Very nearly as good as "She shall have music". Good ballet story which I believe predates Billy Elliot. :)

"Thursday's child has far to go"

There was once a child, neglected and frowned upon, who just wanted to dance. Then there was his elder sister, pampered and highly regarded, who never knew anything else as an option. It's their struggles and their journey towards redemption which forms main crux of this novel by RumerGodden.

If Rabindranath Tagore and Degas, ever collaborated for a novel in order to write and illustrate it, then this novel would definitely be their brain child.

This book isn't just a young adult novel on ballet dancers but an allegory of hardships and redemption. It's lyrical in its writing as a prose by Emily Dickinson and as vivid in its description as a sense of utmost exhilaration in an impressionist painting.

One of the finest coming of age narrative that I have ever read, and the ending is bound to give a smile in your heart.

My only regret is that, why didn't I discover her writings much earlier? She really wrote like an angel...

A fine story of the fierce desire for ballet by a young boy. Love of dance and music with hard work and sacrifice; learning how to be yourself.

Leído en español: Hijos del Jueves

Rumer Godden is the author of over sixty works of fiction and non-fiction, for both children and adults. Virago have recently reprinted a handful of her books to add to their impressive canon of women’s fiction. First published in 1984, Thursday’s Children is amongst the newest offerings. As its title suggests, this novel is based upon the childhood rhyme ‘Monday’s Child’, in which ‘Thursday’s child has far to go’ – a definite precedent for the story which Godden has woven.

Thursday’s Children focuses upon a young boy named Doone Penny, who was ‘born to dance’. His sister Crystal, also a dancer, receives much of the attention in the Penny family, and Doone’s brothers and father look upon him with something akin to contempt at times, believing that any boy who enjoys ballet is the worst kind of ‘sissy’. He is the youngest child in rather a large family, a surprise baby who was born to a mother who wanted her beloved daughter, born after four boys, to be her last. ‘To be the youngest in a family is supposed to be enviable, but that is in fairy-tales; with four older brothers and an important older sister, Doone rarely had a chance to speak’. From the start, Doone is not treasured as he should have been: ‘… he was an unsatisfactory child… [he] was persistently ragamuffin, his socks falling down, his shoes scuffed… he was often puzzled and, often, when spoken to seemed curiously absent, too dreamy to be trusted with the simplest message. He was to be a failure at school – every term a worse report – did not learn to read properly till he was ten and was so silent that he seemed to Ma secretive’.

The first part of the novel opens with Doone’s spoilt elder sister complaining about having to take her brother along to the dance class which she attends. Since his early childhood, Doone has been largely ignored by those around him, and even his mother sees him as somewhat of a burden. He is an incredibly musical child and is taught to play the mouth organ when a tiny little boy by a wonderfully crafted little man named Beppo who helps out in his father’s North London grocery shop. When Beppo is forced to leave his employment, Doone realises ‘that now there was nobody who wanted him’. When the eldest brother, Will, suggests that he should be given lessons in his beloved mouth organ as it is unfair that the majority of the family’s money is spent on Crystal and her dancing, Ma Penny says, ‘… when, in a family, one child has real talent, the rest have to make some sacrifice’.

Doone’s own love of dancing is realised when he is given the opportunity to attend a professional ballet performance with his mother. He begins to have clandestine dance classes along with four other London boys. It is a coming of age novel of the most satisfying type. We see Doone, our protagonist, grow before our eyes, and triumph over the situations and family members which try to overcome him.

Dance runs throughout the entire book, as one might expect given the storyline. However, Godden has gone further than merely to write about dance. Indeed, the novel is presented as something akin to a theatre programme, outlining the ‘cast list’ before it begins, and opening with a ‘Prelude’, which sets out the ‘World Premiere of Yuri Koszorz’s “Leda and the Swan”‘. Here, Doone has been cast as a cygnet: ‘No boy of that age, in Mr Max’s remembrance, had been entrusted with dancing a solo role in a ballet at the Royal Theatre’. Despite this prelude merely being Doone’s dream, these nice touches to the book launch us straight into the life of the ballet.

Godden’s writing is marvellous. She weaves an absorbing story and intersperses it with touching anecdotes about its characters, pitch perfect dialogue and the loveliest of descriptions. The settings which she uses come to life in the mind of the reader: ‘It was only a prelude; the music changed, the clouds came down, and Doone could feel an almost magnetic stir in the audience beyond the orchestra pit’, and ‘the Royal Theatre, for an English-born dancer, was not only the Mecca, the peak of ambition, but also home’. Her love of dancing and the theatre shines through on every page: ‘the music, the lights, the little girls – it seemed to him a hundred little girls – all in party dresses and dancing shoes, moving to the music in what seemed to him a miracle of marching, running, leaping’. Her character descriptions, too, give us a real feel for the leading men and women of the book: ‘It was difficult to believe Pa had once been a romantic young man who, when he was not learning to be a greengrocer, willingly went without tea or supper to go to a musical or a revue’.

I enjoyed this book very much, especially all the elements of the ballet world. The characterization and plot are rich and full of unexpected twists. Rumer Godden has become one of my favourite writers. I love her writing about convents. Who knew she ran a dancing school in Calcutta? This is a wonderful book for readers of all ages.

Non posso che adorare la scrittura di Rumer Godden in ogni suo libro, ogni volta di piu. Una grazia indescrivibile nel definire le emozioni della vita.

A little dated, perhaps, but beautifully written and often unexpectedly moving. It's the story of a boy who is determined to dance - Billy Elliot avant la lettre - his talented sister, his parents, his teachers and all those who shaped his artistic world.
Royal Ballet School and Covent Garden are thinly disguised.
Lots of dance, and music.
I'm working on a Spotify playlist. Will publish a link here when it is done...
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4g1...

I’ve enjoyed every Rumer Godden book I’ve read. Thursday’s Child follows a brother and sister as they enter the tough ballet world. The tale of the innocent yet persistent and extremely talented Doone and the spoiled entitled Crystal from early childhood through their training is hard to put down.

A similarity in title and theme had led me to suppose, looking back after all these many years, that this book was written by Noel Streatfeild, an English writer best known in the United States as the author of the "Shoes" books. Imagine my surprise (and delight) when a recent online conversation helped me to realize that Rumer Godden, another English author whose work I admire, was the one responsible for this wonderful children's novel...

The story of Doone Penny, a young boy who longs to study ballet like his older sister, Thursday's Children is a moving portrait of a sensitive and artistic child, and his journey of self-discovery. Ridiculed for his desire to pursue such an "unmanly" occupation, discouraged by his jealous sister and mother, and abused by his father, Doone quickly discovers that pursuing a dream - particularly one that sets you apart - comes at a high cost.

It has been more than twenty years since I read Godden's novel, which is named for the famous nursery rhyme: "Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace, Wednesday's child is full of woe, Thursday's child has far to go." But despite the passage of time, I can still remember the poignant sense of loneliness that it conjured up, just as the feeling of terror, evoked by the scene in which Doone is beaten by his father, has stayed with me to this day. I think it may have been my first exposure to the tragedy of child abuse.

I have loved this book for years, ever since I first got it from the library. Now the libraries no longer have it (it's too OLD, I guess), so I have ordered it to have as my own. I've just finished reading it three times in a row (get to the end, go back to beginning and start over.) I have no idea why I enjoy this book so much, but I always want more when I get to the end. Since there is no sequel (that I know of), the only answer is to read it again! The personalities of the two children are beautifully drawn, and the descriptions make you see them. I find myself paging back just to read a description of something when it is mentioned again later in the book. Just a wonderful read.

Having another read, while taking a break and waiting for the next Dresden Files to arrive: 5/28/16

And again.... 02/08/17. I can't get enough of this book!
Another reread April 2022
Again December 2022

Unexpectedly charming! I loved this book, although I actually didn't care much for Billy Elliott which obviously tells a similar story.