The Bell Family

I'm so happy to have found this. A delightful story of a vicarage family. Noel Streatfeild know this topic well, having grown up the daughter of a parson. A wonderful family, great characters! A joy to travel this journey with them. I'll be on the lookout for more of Ms Streatfeild's books.

Reverend Bell and his family may not have much money, but they have something special that no other family has - each other!

Paul, the oldest child, hopes to be a doctor, while Jane has her heart set on a dancing career. Even little Angus knows what he wants to do - own a zoo someday. It's only Ginnie who doesn't think about the future - she is too busy making mischief.

All the children share one goal. They look for ways to earn money and help their parents through the rough times. No matter what, there doesn't seem to be a problem the Bells can't solve - until their plans for a summer holiday are threatened.

It's always nice to acquire and read another Noel Streatfeild, and this is a nice edition reprinted this century. It has a brief biography and glossary in the back, intended for modern children who don't know much about the 1950s. This particular novel is a little unusual in that it started out as a series of radio plays.

It features the Bell family, who bear several striking resemblances to the author's own family, as portrayed in her autobiography 'The Vicarage Family'. As ever, there are some talented children: Paul who is highly academic and want to be a doctor, Jane who loves ballet, and Angus who sings well enough to have a place at a choir school but really doesn't want to sing. And then there's Ginnie, who is probably the one show more closest to Noel Streatfeild in character - kind-hearted but impulsive, bright but rebellious.

The book is a series of incidents through the year, showing the family contrasted with their rich and materialistic relatives, covering day-to-day problems and stresses, and seeing the children make some important decisions. It's very readable and I'm pleased to have this in my collection at last.

Latest longer review: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2024/09/the-bell-family-by-noel-streatfeild... show less

I have always loved Noel Streatfeild's books and as a child I got my library to ILL them for me or hunted through second hand book stores to find all of them. She tells the perfect "girls stories". I was always able to find one character in each book that was my favorite. They definitely stand up to re-reads.