December Readalong: The Children of Green Knowe

Announcing our special winter subscriber bonus

For anyone in need of a little comfort reading in the run-up to midwinter, I’m excited to announce a special subscriber bonus for December: a readalong of the Carnegie Medal-winning novel, The Children of Green Knowe.

The 1954 novel by Lucy M. Boston tells the story of young Tolly, who is sent to the Fens to stay in his great-grandmother’s ancient house for Christmas. There, he befriends the ghost children who still live in the house, and together they fight back some of the dark forces that still dwell there.

It’s one of the genre of midcentury English novels that feature little boys (usually travelling home from boarding school) who must bridge the gap between the pagan and the Christian in the haunted English landscape - it has a lot in common with The Box of Delights and The Dark is Rising. In Green Knowe, all of history seems to have collapsed into one place. It’s eerie, beautifully written and rich in symbolism and song. It is 70 years old this year.

It’s also - dare I say it - a lovely, short, easy read for the busiest month of the year. Join us!

We’ve made a free, downloadable bookmark for you to print out and use - personally, I’d laminate that baby, but I will leave that to you. Right click the image below to download it.

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How the Readalong works

For the next three weeks, we’ll read the book together and I’ll send out a weekly newsletter about each section of the book as we go through - it works out at about 50 pages per week. I really hope you’ll join in the discussion! Rebecca Armstrong will be joining me each week to record some commentary on the themes that come up - and there may be some surprises too!

Here’s the programme - the book doesn’t have chapters, and the page references might be different in each edition, so please forgive the awkward descriptions!

Week 1 - Wednesday 4th December

To read in advance: The start of the book, up to (but not including) Toby’s Story, which is up to p. 49 in my Puffin Young Readers edition.

Tolly arrives at the house and learns about the children and all their various objects.

Week 2 - Wednesday 11th December

To read in advance: From Toby’s Story through to the end of Linnet’s story (pp. 50 - 104 in my edition).

Tolly finally gets to meet the children, and we learn about Toby’s horse Feste, and Linnet’s encounter with St Christopher.

Week 3 - Wednesday 18th December

To read in advance: From Alexander’s story to the end (pp. 105 onwards in my edition).

We learn more about Alexander’s powerful passion for music. Meanwhile, dark forces stir in Green Knowe.

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Where to get the book

In the UK:

Faber & Faber have just published a beautiful new hardback to celebrate its 70th anniversary. Ask your local bookshop if you can, or buy it online here.

There’s also a slightly cheaper paperback edition published in 2013, combined with The Rivers of Green Knowe.

There are also plenty of secondhand copies on abebooks.co.uk from about £3 - buy the first edition and I will glare enviously at you.

There’s also a DVD of the 1980s BBC TV classic, which is available on Amazon.

In the US:

There are two paperback editions in print - the Faber & Faber paperback and a cheaper Clarion Books edition. I haven’t personally seen either of them, so please do comment if you have an opinion on their quality!

There are plenty of secondhand editions on abebooks.com, starting at about $8.

Other lovely things:

Sarah Coomer on Etsy makes gorgeous prints of scenes from The Children of Green Knowe and all your other uncanny children’s classics.

Hemingford Grey Manor - the real-life Green Knowe, home of Lucy M. Boston - sells resin reproductions of Toby’s mouse. Just in case you’re writing your Christmas list.

I think all that remains for me to say is: happy reading! Let me know in the comments if you’re joining in :)

Take care,

Katherine