Despite tears and many mishaps, they learn something new every day, and living with Great Aunt Dymphna becomes an adventure. And, to the children’s consternation, she expects them to fend for themselves. She lives in a ramshackle house, quotes swathes of poetry and flits about like a great bat. Great Aunt Dymphna is like nobody they’ve ever met. So Alex, Penny, Naomi and Robin are sent to Ireland to stay with an eccentric distant relative. Their father, an epidemiologist, is ill abroad, and their mother must go to help him. Summer will be different for the Gareth children this year. Help yourselves, children, help yourselves.” Then, flapping her cloak as if to shoo off a clutter of chickens, Great Aunt Dymphna was gone.’ All that the earth brings forth to feed you, and you stand there asking foolish questions until my head reels. The four Gareth children - Alex, Penny, Robin, and Naomi - live in a house in London called Medway. ‘”You have a whole wing of the house to yourselves. Book Review: The Magic Summer by Noel Streatfeild (1966). For me, the best Noel Streatfeild of all’ HILARY MCKAY Several of her books were adapted for feature or television films.With beautiful illustrations by Edward Ardizzone She described her early life in three semi-autobiographical novels: A Vicarage Family (1963), Away from the Vicarage (1965) and Beyond the Vicarage (1972).

During the 1950s, she also worked in radio. She also wrote fiction and nonfiction for adults, sometimes using the pen name Susan Scarlett, including biographies. She won the third annual Carnegie Medal for Best Children's Book of the Year for The Circus Is Coming (1938) also known as Circus Shoes. Her familiarity with the stage provided authentic background for many of her popular books for children, including the 'Shoes' books, beginning with the 1936 novel Ballet Shoes. She spent 10 years acting with the Charles Doran and Arthur Bourchier companies before becoming a full-time writer. After World War I, she moved to London to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Leonard's College and Laleham School in Eastbourne. But she isn''t really an orphan - each year. Margaret Thursday was named after the day she was found on the church steps as a baby. She was educated by governesses and attended St. A thrilling, classic children''s adventure with a courageous heroine, from the beloved author of Ballet Shoes. She often rebelled against the strict rules and expectations of her parents. William Champion Streatfeild, later Bishop of Lewes, and his wife Janet Nancy Venn.

Noel Streatfeild, née Mary Noel, was born in Amberley, Sussex, England, one of six children of Rev.