Let's Kill Uncle

Synopsis: When recently-orphaned Barnaby Gaunt is sent to stay with his uncle on a beautiful remote island off the coast of Canada, he is all set to have the perfect summer holiday. Except for one small problem: his uncle is trying to kill him. Heir to a ten-million-dollar fortune, Barnaby tries to tell everyone and anyone that his uncle is after his inheritance, but no one will believe him. That is, until he tells the only other child on the island, Christie, who concludes that there is only one way to stop his demonic uncle: Barnaby will just have to kill him first. With the unexpected help of One-Ear, the aged cougar who has tormented the island for years, Christie and Barnaby hatch a fool-proof plan. Playful, dark and witty, Let's Kill Uncle is a surprising tale of two ordinary children who conspire to execute an extraordinary murder - and get away with it.

Review: It was the title that made me pick it up and it turned out to be as wicked, funny and delightful as I hoped it would be. It's one of the Bloomsbury Group Novels ... lost classics from the twentieth century (similar to the books that Persephone publish) and it tells the tale of young orphaned Barnaby. We first meet him on board ship just as it is about to dock at the remote Canadian island where he is being sent to live with his uncle. Also on board is Christie who is making her way to the island for a holiday and the pair of them are at loggerheads. They have been leading the ship's crew a merry dance during the journey, getting up to all sorts of mischief and generally behaving disgracefully.

Barnaby's uncle has been detained in Europe and so for the first few weeks he resides with Mr and Mrs Brooks Christie is staying with the goat-lady at her 'cheerfully untidy' farm. The goat-lady is very kind and well meaning but Christie is homesick for her mother and cannot settle. She doesn't like the food (though everyone else would .. for breakfast there is golden fried potatoes, pink ham and scarlet tomatoes ... freshly baked bread and and butter with raspberry jam .. clotted cream and fresh blackberries .. really, we're in the land of Enid here) .. Christie only want's her old favourites - cornflakes and tea. Barnaby is having food issues too, Mrs Brooks has fixed him her (late lamented) son's favourite meal of a coddled egg, a bowl of bread and milk sprinkled with brown sugar, weak tea and a minutely cut up apple ... Barnaby can't face eating such nursery food but he soon sniffs out the superior fare being served at the goat lady's and, not to be outdone, Christie suddenly finds the food more to her liking.

After a bit of a hostile start, Barnaby and Christie become reluctant playmates and begin exploring the island. The place has a very unfortunate history, some people think it's cursed. Thirty three men left the island to fight in the first and second world wars and only one came back alive ... the islands policeman Sergeant Coulter, a fact which has made him feel undeservedly guilty. The island hasn't any young people therefore and so the islanders have a bit of a tough time of it adapting to these two boisterous, not to say wilful, youngsters. Sergeant Coulter has his work cut out keeping them in check but they soon grow to love the stern but kindly policeman and he comes to care for them.

There is a depression hanging over Barnaby whenever his uncle is mentioned and he soon confides in Christie that his uncle is mad, that he killed his Teddy Bear (he cremated him) and would soon kill him too (for Barnaby is due a fortune when he comes of age.) At first she's inclined not to believe him, but when uncle arrives on the island, his behaviour towards Christie soon convinces her that Barnaby is in fact telling the truth .. and so there can be only one solution .. they must kill uncle first.

Uncle is indeed insidious and there's more behind his plotting and scheming than just the mere acquisition of Barnaby's fortune. The adults on the island all take him at face value, they think he's the kind, eccentric old codger that he's pretending to be and so, despite confiding his fears to Sergeant Coulter, Barnaby decides that he and Christie will have to come up with a foolproof way to get rid of him .. but uncle is clever and keeping one step ahead is impossible.

This is a lovely mix of dark and light, for the most part it's really warm and humorous but there are dark, dark moments in it and plenty of suspense. I absolutely loved the children's relationship with the policeman and also their infatuation with the island's man-eating cougar 'One Ear'. Completely oblivious to his man eating tendencies and despite his deep aversion, the children easily seek 'One Ear' out and generally manhandle him (in a way usually only seen in cartoons) for they've never had a pet and they think he fits the bill. The cougar doesn't dare attack them as he knows it will mean certain death for him if he does and so he is forced to accept their caresses, whilst all the time thinking murderous thoughts.

Great fun.

The Summer Book

Synopsis: An elderly artist and her six-year-old grand-daughter are away on a summer together on a tiny island in the gulf of Finland. As the two learn to adjust to each other's fears, whims and yearnings, a fierce yet understated love emerges - one that encompasses not only the summer inhabitants but the very island itself. Written in a clear, unsentimental style, full of brusque humour, and wisdom, "The Summer Book" is a profoundly life-affirming story. Tove Jansson captured much of her own life and spirit in the book, which was her favourite of her adult novels. This new edition, with a Foreword by Esther Freud, sees the return of a European literary gem - fresh, authentic and deeply humane.

Review: Not a particularly good time to read this book .. I do prefer to read books in season but one glance at the foreword and I was hooked. I've not really got into Tove's writing before .. never having liked the Moomins but this is something completely different and for adults. It's a collection of short interlinked stories about six year old Sophie and her grandmother who spend their summers, along with Sophie's father, on a remote island.

Sophie is a smart little cookie and she definitely gets all her feistiness from her grandmother, they have a lovely relationship. Sophie's father is more of a shadowy figure, he's mentioned a lot but only in passing and is often off somewhere else doing necessary or exciting things. Sophie's grandmother is old, she's unsteady, she forgets things sometimes and has dizzy spells, this doesn't stop her from gadding about on her own or with Sophie exploring all the flora and fauna of the island, the skulls and bones and bogs and old roots. She's wise and unsentimental, very much talking to Sophie on equal terms and answering her interminable questions honestly and wisely. She understands that, despite Sophie's determination not to let it show, Sophie is still afraid of deep water, but she doesn't say anything about it, she just observes. She teaches Sophie about life and love and keeping imagination alive.

There are no flowery descriptions, no frills, everything is written down quite sparsely but there's also something incredibly magical about it. Grandmother carves outlandish creatures out of the dead wood in the magic forest and she and Sophie build a tiny replica Ventian city in the marsh pool. Grandmother says thing's like 'wake me up if you do anything that's fun' and 'did I ever tell you about the dead pig I found?' and 'with the best will in the world I cannot start believing in the Devil at my age' .. Sophie says 'you know, sometimes when everything's fine, I think it's just a bloody bore' and 'I hate you. With warm personal wishes. Sophie' and (to the cat) 'how many murdered today?'

I don't always like forewords in books and don't usually read them because quite often they give away too much of the plot but this one was a pleasure to read. Esther Freud, who is a huge fan of the book, goes out to the real island (that Tove spent her summers at) with Tove Jansson's niece Sophie (said to be the inspiration for the fictional Sophie) to spend a couple of days in the house that Tove built with her brother Lars back in 1947. A lot of what she finds there is instantly recognisable from the book, the woodpile, the steep stone steps, the faded blue paint etc. She decides to walk around the island and is shocked when she finds it only takes her four and a half minutes and feels a bit claustrophobic. However, after a few days of pottering about, swimming, foraging and generally enjoying the pace of island life she finds she feels more relaxed and the island seems larger somehow, she's sorry when her short visit comes to an end.

A very special read and one to treasure. I understand there is also a Winter Book which I would like to read but I don't think it's a continuation of the stories about Sophie and Grandmother.