The Chimneys of Green Knowe

It was not until I began to read Treasure at Green Knowe, the second volume in L.M. Boston’s charming Green Knowe series, that I realized just how much I had missed Tolly; his great-grandmother, Mrs. Oldknow; and the spectral Toby, Linnet and Alexander, who died of bubonic plague 300 years before Tolly was born. I absolutely loved Children Of Green Knowe, a delight for adults as well as children, and none of the magic has disappeared in this volume, which originally appeared in 1958 under the title The Chimneys Of Green Knowe.

My only disappointment is that, while Tolly and the kind, understanding Mrs. Oldknow are back, Linnet, Toby and Alexander are missing — literally! Tolly has returned to Green Knowe for the Easter break, just a show more few months after his first visit the previous Christmas. Mrs. Oldknow has dispatched their portrait to a museum exhibition, and the ghosts have gone with the painting. However, Boston makes up for that loss by introducing two new characters: blind Susan Oldknow and Jacob, a slave boy from Barbados who was redeemed by Susan’s kind-hearted and upright father, Captain Oldknow, and who serves as Susan’s helper and companion. The pair lived at the very end of the 18th century, and they’re both about Tolly’s age. In the course of the book, these new ghosts befriend Tolly, and they help him search for a treasure that was lost during their day. Poor Mrs. Oldknow feared that she would have to sell the portrait of Alexander, Linnet and Toby to keep the roof from literally caving in, and, this being a beautiful fable, there’s never any doubt that Susan and Jacob will come through just in time.

With romances and children’s books, the end comes as no surprise; the enjoyment comes not from a surprise at the destination but in the journey. You won’t regret taking the journey delineated by Treasure at Green Knowe. show less

Tolly spends his summer holiday at Green Knowe with his great-grandmother, befriends more of the house's ghosts and learns their stories.
I just love this series. So perfectly magic-in-the-everyday-ical. And I love that Charlie is enjoying it, too.

After a random rewatch of From Time to Time, with Maggie Smith and Dominic West, I thought I would try (one of) the Green Knowe books. Not really my style - very Enid Blyton, and horribly dated and racist - but a good story for children, based on the author's own house. Nine year old schoolboy Tolly goes to stay with his great-grandmother and visit with the 'ghosts' of children from another time. In between adventures reminscent of The Secret Garden, Mrs Oldknow recounts the story of Jacob, an African slave bought to be a companion to the blind daughter of the house. She talks like she was there at the time, which makes no sense, but perhaps she means that she was introduced to the children at a young age too.

Recommended, but I would show more perhaps suggest the adaptation over the books! show less

Lucy Maria Boston's thrilling and classic time fantasy tales of Green Knowe, an ancient English manor house and its grounds whose setting was based on her own long-time home of The Manor at Hemingford Grey, have been entertaining readers of all ages for decades.
This book was renamed Treasure of Green Knowe for the American reading market. However, its original title when published by Faber and Faber in the UK, The Chimneys of Green Knowe, bears a much closer relationship to the whole series in its reference to the changes in the architecture of the house and how each resident or visitor experiences them, as well as the love, friendship, time, and loss all deeply embedded in the building itself.
There's a treasure, naturally, that's been show more missing for centuries, but for Tolly, Susan and Jacob, the three main protagonists of this instalment in the series, the discovery of what happened to that treasure, how it happened, and where the item in question might be in the present time, are all but incidental to the journey towards finding it. show less

This was the first Green Knowe book I read. It's a delightful children's tale of adventure and time travel, but it also touches on race, blindness, greed and corruption. Highly recommended. (Re read in 2020 after watching the film adaptation From Time to Time which, despite a really good cast, changes too much to be convincing).

When I first picked this up, many years ago, I discovered that Toby and Alexander and Linnet weren't in the story, and refused to read any further in a rage. However, having moved on a little since those days, I stuck it on my Christmas wishlist and gave it a try. Very similar in tone to ‘The Children of Green Knowe’, this time it's spring, and Tolly spends his Easter holiday learning about a Regency Oldknowe and her freed-slave companion. Unlike the Stuart Oldknowes, the children in this book aren't ghosts; Tolly and they simply pass into one another's times, and even interact and impact on one another. Tolly, incidentally, has managed to grow two years in one term at school, but let that pass. This was adapted in 2009 into a show more not-entirely-satisfactory film under the title 'From Time to Time'. show less

A young boy (Tolly) visiting his grandmother at Green Knowe, works with the ghosts of children who had once lived there, to discover the final resting place of a long lost family treasure. Two of the ghosts are of a blind girl (daughter of Captain Oldknow, who was a former owner of Green Knowe), and a young, rescued slave-boy (Jacob), who was eventually adopted by the Captain as his son. Warnings: some characters use extremely racist and vile language when referring to Jacob, and they treat him cruelly when the Captain is away. They are also cruel and callous in their treatment of the blind girl when her father is out of town. There is an episode when Green Knowe is on fire, and Jacob races into the burning building to rescue the blind show more girl, who is his dearest friend. show less