‘Get your things on, dear. I will send a note to your parents.’
So with Spot, John and Victoria went for long walks over the downs; and though distant thuds sounded from the guns across the Channel, the air was fresh and clear, and after the exercise even John was able to enjoy a meal at a cottage table.
They never again spoke of conditions at the front. Instead, they lived entirely in the past. It was always: ‘Do you remember?’
The day his leave finished John refused to be seen off at the station. He had to catch an early train to link up with the troop train at Victoria.
‘I don’t want to be seen off. Just all come to the door. I’d like that.’
So, as his taxi drove away, they were all there. The family, Annie, Hester and Spot. Perhaps he carried that picture to France.
Five weeks later the telegram came. Victoria knew something was wrong when she came in from sawing logs and saw Annie, her apron over her head, sobbing behind the kitchen door.
Her father called her into his study. ‘I don’t know how to tell you, Vicky darling. You are so young to face sorrow.’
Victoria gently stroked her father’s hand.
‘It’s John. He’s been killed.’
‘Yes, Vicky.’
She stared unseeingly out of the window towards the front gate.
‘I’ll be all right, Daddy. I think I knew it was going to happen. Grand-Nanny once said growing up came suddenly. I grew up all in one minute, the day John came on leave.’
1895 Born Mary Noel Streatfeild, 24 December, in Sussex
1902 Goes to school at Hastings and St Leonard’s Ladies’ College
1911 The Streatfeild family move to Eastbourne, and Noel goes to Laleham School
1913 Noel leaves school and enrols at the Eastbourne School of Domestic Economy
1915 Noel works as a volunteer in the kitchen of a hospital for wounded soldiers near Eastbourne Vicarage during the First World War and in 1916 moves to London to work in a munitions factory
1919 At the end of the war, Noel wins a place at the Academy of Dramatic Art (now called RADA) in London
1926 Begins a correspondence course for writing, and has a short story published in a magazine
1931 Her first novel, The Whicharts, is published by J. M. Dent, and she is asked to write a children’s story about the theatre
1936 Ballet Shoes, illustrated by her sister Ruth Gervis, is published by J. M. Dent, and it becomes an immediate bestseller
1936 Ballet Shoes is runner up for the first ever Carnegie Medal, awarded annually to a writer of an outstanding book for children
1937 Tennis Shoes is published. Noel travels with Bertram Mills Circus to research Circus Shoes
1938 The Circus is Coming is published, also as Circus Shoes
1939 Noel wins the Carnegie Medal for Circus Shoes
1940–45 Joins the Women’s Voluntary Services during the Second World War and continues to write
1944 Curtain Up is published, also as Theatre Shoes
1946 Party Frock is published, also as Party Shoes
1948 Ballet Shoes is listed by the Library Association as one of a number of ‘books which should always be in print’
1949 The Painted Garden is published, abridged and published in the US as Movie Shoes
1951 White Boots is published, also as Skating Shoes
1954 The Bell Family is published, also as Family Shoes
1957 Wintle’s Wonders is published, also as Dancing Shoes
1963 A Vicarage Family, the first of her autobiographical works, is published
1962 Apple Bough is published, also as Travelling Shoes
1975 Ballet Shoes is adapted into a television series
1983 Noel Streatfeild is awarded an OBE
1986 Noel dies 11 September, aged 90
1991 Ballet Shoes wins the Library of Congress Children’s Books of the Year award
2007 Ballet Shoes is adapted into a film starring Emma Watson, Yasmin Paige and Lucy Boynton as the sisters
Interesting Facts
During the 1950s Noel Streatfeild was consistently listed among the top ten children’s authors.
When Noel was twenty-four she became an actress and spent about ten years in the theatre.
Where Did the Story Come From?
A Vicarage Family is a fictionalized autobiographical account of Noel Streatfeild’s childhood. Vicky is the character who represents her real-life character in the story. Noel decided not to use real names as she felt she could not judge the true thoughts and feelings of her family. But all of the events are based on truth as she remembered it, with the only large deviation from her memory being that her cousin, named John in the story, did not actually live with the family but instead sometimes visited over the holidays.
Guess Who?
A She was a small, sandy dyspeptic woman, always neatly dressed in a high-necked blouse and full navy skirt except on Sundays when she wore a frogged coat and skirt with, during the winter, a fur tippet.
B … the chaos she must have caused in her form with every girl deliberately being rude to the mistresses.
C … looking ridiculously small in a too-large school overcoat bought to last …
D Ageless, unchanging, understanding, she was security on two legs.
E He towered above her for he was now over six feet tall.
ANSWERS:
A) Miss Herbert
B) Vicky
C) Dick
D) Grand-Nanny
E) John
Words Glorious Words!
Lots of words have several different meanings – here are a few you’ll find in this Puffin book. Use a dictionary or look them up online to find other definitions.
anthracite a type of coal that burns with little flame and smoke
grave looking serious or solemn
rendered to provide a service or help
quandary a state of confusion or uncertainty in a difficult situation
lugubrious looking sad and upset
dashing looking attractive, stylish and full of confidence
rumpus a noisy event, often an argument or fight
Quiz
Thinking caps on – Let’s see how much you can remember! Answers are on the next page. (No peeking!)
1 Why can’t Vicky wear her Sunday Dress to Joyce’s party?
a) The elbows are worn out
b) The sleeves don’t match the dress
c) The collar has been ripped
d) It is far too long for her
2 What were Grand-Nanny’s Golden Sovereigns?
a) Special cakes
b) Pretty golden flowers
c) Presents for the children
d) Strong beef tea
3 What disease does Isobel have?
a) Measles
b) Tuberculosis
c) Asthma
d) Eczema
4 What did Vicky win in the Potato Race?
a) A dressing case
b) A medal
c) A hair ribbon
d) A bag of potatoes
5 What was the new cook in Eastbourne called?
a) Annie
b) Esther
c) Pauline
d) Violet
ANSWERS:
1) b
2) d
3) c
4) a
5) a
Beatlemania begins, with the Beatles gaining number-one hits in the UK and USA.
US president John F. Kennedy is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. Conspiracy theories regarding this event still abound today.
The Great Train Robbery takes place in Buckinghamshire, England.
Martin Luther King, Jr – the civil rights leader who led non-violent protests to fights for the rights of all people – delivers his famous ‘I have a dream’ speech.
Make and Do
Try bread and butter with hundreds and thousands!
YOU WILL NEED:
❋ Sliced bread<
br />
❋ Toaster
❋ Butter or margarine
❋ Knife
❋ Hundred and thousands
1 Put a slice of bread into the toaster.
2 When the toast is ready, take it out and put it on a plate.
3 Spread the butter on to the toast and watch it melt.
4 Sprinkle hundreds and thousands on top.
5 Enjoy!
Did You Know?
Noel Streatfeild had not intended to become a children’s writer. Even though her first published work – a short story about a magician – was in a children’s magazine, and she had written plays for children, she saw herself primarily as a novelist for adults.
Noel once told a fellow writer, Rumer Godden, ‘What I always want in a book is a family.’
Eastbourne was a fashionable resort in Edwardian times because seawater was supposed to help cure disease.
In 1903, Eastbourne launched its very own motor bus company – making it the first of its kind in the world. These are the buses on which the Strangeways travelled.
Puffin Writing Tip
Watch the news and stay tuned to the latest happenings in the world – you never know what might inspire your next idea!
From the Archive
A letter from Noel Streatfeild to Puffin concerning her name spelling, 5 August 1949
Your story starts here …
Do you love books and discovering new stories?
Then puffin.co.uk is the place for you …
• Thrilling adventures, fantastic fiction and laugh-out-loud fun
• Brilliant videos featuring your favourite authors and characters
• Exciting competitions, news, activities, the Puffin blog and SO MUCH more …
puffin.co.uk
It all started with a scarecrow …
Puffin is over seventy years old. Sounds ancient, doesn’t it? But Puffin has never been so lively. We’re always on the lookout for the next big idea, which is how it began all those years ago.
Penguin Books was a big idea from the mind of a man called Allen Lane, who in 1935 invented the quality paperback and changed the world. And from great Penguins, great Puffins grew, changing the face of children’s books forever.
The first four Puffin Picture Books were hatched in 1940 and the first Puffin story book featured a man with broomstick arms called Worzel Gummidge. In 1967 Kaye Webb, Puffin Editor, started the Puffin Club, promising to ‘make children into readers’. She kept that promise and over 200,000 children became devoted Puffineers through their quarterly instalments of Puffin Post.
Many years from now, we hope you’ll look back and remember Puffin with a smile. No matter what your age or what you’re into, there’s a Puffin for everyone. The possibilities are endless, but one thing is for sure: whether it’s a picture book or a paperback, a sticker book or a hardback, if it’s got that little Puffin on it – it’s bound to be good.
www.puffin.co.uk
PUFFIN BOOKS
UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia
India | New Zealand | South Africa
Puffin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
www.penguin.co.uk
www.puffin.co.uk
www.ladybird.co.uk
First published in Great Britain by Collins 1963
Published in Jane Nissen Books 2011
Reissued in this edition 2016
Copyright © Noel Streatfeild, 1963
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Cover illustration by Becca Stadtlander
ISBN: 978–0–141–36955–6
A Vicarage Family: A Biography of Myself Page 24
