By Mrs George de Horne Vaizey
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Here is a book about the young girl and her awakening to the world by
this talented author. Darsie, the heroine, is selected by an old aunt
to come and spend a year or so as her companion. The old woman tries
to coach Darsie in matters of deportment and behaviour. This would be
pretty odious if it were not for the presence locally of a young family
of boys and girls of Darsie's age, whom, being rich and living rather
grandly, the aunt allows Darsie to know. The first half of the book
describes the times they had. The old aunt promises Darsie that she
will make available the funds needed for Darsie to go up to Cambridge
as a student at Newnham, a girls' college.
When the second half of the book begins the old aunt has just died, and
Darsie feels glad that the poor old lady will be relieved of all her
pains. The years of studentship are well described, and the friends
that Darsie made come and go through the story. Finally we reach the
last exams. Darsie does quite well, but is not in the First Class. She
has a Second, which will be enough for her to be able to go and teach at
some less distinguished school. But her friend Dan, one of those whom
we met in the first half of the book, has obtained a First Class Honours
degree, and the book ends with him asking her to marry him. What he
doesn't know, and I suppose the author didn't either, is that young men
going to teach at a top-rate boys' school are expected to spend their
spare time coaching sports, and not to be married. In fact they would
be better to have achieved a "Blue" at Oxford or Cambridge than a good
degree.
I have had to make a slightly strange and annoying change to the name of
one of the girls in the story. I changed Vi Vernon to Vie Vernon. The
reason was that otherwise the speech generator always read her name as
"Six Vernon". What we have now sounds correct, but if you read the book
you will see this mis-spelling two dozen times. My apologies for doing
this, but you will understand why I did it.
It is a good read, and as always I recommend making an audiobook of it,
so that you can listen to it. NH
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