Beyond the Vicarage

I enjoyed reading Away From the Vicarage so much that I pulled out my copy of Beyond the Vicarage and re-read it immediately. Away From the Vicarage had filled in a few crucial events, and the story picks up straight after the previous volume, with 'Vicky' on her way home from a theatrical tour in Australia after her father's sudden death.

As it deals with 'Vicky's' adult life and career as a writer, Beyond the Vicarage is less packed with amusing incident and anecdote than the earlier books, but the chapters dealing with Streatfield's experiences of WWII in London are filled with fascinating (and sometimes gory) detail. She volunteered at first as a fire warden and then running a mobile canteen, which went around during air raids supplying hot drinks and food to people in shelters -- it's incredible the amount of organisation which was mobilised to put such a service in place. I'm continually amazed at the way the British (and presumably other) governments were able to marshal their resources to plan and proceed with such complex programs (evacuating children, nutrition programs, fire patrols, etc etc), quite apart from the actual effort of fighting the war -- and all without the aid of computer technonlogy, all done with paper and typewriters! Unsurprisingly, it was often women who filled in the gaps. I'd forgotten Streatfeild's account of the 'Housewives' association, who came to the rescue with tea, sandwiches, clothing and counselling when other groups failed.

Noel Streatfeild died in 1986 at the age of 91, when I was at university. I wish I'd written her a fan letter when I had the chance. I never realised how many adult novels she'd written; she never intended to be a children's writer and yet she is one of the most gifted writers for children who ever lived.