Marigold Green is a wonderful name. Not so wonderful when your father's name is Bill. Marigold adopts the unavoidable nickname of Bilgewater as a result (Bill's + daughter = Bilgewater). As so begin's Gardam's story about teenage angst from the point of view of Marigold Green. Because her father is the housemaster to the boys of a boarding school, Marigold has a lot to be anxious about. Having lost her mother at birth, Marigold is naive when it comes to friendships, fashion, relationships with the opposite sex, and even alcohol. She had never seen drunk people before the age of 18. The one thing she does know is literature and many different works are reference throughout the story. ( )

Not sure about this one. Seemed like a weird kind of romantic fiction, with a nice tied up happy ending. Not really my cuppa tea. ( )

Well that was a strange read. I'm not sure if a high-school aged person would enjoy it, but is that who it was written for? I found I couldn't really empathise with the main character, she was simply mad.

Still, I always enjoy books set in northern England. ( )

A long time since I read it or any Jane Gardam, but I remember loving it to pieces. Possibly the weirdest of her books, but the joy of reading it has stuck with me for years.

PS. I re-read it more recently and I've downgraded my rating of it from 5 stars. It has a magical quality but it's a bit meandering. ( )

Very British. Funny. Good story, good writing. ( )