Christmas at Nettleford (by Malcolm Saville)

(Amazon UK link)

After finishing Malcolm Saville’s wonderful ‘Lone Pine’ series earlier in the year, I decided to read the three ‘Nettleford’ books which I have somehow acquired. I re-read the first one, ‘All Summer Through’ a couple of months ago, and have just finished the second, ‘Christmas at Nettleford’.

I have no idea if I have ever read this book before; I had no memory of it at all. I assume I might have read it as a child or in my early teens, perhaps more than once. But I’m pretty sure I haven’t read it since then.

Like ‘All Summer Through’, this book mainly features four children who call themselves the ‘Owlers’. The previous one focussed mainly on the Richardson family who live over a bookshop; this one features their friend Elizabeth rather more. Elizabeth’s father is the vicar of Nettleford, and although they’re not particularly well off, she goes to boarding school in term time. We meet her at the end of term, and then travelling to spend a day shopping with her mother before returning home.

Elizabeth is a likeable girl of about twelve with an older brother, Charles, who is 15 and a younger brother, Hugh, who is five. She cares deeply about her family, and has a strong sense of morality and ethics. She also has a good sense of humour. She’s very close to Sally Richardson, who’s a similar age. Sally’s brother Paul is just a year or two younger than she is, and is also in the ‘Owlers’, as is Paul’s friend Jimmy who lives in the village.

The four decide to have a meeting to make plans, only to come up against a couple of boys who seem to be bullies, and want to sabotage whatever they’re doing. There’s also a huge stress locally as someone has been stealing chickens from back gardens. And then a music box, donated for the big Christmas fund-raising fair, goes missing...

There’s a lot of snow, giving the whole book a wintry/Christmassy feel, and preparations for a nativity play that’s run every year. There’s a strong Christian message in this book, about the real meaning of Christmas - much more overt than in any of the other books I’ve read in recent years by Malcolm Saville. Some would no doubt find this off-putting, but it’s in the context of the vicar and the local church, and Christmas services, so it doesn’t seem inappropriate. 

It’s a pleasant enough book, with some excitement, some drama, and mysteries solved although I found it a tad confusing that three rather unpleasant boys somehow turn into friendly rivals - and are clearly people of integrity despite their sneaking around and making threats. 

Perhaps this would be a nice book to read in the Christmas season, but I wouldn’t particularly recommend it unless you’re a fan of the ‘Nettleford’ series, or Malcolm Saville in general. The intended age of the reader is probably about nine to twelve, a little younger than for the Lone Pine series, so this series could be a good introduction to the author’s writing.

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