I'm not sure what prompted me to buy An Episode of Sparrows, but I'm so glad I did.

Set in London shortly after the war, it centres on Lovejoy, an 11 year old girl who has been all but abandoned by her mother in a rented room in the house of a couple who own a restaurant. Loveljoy is a bit of an anti hero - feisty, single minded and quite selfish. She comes across a packet of seeds and sets out to create a garden on a bombed out site, enlisting two other local children to help her in her efforts.

The writing is excellent, Rumer Godden clearly had a great understandiing of children and writes without sentimentality. I really believed in all of the characters.

There's apparently a debate about whether this is a children's or an adult book - I think the writing is many layered and it can be read and enjoyed by both.

I'll definitely be reading more of Godden's books.

Even though this is classified as a children's book here -- and even though Rumer Godden is primarily known as a children's author (I don't know how popular she is in the States but Celeste had read her) -- I think this is actually a book *about* children that isn't intended *for* children. Not that there's anything racy in it, but it's much, much more subtle than her children's books (which I also love). Some people might find this a bit saccharine, but if you want to read a beautifully written but still very uplifting (eek -- I don't usually use that word!) novel peopled by very real children, here it is.

This was a reread. It's a simple and yet deeply described tale of just post-WWII London's children in the ruins. Such a difference between "trouble" for urban kids now to then. It's similar to The Secret Garden and it would be a delightful youth read, IMHO.

I love so many things about this book--the beautiful prose, the gardening motif, the relationships, the memorable characters. It's a book that just makes you feel better about life. My advice to a reader is that when you don't feel that the pace is moving as fast as you would like it to, enjoy the language. And definitely make it to that last page. It's worth it.

I was surprised, when I first learned of this Rumer Godden book a few years ago, that I had not read it when I was young. I went through a big Rumer Godden phase back in elementary school, and to this day continue to collect various editions of A Dolls' House that I can unearth, especially those with the Tasha Tudor illustrations. But now that I've read An Episode of Sparrows I know why I missed it as a child: while this book is about children, it is most decidedly not a book for children.

This is a complicated story in all the best ways that Godden's great books are. It takes place in post WWII London, with street children playing among bombed out buildings and ruined places. A little girl named Lovejoy is taken in by kind people who live in the neighborhood as her mother has gone on tour (details are sketchy--doesn't seem to be respectable theatre work) and because she and her mother moved around so much when she was little, Lovejoy can't attend school since she is so far behind. Desperate to fill her time while waiting for her mother to return (for surely her mother *will* return, right?), Lovejoy strikes upon the idea of planting flowers. But she needs seeds and a means of watering them, and tools to work the soil, and of course, the most precious and difficult item of all: good earth. So while it's a story about watching Lovejoy persevere to make something lovely in the midst of despair, it is so much more than that: tenacity, a glimpse into the postwar haves and have nots, kindness occurring when no one is looking and by those who can least afford anything, and what it means to want something, which at first began as a want, but soon thereafter becomes a need, as Lovejoy needs to fill the void that she can't articulate as she grows out of her shoes and clothing and no one can afford to replace them, all while waiting and hoping for her mother to come back.

Because it's a Godden book, it is about so much more than that, all beautifully presented in exquisite writing and storytelling. The structure of the book is lovely: the main story about Lovejoy is presented almost chronologically, but then as people enter the tale, they insert their viewpoints as a clever form of foreshadowing. It isn't disruptive. If anything, it fills the reader with hope that, somehow, because it is not clear for much of the book, Lovejoy will get something resembling a happy ending at the end of all of this.

And of course, that is the best part of Godden's writing: there is an ending, and it could be construed as happy, but it is not neat and clean, corners not easily pinned up, and at the end of this episode, for it truly is that: a moment captured about a girl and her goal, while adults in the neighborhood look on, postwar bombed out London poverty remains as such. Perhaps, though, with a bit more kindness in the air.

This is one of those books that we all love, where children have freedom to roam (the reasons they have this freedom might not be so good – but there it is all the same) and act for themselves in a way that always seems to make for good stories. I loved the idea of a secret garden in the city, made out of the refuse of war, created out of the longings of an abandoned girl (she was, really, on her own, even if she did have a home). That combination of themes – destruction, abandonment, smallness, helplessness, friendship, passion, and hope – is potent. I liked that it wasn’t a perfect fairy-tale, I liked (and hated) the realism of the inability of many adults to love as they should, and others to do as they longed to do. The supreme irony of a woman running charity committees galore not being able to act in charity herself – wonderful! I loved Vincent, and hated him as well – why couldn’t he do something for Lovejoy?! So many things frustrated me. But at the core – the human drive for love and beauty can make a garden in a wasteland.

I’m so happy I came upon this book. Rumer Godden’s writing reminds me of my beloved Elizabeth Goudge - infused with faith, unexpectedly direct and wry. The story line is a bit like A Secret Garden, with echoes of Babette’s Feast.

Here’s a wonderful quote:

“Is everyone unhappy?” the child Lovejoy was to ask Vincent in despair. Vincent said, “Everyone,” but after a moment, when he had thought, he added, “That doesn’t prevent them from being happy.”

I'm so sorry if this was your favorite book of all time. It's not going to be mine. It's not going to be my least favorite book of all time. But it's not going to be my favorite either.

There are two stories in Godden's body of work that have this title: this book, and a short story found in Gone: A Thread of Stories (which is truthful, dreadful, and I wish I'd never read it as it left deep marks.)
I first read this in highschool, and I think I enjoyed it more then. That was forty some years back, and this time around I found myself skimming. It too is truthful--Lovejoy, Tip and Sparkey are street kids playing and fighting on the bombed out lots of one of the poorer areas of postwar London. Lovejoy's first priority in life is "clothes before bread"--and that's before she falls in love with gardening.

And you see, that's the bit that didn't work for me this time round. I know about the English and their obsession with gardening, but it doesn't fit with the character of Lovejoy as she was created at the beginning of the novel, nor as she develops. It would have made a great deal more sense for her to be more of her mother's daughter, even in the absence of said mother. And what happened to Mrs Mason, anyway? Much is implied but nothing explained. Did she end up in jail, or a grave, or what? The ending, too, is a bit pat-and-perfect, and it would never have happened that way in a really "realistic" novel. I found myself skimming toward the end, never a good sign.

Best character: Tip Malone, who is totally real.


Many GR reviewers (and American librarians, for all I know) seem to think this is "a children's book", just because it is about children. However, even at the time it was published, much of the subtext would have flown right over children's heads. I don't believe it was ever intended for a child audience; most of Godden's work was not.

I’ve enjoyed Rumer Godden’s children’s books including one of my favorites Miss Happiness and Miss Flower. An Episode of Sparrows is an adult novel, although it could also be enjoyed by young adult. I love Godden’s writing and hope to read more of her. This novel kind of reminds you of the Secret Garden. Set in London, after World War II, it deals with poverty, clash between social classes, religion, and the resilience of the human spirit. I loved watching how a little girl’s heart, abandoned by her mother, is softened by friendship and a passion for her little garden, both a source of joy and hope in dark times. There are so many great characters in this story grappling with finding love and meaning in life - loved it!

Currently my favorite book I have ever read.

Here is an endearing tale of street children and English society which may plant seeds of respect for independent thinking in readers' minds.

When I first pulled this paperback from my bookseller's used fiction shelf and glanced through it cursorily, an excerpted quote in the front caught my fancy:

"You are making a mountain out of a molehill," said Angela. Olivia was suddenly inspired to answer, "A molehill can be a mountain to a sparrow."

I bought it.

On first reading I was charmed with the finely detailed, realistic descriptions of English streets and their inhabitants. "It's about little people," I decided, "children who are individuals with thoughts, feelings and circumstances just like everybody."

When next I took Sparrows up again, there was no problem picking up the story where I had left it off. Indeed, each successive reading sustained my interest for a longer period.

Then, all of a sudden, came a master stroke. Totally unsuspecting, I was in the middle of eating an eggs, bacon and hash browns breakfast, accompanying myself by reading comfortably when... I had to escape to the men's room so nobody would see me wiping away tears.

At that point I realized the amazing power of this writer, Rumer Godden. She had made me cry by describing something good happening to poor Vincent and his restaurant on Catford Street. (Thinking about that scene still brings a lump to my throat.) There was to be more, of course; I checked and gratefully saw I was barely halfway through the covers.

Other skilled writer's touches emerge as one continues with this story -- contrasts between what's real and what is pretense become hard to ignore, for instance.

If you read this book you'll get more than just a good read. It'll touch your heart, make you think, and perhaps let you see people in a different way. What more could one ask from literature?