayed a lively imagination and an excellent sense of humor. It's evident she expected adults to read her stories. These tales could in many instances be classed as fairy tales or at least fantasy.

I found this by chance, very reasonably priced, in a local Oxfam shop. It's a very pretty 1920s edition, belonging to a little girl in 1927 according to the flyleaf. Its humour and realism successfully balance both the morality necessary to any Victorian children's story, and the class obsessions of the day (don't let your children associate too much with the servants, lest they pick up "low" language...)
A farthing was worth one quarter of an old pre-decimal penny, and was pocket-money change even in Regie's day. The flat-iron and other tiny items the children buy at the ironmonger's are doll's house goods; irresistible.