Far to go (by Noel Streatfeild)

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I do like re-reading my collection of books by Noel Streatfeild. Although intended for older children and younger teens, they are the kind of book that can be read and appreciated from many different perspectives. I can see adult points of view much better than I can when I first read these books fifty or more years ago, but I can still empathise with the children too. Streatfeild had a gift of characterisation and story-telling, and many of her books are re-printed regularly.

However, my edition of 'Far to go' was bought a long time ago (February 1997, according to my note at the front) in a charity shop. I last read it in 2014 and had mostly forgotten the story. Since I re-read ‘Thursday’s child’ about a month ago, it was clearly time to re-read this book, which is a direct sequel.

It begins just after ‘Thursday’s child’ left off; Margaret Thursday is appearing in a tent theatre as Little Lord Fauntleroy, where it’s clear that she’s ideal for the role, and very talented. She has a champion in Sarah Beamish, wardrobe mistress for the company. Sarah is concerned about Margaret’s education. She is also quite ambitious for her, and persuades Margaret to travel to an audition for a theatre in London.

Most of the story then takes place in London, after (unsurprisingly) Margaret is offered a role which is ideally suited to her personality and talents. We never earn what the owners of the tent company do when they realise that Sarah and Margaret have disappeared. There’s a moment, later in the book, when Margaret is worried that they have found her: it seems very surprising that they would not, since Margaret is, once again, a big success and her name is in the national newspapers.

But it’s really a character-based story. There’s a bit of excitement towards the end of the book when Margaret is kidnapped, but that’s really quite a small section. Most of the book revolves around her learning her part, and getting to know folk at the London theatre. She makes friends with a girl called Katie whose father owns the company, and they share a governess. She gets to know Liza, who understudies her, and befriends an orphan called Simon who often seems to be half-starved. 

Margaret is a feisty, determined and basically kind-hearted girl, and I liked her very much. She can be a bit tedious sometimes, telling everyone about the ‘three of everything, all of the best’ that was in her cradle on the vicarage steps when she was abandoned as a baby. I was a bit surprised, the first time I read this (and, indeed, on subsequent reads) that we never do learn who Margaret’s parents are. I wondered if Noel Streatfeild had been thinking of another sequel. 

And yet, reading it this time, I can see that it may have been left open deliberately. Margaret wants her name to be well-known, and for people to respect her as a person. Acting comes naturally to her, and she doesn’t care about being a famous actress. She wants to be independent. She turns down an offer of adoption to a life of luxury at the end of ‘Thursday’s child’, and in this book she once again makes it clear that she needs to follow her heart, and work at the details she doesn’t know about acting and performing. 

These books are set around the turn of the 20th century, in the Victorian era. Noel Streatfeild published ‘Far to go’ in 1976, so it was written as a historical novel, albeit without referring to any specific events in history. This means that London cabs are not black taxis, but horses pulling carriages. There are ‘pea-souper’ smogs, making it impossible to see even a few inches in front of one’s nose. And it’s still possible for orphan children to live on the streets, or to be taken in and treated as slaves. Books like this provide excellent social history backdrops for children that (to me, anyway) are much more memorable than a formal history lesson. 

This isn’t a long book. It’s only 128 pages in my paperback edition. But I found it enthralling, as I had entirely forgotten most of the detail. Streatfeild’s descriptions and conversations ring true, and - other than a small number of villains - her characters are delightful, kind and generous. The pace is good, my only slight gripe being the rapidity of the conclusion. But that’s a Streatfeild quirk; she doesn’t do long drawn out endings. 

Recommended if you’ve read ‘Thursday’s child’ and wonder what happened to Margaret. It’s not required to have read that first, but it helps.

Review copyright 2024 Sue's Book Reviews