Several people have recommended Gervase Phinn's books to me. But it took a while to get around to reading one of his books.
'The Other Side of the Dale' is a semi-biographical account of a school inspector in Yorkshire. The author was advertised as 'The James Herriot of schools', which sounded very appealing to me. I love the Herriot books, and I was involved as a volunteer in my sons' primary school some years ago while they underwent OFSTED inspection. So I thought the combination could make an excellent read.
The author, who was a teacher until 1984, and later on a school inspector for English and Drama in Yorkshire, tells the story of his interview and appointment to the inspector's job. He also describes his initial visits to various schools in his district. Rather like James Herriot's books, it's hard to know what is true biography and what is an embellished anecdote for the sake of effect. I assume that names and exact locations have been changed, for legal reasons, but this isn't actually stated.
Gervase Phinn himself, who speaks in the first person throughout, comes across as a likeable chap who begins his new job with an idealistic view of how he can help all the struggling local schools. He gets along with people on the whole, sometimes by using learned techniques, and has a good sense of humour, sometimes portraying himself as looking rather foolish. I found myself warming to him in the early chapters, and generally enjoying his style.
Unfortunately - and this is where the book does part company from James Herriot's - most of the other characters are rather flat. Not that he doesn't give good descriptions, and excellent dialogue: Gervase Phinn is a great writer, and includes plenty of wry observation on the people he meets. It's just that most of the other characters have such small roles in the book that I didn't feel I could get to know them properly.
Each time I picked up this book and read another chapter, I enjoyed it. The insights into the school system, Gervase's growing awareness of all the things he didn't know, and his gradual adaptation to a scenario that had been far from his previous experience, are all very interesting. The book is certainly well-written in a readable style, with just the right amount of humour for my tastes. The children seem realistic, and he recounts several amusing or heart-warming incidents, where he is usually the one learning something new from the children rather than the reverse.
However, I never found myself inspired to read more than one chapter at a time, and whereas I can usually read an average-length novel in a weekend, it took me three weeks to get around to finishing this. It read like a collection of individual short stories rather than a biographical account. Had it focussed on just two or three schools, in more depth, I would probably have enjoyed it more, since character development is important to me in a book.
Still, on the whole I thought it was an amusing light read, and I look forward to reading the sequels one day - although I probably won't buy them new.
Lucy Maud Montgomery was a Canadian writer born about 125 years ago. She wrote her most famous book, 'Anne of Green Gables' in 1908; yet it's still in print nearly 100 years later, and while it's obviously dated, it doesn't seem old-fashioned at all.
The book opens with what is probably the longest sentence in literature - one which takes a third of a page to describe a stream, and which might seem at first glance off-putting in the extreme. Don't give up! There's delightful humour in this introduction, talking as it does about the stream becoming quiet and well-conducted as it passes Mrs Rachel Lynde's home. Rachel Lynde is an elderly and upright lady who sees everything in black and white, and who features from time to time in the book, often clashing in some way with Anne.
We're then introduced to Matthew and Marilla, a hard-working and aging brother and sister who have decided, after much thought, to adopt an orphan boy to help them with their chores.
So Matthew drives to the station to meet the boy, who should have been sent over from an orphanage in Nova Scotia. When he gets there, he finds that a mistake has been made: instead of a strong lad, he finds Anne - an eleven-year-old girl, who is so excited about the thought of being adopted that he cannot find any way of telling her that he doesn't want her. So he takes her home.
Despite Anne's being completely unsuited for the jobs Matthew wanted the boy to do, and despite her irritating Marilla by her continual chatter and excessive imagination, they decide to keep her, at least to start with. So starts this famous book which is the first in a series of eight books featuring Anne as she grows, learns, matures, and (in later books) gets married and raises her own family.
In 'Anne of Green Gables' we see Anne as she grows from childhood to her teens. She makes friends, goes to school, falls into scrapes, and frequently expresses her mind (and her feelings) in ways which her elderly guardians find disturbing and unsettling. Nevertheless she finds her way firmly into their hearts - and, indeed, those of almost everyone who reads the book.
There is humour in the story, inevitable in some of Anne's wilder escapades, and also in the way she dramatises everything. There are also some very moving moments. Although the book is written in the third person, almost everything is seen through Anne's eyes, and I find myself relating to her strongly.
This is a book which has a wide appeal. There isn't a huge amount of plot - the entire series is a little like a forerunner of modern family sagas. The language is long-winded, in places, and a little old-fashioned, not surprising given that it was first published in 1925, but it's not difficult for a reasonably fluent reader. I red it first as a young teenager; as an adult I've re-read this and the sequels, and thoroughly enjoyed them every time.
Definitely recommended.
