Goodbye Gemma

The series was written as contemporary children’s fiction in the 1960s. The Robinsons are a likeable family who live in a small town within easy train distance from London. In this book, fourth and last of the series, Gemma, whose mother has been working in the United States, is very much part of the family despite being rather better-off financially, but all are aware that things are likely to change as they begin to grow up...

While ‘Goodbye Gemma’ (more recently published as 'Gemma in Love') could be read as a standalone, ties up a lot of ends and provides a good finale to the sequel. It’s inevitably slightly dated, but the family interactions are realistic, the people surprisingly three-dimensional and one or two scenes quite show more moving.

While a child of around ten or eleven might well enjoy the first couple of books in the series, this one is more thoughtful and perhaps appropriate for young teenagers; not that many of today’s teens would be interested in such a family-oriented series, but eclectic readers or those who prefer classic and ‘wholesome’ stories might well like it.

All in all, I enjoyed reading this very much.

Latest longer review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2024/06/gemma-in-love-goodbye-gemma-by-noel... 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.

Not the best. Wouldn't be my first choice.