Doreen

Book arrived when expected but took almost 3 weeks from order to reception. Fine otherwise.

This is a book which works phenomenally well on a number of levels. It is a book which achieves the difficult feat of recreating a child's eye perspective, and thereby opens doors into the past for the reader - you read something about how Doreen sees things and suddenly you think "Oh yes, that is just what it was like when I was little!" It is also horribly (considering the prevalence of badly broken homes and overworked parents overcompensating with "quality time") compelling on the simplicity and absoluteness of a child's requirements - the longing for a safe structure, routine and space to be ignored and be oneself without adults requiring things of one!But in many ways my favourite aspect of the book is the fact that it is somehow, despite its wholly domestic context, a gripping novel of suspense. From the start when Mrs Rawlings unburdens herself to Helen Osborne (a clever career woman who one suspects of being the author's alter ego) about the need to send Doreen away from the bombing, setting in motion a private evacuation arrangement with Helen's brother and his wife, one wonders and worries about whether there will be a happy ending for anyone - and if so for who? When the book starts Doreen and her mother are happy within the limits of poverty and London bombings - but no-one could say that it is the ideal way for a child to grow up, or that she is being offered many advantages. Francie and Geoffrey Osborne are quietly happy despite their lack of children in their large house in the country. The change brings a wealth of new experiences and opportunities to Doreen who is torn between the affluent and loving home she now occupies and her tough but utterly devoted mother. Francie and Geoffrey find new sources of happiness in Doreen, who is a lovely and engaging child. And with every day that passes Doreen moves further from her own background, and turns more nearly into their child. How can matters be resolved? This is the problem that grips us all the way through, right to the last page. I suspect everyone who reads this comes away wanting to unpick the problem and see if the outcome could be improved on, without any very clear idea of how - and that is a really good bit of writing and plotting...

Doreen Rawlings is evacuated from London by her anxious mother to stay with the Osbornes in the Blitz-free countryside. This observant, beautifully-written novel explores the perils of trying to do what's best for a child. Mrs Rawlings, an office cleaner, wants to keep her daughter safe from physical danger, but can she save her daughter from the danger of finding herself becoming accostomed to a middle-class lifestyle that she can't provide? This isn't a horror story about mistreated evacuees worked to death and half-starved. The Osbornes are a kind, loving couple, who grow to love Doreen and want to do the best for her. Only when Francie Osborne's sister-in-law warns her of the danger of taking Doreen "out of her class" by teaching her grammar and ironing out her accent, does she realise that her kindness could hurt Doreen. A struggle then ensues between Doreen's two mothers as to her future. The novel was published in 1946 and is full of detail about life on the home front during WWII. I love books about the war written at the time. However much research goes into modern novels set in the 40s, they just can't match the authenticity of novels written at the time. Much of the novel is seen through Doreen's perspective and the child's viewpoint is spot on. The class values and expectations also couldn't be written about with such understanding and perception. A window into another way of thinking, not only about class, but about the wisdom of seperating children from their famillies for their own "safety".