Gemma Alone/Gemma the Star (by Noel Streatfeild)

(Amazon UK link)

I have loved Noel Streatfeild’s books for children since I first discovered some of them on my grandmother’s shelves when I was, I suppose, about eight or nine. I have acquired most of them over the years, and reread them sporadically. I picked up ‘Gemma’ to reread in January, and the sequel ‘Gemma and Sisters’ in mid-March. 

So it was time for the third in the series, originally titled ‘Gemma Alone’. I last read it in 2015 after buying a replacement to my forty-year-old paperback which had fallen to pieces, only to discover that the book is now called ‘Gemma the Star’. I didn't dislike that nearly as much as the garish orange cover to the book; but that's my only gripe. 

The book continues the story of the Robinson family, and is best read after the first two. However there are plenty of flashbacks or explanations for readers who pick this one up without having read the others. Gemma, who must be fourteen by now, is about to join the local small drama school, moving out of the huge comprehensive where she struggled to keep up academically.

Moreover, Gemma is now using her real name, no longer worried about people knowing that she’s a former child film star with no current work. She finds the school inspiring; she loves the acting and other relevant classes, and she even begins to understand some maths when she’s given some extra coaching. However she has a lot of questions to ask herself when opportunities arise for professional work. 

Gemma’s cousin Lydia is also starting at the theatre school as a ballet student. Lydia is very driven and quite self-centred, and determined to do things that her excellent teacher Miss Arrowhead won’t allow. Inevitably this gets her into trouble - although we never really learn what Miss Arrowhead thinks about her doing some tap dancing in the family shows known as ‘Gemma and Sisters’. 

Lydie’s older sister Ann is destined for music college, or so her father thinks, but Ann is an academic who wants to study. And she loathes the entrances, exits and general artificial nature of appearances, when all she wants to do is sing. But she can’t quite pluck up the courage to tell her parents she’d like to go to Oxford.

As for Robin, youngest in the family, he and his friend Nigs are entering a talent competition with Robin’s ‘swirled’ songs. Unfortunately they can’t hear each other, so the girls are drawn in to help. 

As a standalone story this wouldn’t be all that interesting, I think; nothing too dramatic happens, it’s more a book about starting to grow up, at least as far as Ann and Gemma are concerned. The Robinson parents are excellent, in my opinion: open-minded, fair, and willing to listen, even if they sometimes draw strict boundaries. Gemma’s mother, the flighty Rowena, is less so - and Gemma realises, when she meets her mother for the first time in a few years, that she’s not a typical mother. 

I liked reading this very much; the characters are all well-drawn and I feel as if I know them. While the setting is undoubtedly somewhat dated (this was first published in 1969) the people are vibrant, albeit a tad caricatured in some respects, and their interactions and emotions are still relevant today. 

Definitely recommended for fluent readers of about eight and upwards, or as a read-aloud; but probably most likely to be read by nostalgic adults who loved Noel Streatfeild’s books when they were younger.

Not currently in print, but fairly widely available second-hand. 

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