Product Description

Once a year cousins Madge and Paul visit Goldengrove, their grandmother's idyllic Cornish home. One year, as summer turns to autumn and as they are drawn from childhood to maturity, their seemingly indomitable grandmother turns to winter, and the precious moments of innocence are swept away.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #90291 in Books
• Published on: 1997-01-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 236 pages

From the Back Cover
WINNER OF THE BOSTON GLOBE-HORN BOOK AWARD

Once a year cousins Madge and Paul visit Goldengrove, their grandmother's idyllic Cornish home. But one year as summer turns to autumn and as they are drawn from childhood to maturity, their seemingly indomitable grandmother turns to winter, and the precious moments of innocence begin to be swept away...

Years later Madge, now living at Goldengrove, reflects on her own grandchildren and the events and revelations which disturbed the tranquillity of her childhood, as current events begin to strike echoes from the past. Against a stunning Cornish backdrop, Goldengrove Unleaving is a lasting tale of innocence and beauty amidst the calm and storm of changing lives.

Previously published as Goldengrove and Unleaving.

About the Author
Jill Paton Walsh
Jill Paton Walsh was educated at St Michael's Convent, North Finchley, and at St Anne's College, Oxford. She is the author of several highly praised adult novels: Lapsing, A School For Lovers, Knowledge of Angels, which was shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize, Goldengrove Unleaving, The Serpentine Cave and A Desert in Bohemia. She has also won many awards for her children's literature, including the Whitbread Prize, the Universe Prize and the Smarties Award. She has three children and lives in Cambridge.

Customer Reviews

A book about the young, but for all ages.
Jill Paton Walsh often focuses on basic, important themes, especially in the context of heroes or heroines learning a lesson they would much rather not face (A SCHOOL FOR LOVERS and KNOWLEDGE OF ANGELS are other good examples). Here, Madge, the young and sensitive heroine, is confronted with the storms which have driven her family apart, the contrast between living your life by thought and living it by emotion, the difference between love and pity, and the harsh truth that often it is too late to put things right. Her battle between idealism and 'whether the end justifies the means' is set into bold relief as the narrative is interspersed with scenes from her old age, where many facts, small and large, resonate with the past. All the characters are sympathetically drawn - you really care about them - and the 'big issues' are fairly and unjudgingly presented. The writing is wonderfully gentle and clear. A book about the young, but for young and old alike.