I used to get hand me down stuff from my older cousins as a child. Mostly clothes and shoes, but also books. I was introduced to Noel Streatfeild through those hand me downs and I loved the “shoes” books. I was delighted to have the chance to read a new Streatfeild book, for me at least, although I am long past childhood and cast offs. Thursday’s Child is an enchanting read. It takes readers back over a century when the world could be cruel to an orphan. Margaret Thursday thrives in whatever setting she is placed. I recaptured some of the magic of childhood when I read it. Thanks to Harper 360 and NetGalley for the early read.

The narration for this is amazing. I haven't had such a good narrator that is new to me in a long time. She just knocks this story out of the park.
This is a good story of 4 children who are just searching for their place in a world that has not always been kind to them. They love deeply and fiercely and they have great adventures. The only tough thing was you KNOW that orphanages were like the one depicted in the book and that just infuriates me. I was not unhappy when Margaret and her crew get one over on the Matron - never has a character deserved a comeuppance as much as she did. Looking forward to the second book.

Suomeksi Torstain lapsi. Ihana orpotarina, näistä tykkään. Luonteikas orpotyttö lähetetään kasvattiperheensä luota orpokotiin ja monien sattumusten kautta hän päättää karata ja ottaa mukaansa kaksi pientä poikaa. Karkumatka on vaihteikas ja yllättäen lopussa käy ilmi että joku orvoista saattaakin olla aika rikkaasta perheestä :)

Beautiful chance to revisit my childhood. Loved it then, love it now.

I must have read this a hundred times as a kid. God I’ve missed it.

The description in “Thursday’s Child” of a canal barge being “legged” through a tunnel triggered a sensation of deja vu that puzzled and preoccupied me as I finished the book. I became haunted by the image of the weary bargees lying on their backs, “walking” their barge through the endless, pitch-black of a dank, airless, half-mile long tunnel.

Then I suddenly realised that when I was the age of little Horatio in the story, I’d seen this very scene enacted in a BBC adaptation of “Thursday’s Child” shown on children’s tv in the early 1970s. It had completely terrified me. I can’t remember anything else from the tv serial - other than the fact that my mother had told me that I was a “Thursday’s Child” as well, which I don’t think I really understood.

According to the old saying, “Thursday’s child has far to go.” If this is a prediction about growing old, it might already be true in my case, now that I’m a ripe five decades on from my first encounter with this book.

And I have to say, I enjoyed it so very much more this time than I did all those years ago. When I was six, I found “Thursday’s Child” perplexing. Now I found it very pleasingly structured with an exciting story line and strong characters. When I was six, I found the canal scenes menacing. Now they struck me as full of period charm but with a hard centre of gritty realism. Life on the barges at the end of the 19th century was cold, exhausting and unremitting.

The wider themes in “Thursday’s Child” are what I now recognise as ideas always close to Noel Streatfeild’s own heart. It’s an adventure story about children who are let down by adults and who have to make their own way in the world - a world that’s sometimes harsh and unfair. No one’s perfect and grown-ups can be remote and thoughtless (like the forgetful bookworm Mr Windle), weak and indecisive (like the doddery Misses Cameron) or cruel and vindictive (like the psychopathic matron of the orphanage).

The answer to adult frailty lies in growing your own independence, resourcefulness and resilience, as Margaret Thursday, the eponymous ten year old heroine, does with knobs on. Her journey from homeless foundling to finding her vocation is a rite of passage that’s variously comical, sad, touching and inspiring. I thoroughly enjoyed making her acquaintance and only regret that it took me so long to do so!

I love these old fashioned stories. Margaret Thursday is a spunky young girl who is ready to stand up for what is right. I look forward to reading more of her adventures. Wonderful characters have one hissing & booing or cheering them on. A good page turner and a quick read.

I had heard the author's name for years but never read anything by her. I came across this title in a free box of discards at the local library. It took me a while to start it because it was an old hardback that looked very old-fashioned and the type font was very small and the there was 276 pages.

The story itself is about an orphan named Margaret who cannot stay where she is and thinking it is in her best interest is sent to the orphanage. But the orphanage is not what it seems to be but is rather harsh and cruel. Margaret does her best to survive because she know she is something more because she started out with the best of everything. Margaret's loving heart, unending spirit, and amazing storytelling abilities lead her through many adventures as she runs away on a riverboat and joins a theater company.

Margaret has three great friends that are also orphans who they meet the first day ... the girl Lavinia gets assigned to a scullery maid at a house nearby...and Margaret agrees to watch over the two brothers Peter and Horatio. The friends help each other and finally in a desperate act runaway from the orphanage afraid that the police are after Peter for "stealing" a book he wanted to read.

The story takes place in Great Britain at the turn of the century so may be hard for some readers. I read it fast and just stumbled over some of the words, some of which made sense by their context in the sentence and the rest I just overlooked. But young girls that are well-read may find a kindred spirit in Margaret Thursday. Sort of reminds me of THE LITTLE PRINCESS.

FOUND EARLIER REVIEW AND ADDED IT (3 STARS)
Summary: Margaret was found on the church stepson a Thursday in a basket with three of the best of everything -- the kind rector gave her the last name Thursday and set out to make sure she had a good life with two older ladies with a big house. But when the ladies have gotten to old to take care of her, it is time for another place to live and when nothing is found she is sent to the orphanage. Little do they know how bad off the children at the orphanage are under the rule of a cruel matron that keeps them hungry and afraid. On the day that Margaret leaves she makes friends with another set of orphans, Lavinia, and her two younger brothers, Peter and Horatio. So starts their adventure of survival and escape and adventure and finding unexpected kindness along the way.

This is a cross between the stories of The Little Princess and Downton Abbey as the orphans find them selves in a cruel orphanage and are in the midst of the story get championed by Lady Corkberry much like the character of Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey. I also adore the four children who handle their situations with calm determination and make the best of their lives as long as they stay together.

Maybe a hard read for some because of the storyline being at the turn of the century England. Some of the words are unfamiliar and some of the dialogue is in country broken English. There is also 275 pages which might be challenging to some readers. It was a slow start for me, but once I got to the midpoint, I didn't want to put it down.

This is the first book that I have read by this author and I liked it enough to try some more. The illustrations were by Peggy Fornum which were OK but didn't add to much to the story. I did love the cover illustration from the hardback printed in 197o. (Oct 13, 2018)

Superb narration by Lucy Scott ensures I will listen to book two in this series too, at some stage.
This audiobook became available as a library download - I loved orphan stories that ended with hope as a young girl; and, remembered seeing a few episodes of the T.V series Thursday’s Child, back in the day, but had never read the book/s - time to download the book and catch up on Noel
Streatfield’s orphans tale.

Highly improbable, but good escapist fun.

This book fell far below my expectations which surprised me given how overwhelmingly positive the reviews appear to be. I thought the proverb "Thursday's child has far to go" indicated that our protagonist would experience change and growth during this story that would lead her to some sort of success, but I was very mistaken.

Margaret holds fundamental beliefs that she is better than everybody else and therefore deserves special treatment. Those in her life seem to find her insufferable behavior endearing. Her mantra of not being like an "ordinary orphan" because she was found in a basket with "three of everything of the very best quality" was amusing, but I had hoped that, through this story, she'd learn from her mistakes. At the very least, she could have discovered that people will like her for herself, and not because of her lies to make herself feel more important, and that kindness, compassion, and humility, and love will get you further than your material possessions. This did not happen. I don't think that children's books need to be heavy handed moralistically, but there was such a good opportunity for gentle character growth, and the lack of this made for a character who grated on me through the entire story!

The general plot was decent, and the side characters were pretty enjoyable. As an adult reader, though, I have to wonder at the financial mismanagement of Margaret's annual money. Given that Lavinia, as a scullery made, makes 5 pounds per year, Margaret's annual sum of 52 pounds was surely a fortune, and FAR more than was needed to care for her comfortably for a single year. So realistically her expenses for her entire childhood and beyond should have been covered by the 520 pounds that would have been sent by the time the story begins. I know the point of this story isn't to be realistic, but 10 pounds per year would have been a much more reasonable sum!

Happy to have this back in print as an ebook. This was a reread, but it still stands up well, with many believable details. It's a historical, but the author lived through the period.