n  ‘If you behave like somebody you will be treated like somebody. Never allow anyone to suggest that because you do not know who your parents were you are in any way inferior to others more fortunately placed.’

‘You needn’t worry,’ said Margaret. ‘I never will.’n

Ngl, I was actually kind of impressed by how ballsy and unapologetic Margaret was, but unfortunately she had no character growth, and her supercilious attitude grated on me after a while.

This was an entertaining classic orphan story, but it went downhill after the midpoint. I was more invested in Margaret being sent to the orphanage and what life was like there -- rebelling against the Matron, and meeting sympathetic adults like the schoolteacher Miss Snelston. (And I loved that Peter read books while mowing the grass slkdfj this is a boy after my own heart.) The bits with the canal boat and the theatre almost felt like a separate story and didn't hold my attention.

It's a good story. The parallel between the Beresford children and Little Lord Fauntleroy was pretty engaging. I feel like Streatfeild really missed a chance to tell us the most interesting story of all: the mystery behind Margaret's "three of everything of the best quality" and the fifty-two pounds every Christmas in the garden. I wonder if those questions get addressed in a sequel, though I'm not sure I was captured enough to go look.

There seemed to be plenty of stock issues in this book: the orphan who runs away from the mean orphanage-keeper, the long-lost orphans who are really aristocrats, the kind teacher / lady who fixes things. But that doesn't include the lovely interpolation (I think that's the word I mean) of Jem's family with his parents' boat and his aunt-and-uncle's theatrical troupe. His family and the adventures with him really made everything come quite alive, and kept the story going much longer than I thought it would (and delightfully so).

Although this is unmistakably a "Noel Streatfeild" book, it is in many ways unusual and rather better than her average. Margaret Thursday, the head-strong heroine, shares many characteristics with other characters in Streatfeild's books - she reminded me most sharply of the middle child in the Bell family. The three other children are rather more individually drawn than is common in Streatfeild; I particularly liked Peter the bookworm. I'd love to read the sequel, but suspect my chances of finding it are slim (I inherited the hardcover of this one from my mother, who was a firm Streatfeild fan)

I enjoyed this story about a feisty orphan who knew she was somebody. (personal print copy)

Thursday’s Child by Noel Streatfeild is an entertaining and enjoyable children’s/young adult novel that is the first book in the Margaret Thursday series.

This is the first book in Ms. Streatfeild’s lesser known series in what is a vast, impressive, and talented portfolio. It was quick, entertaining, and effortless from a plot and pacing aspect. Margaret is an orphan that is living in a less than ideal orphanage and vows to make her situation better….somehow…

Toss in some quirky characters, an evil Matron, a feisty, plucky, and imperfect small heroine and the reader has an enjoyable afternoon. Somehow I missed this series growing up, and looking forward to reading the next book.

4/5 stars

Thank you NG and Harper 360/Harper Collins Children’s Books for this Arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication.

I read the audio book.

I enjoyed reading this many times as a child, but returned to it reluctantly as an adult, because I dimly remembered it as wall-to-wall child cruelty and hardship. Well, it’s not quite that bad, and it has a cracking plot, but it’s not one for the faint-hearted.

I can't wait to see what's next for Margaret Thursday. I loved this adventure and Margaret's willful determination, her stubborn assertion that she is absolutely someone special. Though the slow pace is true to the time period, at times I did feel it a bit too slow, just waiting to get into the action. However, once I got through those points, I truly enjoyed the characters and the story.
Thanks NetGalley

I loved Noel Streatfeild's books as a child, and I vaguely remembered having read this one, though had no recollection of what happened in it.

Margaret Thursday - named after the day she was found as a baby on the church steps, in a basket with three of everything of the very best quality - finds, aged nearly eleven, that for various reasons she can no longer stay with the people who have raised her thus far. With no other options, she's packed off to an orphanage which the local rector believes, inaccurately, to be a nice place.

Margaret is a confident, resourceful and outspoken girl with a talent for getting into trouble and an inability to keep her mouth shut, and she's the awful orphanage Matron's worst nightmare. Befriending fellow orphan Lavinia and her two younger brothers leads them all into various adventures.

Needless to say I ate all this up as a child and it's still a very good read, with an engaging and unusual heroine in the forceful Margaret.

We never do find out the mystery of Margaret's origins, but I'd forgotten there was a sequel, Far to Go, and I might just have to read it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.

Re-read. An old favorite. Set towards the end of Victoria's reign, this is the story of Margaret Thursday, a foundling. The vicar who found her gave her that surname since she was found on Thursday. He also found her a home with two local spinster sisters. But now that they are growing older, and no money arrives for Margaret this year, new arrangements must be made. So she is sent to an orphanage, where she meets the Beresford family. Adventures ensue. The story is very much character-driven as Margaret tries to take charge of her own life in difficult circumstances. It presents an excellent view of life at the time. Highly recommended.

Peggy Fortnum manages to make Margaret look rather like Paddington on the front cover! An enjoyable book, very easy to read with short chapters and likeable characters. Very engaging. One doesn't really hear Noel Streatfeild's name much but one hopes she is still read and loved by today's children because she is such a consistent writer and has written so many good books and deserves to be kept perpetually in print and to always have a place on a child's bookshelf. But I fear that there are far too many people who have never even consciously heard of her, let alone actually read anything by her, in spite of some of her earlier books being (rightly) regarded as children's classics.