Elsie's Kith and Kin

This is number 12 in the series written for girls in the late 1880s, which made it rather confusing since I had only previously read a couple of the much earlier books, five years ago. There are many people in Elsie's family who all seem to live in or around the same location, and I regularly lost track of who was whom.

Elsie herself, now a grandmother, does not come into this much. The earlier part of the story is taken up with her son Edward and his wife Zoe who have a disagreement about a friend who stays with them. I thought that was fairly interesting, if rather long-winded and, in places, moralistic.

The second part of the story features Elsie’s daughter Violet and her step-children. One of them has a hot temper has been show more threatened with boarding school. The various subplots have potential, but the style is not just old-fashioned but full of stilted and long-winded conversations and descriptions.

I can see that, for the era, the adults are in fact quite liberal and loving; maybe the author was trying to show the importance of fathers being involved in their children’s lives. There's some rather too overt Christian content, too. But the hot-tempered child Lulu is really the only interesting person in the book.

If anyone is curious, or would like to read these books from a social history point of view, they are available freely as Google Books or at Project Gutenburg, as well as published in paperback form.

I can't say I would recommend this, though, and doubt if I'll read any of the others in the lengthy 'Elsie' series. show less

5 Stars