The Colour of Milk

Apr 28, 2013 Jeanette rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: all-fiction, europe-and-british-isles

my name is jeanette.
j.e.a.n.e.t.t.e.
i am very tall and my hair is the colour of weak tea.
this is my review and i am writing it by my own hand in the year of our lord twenty-thirteen.

i did read this book, and my teeth did grind and my eyes did cross for that there were no upper-case letters on any page. no, nary a one. nor were there any quotation marks neither.

i understand that the narrator is barely literate, and it is for this that we are meant to see that she does not know proper punctuation...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, historical-fiction

Mary is a sharp tongued fifteen year old farm girl who has a strong desire to learn how to read and write. “In this year of lord eighteen hundred and thirty one” you follow the journal of a poor and disabled girl who should have no rights going against the odds to achieve what she always wanted; the ability to read and write.

The Colour of Milk is written in a personal journal over the four seasons of a year. Mary is the youngest of four daughters living in a house of a man who really wanted son...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Emily Crowe rated it 4 of 5 stars

What a fantastic book! A coworker of mine pointed out that this is the real, unromanticized counterpoint to the works of Jane Austen et al from the first half of the nineteenth century--the one where farm girls are illiterate and completely at the mercy of the men in their lives and where upward mobility is but a distant, future concept.

The postscript-like ending may come as a twist to some, but I saw it coming a long way off, as it's not exactly an unused-device in literature, but that withsta...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Kirsty rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2012, read-for-review, received-for-review, times-literary-supplement, best-of-2012, advanced-review-and-proof-copies

My review of The Colour of Milk was originally supposed to be published in The Times Literary Supplement, but they oversubscribed their copy space and then lost almost half of it, so it sadly couldn't be printed.

Short review: This was a wonderful book. I would have read it at some point, I’m sure, but I’m so glad I got to review it. The narrative was incredibly original - told all in lower case letters and with no apostrophes to denote speech. Leyshon’s control of the story was marvellous and al...more My review of The Colour of Milk was originally supposed to be published in The Times Literary Supplement, but they oversubscribed their copy space and then lost almost half of it, so it sadly couldn't be printed.

Short review: This was a wonderful book. I would have read it at some point, I’m sure, but I’m so glad I got to review it. The narrative was incredibly original - told all in lower case letters and with no apostrophes to denote speech. Leyshon’s control of the story was marvellous and although the storyline itself was a little unsettling in parts, it’s certainly one of the best books I’ve read all year and not one I’m likely to forget in a hurry.

Full review: The Colour of Milk tells the heartrending tale of fifteen-year-old Mary. Her story takes place over a relatively short period of time, beginning in the spring of 1830 and spanning only four seasons. The daughter of a ferocious and incredibly violent farmhand and his wife, who is happy to stand by and watch as her four daughters are physically abused, Mary tries desperately to overcome the rigours of the poverty and brutality which bind her. She is an observer, keenly watching the world around her, leaving things unspoken and keeping secrets for her sisters.

The sisters themselves are uneducated, “for who needs to learn to read words and write them down when they are picking up stones from the earth and putting them in buckets”. The relationship between the sisters is not a close-knit one, and their differences constantly set them apart from one another as the novel progresses. Beatrice is devout whilst Mary questions the existence of God, and Hope is “filthy of temper” in comparison to the relative placidity of her sisters. The chances afforded to them are non-existent, and whilst they struggle against this adversity with all their might, they are loath to discuss things with anyone but themselves. Their dreams are so far above what their futures will realistically hold. Violet, for example, wishes to be a teacher, a profession which she is berated for, and Hope wishes to have “a different life”, wanting more than anything “never to be hungry and never to be thirsty and never to be so tired i’m falling asleep as i’m walking along”.

Mary’s longed-for escape comes in the form of a new position, caring for the invalid wife of the village vicar, Mr Graham. Whilst this allows her some necessary respite from the constant barrage of violence at home, her new life still contains periods of intense sadness and cruelty. A sinister sense of foreshadowing is created as Mary relates why she felt it important to learn how to read and write in order to record the most turbulent year of her life, “to start where a person ought to”.

The novel breaks boundaries in its style and narrative voice. It is told entirely using lowercase letters, an interesting format which adds a touch of naïvety to Mary’s character. Only basic punctuation features and no apostrophes have been used to denote dialogue. This experimental technique strips the language back to its bare bones. Though it does not adhere to standard literary conventions, the narrative style is ambitious and works incredibly well with the story which Leyshon has created.

The tenses are sometimes deliberately muddled throughout and some of the word orderings are clumsy: “the hens… had been inside all morning for to lay their eggs and now they were to be let out for to run and eat worms and insects what would make the eggs taste”. Rather than detracting from the story, this technique adds an element of intrigue, where every word which Mary documents in her own voice grows in importance.

The prose itself is simple yet engrossing. Mary’s language is not advanced enough to voice her desperation and unhappiness, making her situation seem all the more unsettling. The scenes which she relates are incredibly powerful in their straightforwardness. Relying almost entirely upon the sheer simplicity of language and making such a novel believable is an impressive feat, one which Leyshon has undoubtedly mastered.

Along with her ardent compassion for Mary, one of Leyshon’s strengths lies in her portrayal of the human condition. Such prowess is demonstrated throughout, particularly with regard to sensitive themes including the notions of power and disability.(less)

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Jun 01, 2013 Amberalba Dawn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mary sa della vita quello che lei stessa sperimenta. Nessuno le insegna il perché delle cose, ma questo non vuole dire che sia stupida, anzi. Mary è dotata di un acume ed una capacità di leggere dentro le persone prodigiosi. Purtroppo è solo una contadina e deve far fronte alla miseria, alla fame e alla violenza gratuita di un padre che non conosce altri modi per comunicare. Quando andrà a vivere nella casa del vicario come cameriera, sembrerà arrivato il momento per lei di un riscatto. Ma dovrà...more Mary sa della vita quello che lei stessa sperimenta. Nessuno le insegna il perché delle cose, ma questo non vuole dire che sia stupida, anzi. Mary è dotata di un acume ed una capacità di leggere dentro le persone prodigiosi. Purtroppo è solo una contadina e deve far fronte alla miseria, alla fame e alla violenza gratuita di un padre che non conosce altri modi per comunicare. Quando andrà a vivere nella casa del vicario come cameriera, sembrerà arrivato il momento per lei di un riscatto. Ma dovrà fare i conti con un mondo spietato, di gente che guarda solo il proprio interesse e non si cura dei sentimenti di una sguattera. Lentamente, Mary sarà sottoposta a prove che piegherebbero chiunque, facendolo scivolare nella disperazione, e dovrà aggrapparsi a tutto ciò che è per non cedere.

Nell Leyshon mi ha completamente spiazzata. Quando ho preso in mano il suo romanzo non pensavo di trovarmi davanti ad una storia così difficile nella sua semplicità.

Sarà un po' per lo stile della scrittura acerbo e sgrammaticato, che ricalca quello che potrebbe essere il modo di scrivere di una ragazza di umili origini, sarà per la storia triste contenuta, ma la lettura è stata difficoltosa. E non vi nascondo che, in più di un passaggio, mi sono chiesta se terminare il libro o abbandonarlo. Alla fine mi sono convinta che valeva la pena continuare, con la timida speranza che le cose volgessero al meglio (anche se in questo caso sarebbe più indicato dire "alla meno peggio") per la protagonista.

Di sicuro, una caratteristica di pregio è l'intensità raggiunta dalle parole. Tramite un loro uso accorto, il pensiero di Mary è limpido e chiaro, pare quasi di averla accanto e che il libro sia stato scritto di suo pugno, anziché dall'autrice. Spesso mi sono meravigliata di come questa ragazza potesse essere così saggia e diretta, a soli quindici anni, e di come riuscisse a carpire la vera natura delle persone con poche, semplici parole.

Allora non potete essere felice senza sentirvi in colpa? no. allora non venite. così non vi sentirete in colpa. ma voglio essere felice. o mary, disse. non parliamo a vuoto tutta la notte. la verità, dissi, è che non volete essere onesto su quello che fate.

Preparatevi, perché questo è un romanzo veramente crudo e di certo adatto a chi ama il genere realista, come quello di Verga. Personalmente, non ho ancora capito se mi sia realmente piaciuto o meno. Il fatto di essermi trovata alle prese con un racconto così pieno di vicende tristi non ha sicuramente giovato. Anche se non mi sento di condannarlo, in quanto è una storia forte ed è qualcosa di inusuale, perché rispolvera un genere letterario che non vedevo più da parecchio. Probabilmente, sapendolo prima, mi sarei preparata in modo adeguato e avrei preso il romanzo per quello che era, apprezzandone di più sia la trama che i contenuti.(less)

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Mar 02, 2013 Scrittevolmente rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

È sempre buona norma dare un’occhiata – prima o dopo la lettura – alla biografia spicciola dell’autore in quarta di copertina, quando è presente.
Si viene così a sapere che questo è il primo romanzo di Nell Leyshon, pluripremiata sceneggiatrice di opere radiofoniche e teatrali, a cui Il colore del latte è stato commissionato.
Ci troviamo di fronte a un libro dalla prosa incalzante, diretto e assolutamente privo di punti morti, i botta e risposta si susseguono uno dopo l’altro con chiarezza, non ap...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Gail Cooke rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

With her compelling new novel “The Colour Of Milk” Nell Leyshon has given us Mary who has a voice that cannot be silenced or forgotten. Mary is a fourteen-year-old farm girl who lives in 1831 and promised herself that she would “write the truth and the things that happened.” That she does for Mary is an honest girl, headstrong, determined with hair the color of milk and a game leg.

She lives on a hardscrabble farm with her parents and three sisters. The girls are forced to do exhausting work fro...more

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Nov 08, 2012 Seija rated it 5 of 5 stars

HOLY EFFING TOUR DE FORCE!!! Yes, this book is really sad. I hate using the word "heartbreaking," but it's apt here. This is one of those books where I want to say, "yes, it's going to devastate you, but TOO BAD, MAN! You know what's devastating? How women were treated 200 years ago!" Somehow, Nell Leyshon captures the utter banality of everyday abuse and intellectual oppression of women living on a farm in England in the 1830's. There is no anachronistic rebellion here... just acceptance of sma...more

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Oct 08, 2012 David Hebblethwaite rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ypu can read The Colour of Milk in one sitting, and I think doing so is the best way to experience this short, intense work. Set in 1830, it’s the account of Mary, a young farm girl who has acquired a measure of literacy and now sets out her story in her own halting prose. One summer, Mary is sent to work at the local vicarage, looking after the vicar’s sick wife; it’s clear from her tone that something bad has happened, but the full picture doesn’t emerge until the end.

Nell Leyshon paints a por...more

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Sep 20, 2012 Ruby Noise rated it 5 of 5 stars

"the year was eighteen hundred and thirty by the years of our lord." Mary a farmers daughter tells her tale without the use of punctuation but with a very sharp tongue. Sent to live in a vicarage to care for the Vicars fragile wife. Mary a little girl with a leg that doesn't quite work and with hair the colour of milk, tells her tale through her simple yet illiterate eyes. Life on the farm is harsh as are the relationships she has with her family. Her only friends are her grandfather and a cow s...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Sue rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was a page turner! I was rooting for Mary throughout. The odds were stacked, she was a pawn in 19c. England - a woman with no rights, poor and disabled. There were some very funny parts and her plain speaking was a joy in these days of political correctness. Loved her for her kindness to her grandfather but wondered why she kept quiet about her sister - sure she could have found a few choice words!! But she reacts not instigates. Like Hardy's Tess, Mary is a victim, no way out for her even...more

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Jun 13, 2012 Jane rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a small book, but it feels very substantial. Because it contains a unique voice, and a story that voice it wants to tell so very, very much.

“this is my book and i am writing it by my own hand.

i want to tell you what it is that happened but i must be ware not to rush at it like the heifers at a gate for if i do that i will get ahead of myself so quick that i will trip and fall and anyway you will want me to start where a person ought to.

and that is at the beginning.”

The style is idiosyncr...more

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Sep 20, 2012 Tim Roast rated it 5 of 5 stars

The colour of milk is a really good book. It's narrated by Mary who is quite a character, and for that reason the book is good. Mary has hair the colour of milk, hence the title of the book. Her voice is that of a working-class farm girl from 1830, and she is also a bit of a blabbermouth never afraid to voice her opinion. She is also new to learning how to read and write which makes the text primitive in style. All these aspects make her voice very endearing to the reader (or at least to this pa...more

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Mar 01, 2013 Roberto rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: narrativa-straniera

“Il mio nome è Mary e ho imparato a scriverlo lettera per lettera”

”Il colore del latte” è un romanzo che fin dall’inizio disorienta un po’. Lo stile non è gradevole: poca cura della punteggiatura, scarso uso delle maiuscole, grammatica approssimativa. Capiamo poi leggendo che a parlare è Mary, una contadina di quindici anni con una gamba più corta dell’altra e capelli chiari come il latte e che lo stile è correlato al suo livello di istruzione.

È la primavera del 1831 quando Mary incomincia a scr...more “Il mio nome è Mary e ho imparato a scriverlo lettera per lettera”

”Il colore del latte” è un romanzo che fin dall’inizio disorienta un po’. Lo stile non è gradevole: poca cura della punteggiatura, scarso uso delle maiuscole, grammatica approssimativa. Capiamo poi leggendo che a parlare è Mary, una contadina di quindici anni con una gamba più corta dell’altra e capelli chiari come il latte e che lo stile è correlato al suo livello di istruzione.

È la primavera del 1831 quando Mary incomincia a scrivere la sua storia. Scrive lentamente, ci vorranno quattro stagioni perché racconti tutto.

La ragazzina si presenta, sillabando il suo nome, si descrive fisicamente. Inizialmente si fa fatica a entrare nella storia; ma un poco alla volta riusciamo a vedere Mary, a comprenderla. Ci chiediamo come faccia a saper scrivere visto che non sembra avere tempo per imparare; con le sorelle deve badare agli animali della fattoria e alle faccende di casa. Non c’è tempo quindi per alcuno svago, le giornate sono scandite dalla fatica, dal sudore e dalla violenza, che il padre le infligge se non lavora a sufficienza.

Un giorno il padre la costringe a trasferirsi presso il vicario per accudire la moglie malata. Mary non vuole, ma non ha scelta. Qui, nonostante il profondo disagio dovuto al fatto di trovarsi in un’altra casa con persone che non conosce, si compiace di essere apprezzata e impara con entusiasmo a leggere e a scrivere; ma anche che sfortunatamente tutte le cose hanno un prezzo.

È una storia triste che riusciamo a vivere con gli occhi di Mary; che è acuta e intelligente, ma non è simpatica, bensì ostinata, fredda, sgradevole. Ma è cresciuta conoscendo solo la violenza senza aspettarsi niente di buono da nessuno, se non da chi dipende da lei completamente, ossia il nonno e la moglie del vicario.

Il finale, sconvolgente e amaro, ci fa capire come il romanzo sia un inno alla scrittura, che consente una libertà altrimenti negata.

“Ci sono cose che non vorrei dire.
Ma mi sono ripromessa di dire tutta la verità.
E poi sarò libera.”

Molto molto bello, un libro che ci rimane dentro per molti giorni.(less)

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Feb 17, 2013 Zorphie Zorro rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Unfortunately, despite all the great reviews, this book just did not do it for me. A very simplistic and spare writing style that's more hyperbolic than anything (Mary uses no capitalization, yet somehow, every word she writes is spelled correctly) didn't convince me that this book was anything more than pretense. I'm not sure where the "beautiful writing" so many people mentioned appeared in this book--spare, repetitive sentences without much imagination or description, and completely affected...more

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Jul 07, 2012 Kirsty rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: free-amazon-vine-books, never-read-again, historical

This is an interesting and sad short story. The book is the dairy of Mary, a farm girl in 1830 and follows a turbulent year of her life.

I could appreciate the feistiness and courage of Mary. She is a girl born in the wrong century, she very much desires an education and works hard to get one. She stands up for herself and speaks her mind, very brave considering this was a time where men ruled the roost, and women had no rights at all. This becomes all to apparent towards the sad end of the book....more

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Mar 27, 2013 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 08, 2013 Deb rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book ought to be titled "The Powerlessness of Women," because that is the grim reality it depicts. A young woman, living on an English farm in the earlier part of the 19th century, writes her story, and it is unrelentingly grim. One of four daughters living under a tyrannical father and a mother who does not stick up for her, she is shown kindness only by her grandfather, who is himself marginalized and isolated from the rest of the family. Her father forces her to go to work for the local...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Leka rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: inglese

...e poi sarò libera

Aperto e chiuso. Letto tutto d'un fiato. Perché la storia di Mary non ammette interruzioni. Quattro stagioni (più una nuova primavera), raccontate dalla sua penna perché questo è il mio quaderno ed è di mio pugno che lo scrivo. in questo anno del signore mille ottocento e trentuno di anni ne ho principiati quindici e sto seduta di faccia alla finestra e da qui vedo tante cose....
Un libro scritto così, dalla penna di una che principia anche con le lettere, e che racconta la su...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Morganna The Hungry Wolf rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ha qualcosa di struggente Il colore del latte, ed anche qualcosa di fortemente doloroso. Mi è piaciuto molto e devo concordare sul fatto che un libro di questo genere non possa che essere irripetibile e pertanto unico. Ciò che subito incontriamo è una voce, una voce personalissima ed un pò bugiarda di ragazzina. Una voce rurale, una voce imperfetta, una voce che non ha una grammatica inappuntabile e viene così come viene, così come parla.
Impariamo la durezza dei campi, la solitudine, il sacrific...more Ha qualcosa di struggente Il colore del latte, ed anche qualcosa di fortemente doloroso. Mi è piaciuto molto e devo concordare sul fatto che un libro di questo genere non possa che essere irripetibile e pertanto unico. Ciò che subito incontriamo è una voce, una voce personalissima ed un pò bugiarda di ragazzina. Una voce rurale, una voce imperfetta, una voce che non ha una grammatica inappuntabile e viene così come viene, così come parla.
Impariamo la durezza dei campi, la solitudine, il sacrificio ed infine ancora solitudine, quando la nostra voce va a servizio in una casa, e si trova davanti ad una vita diversa.
Ma la nostra voce fa le sue scelte, fino al tragico (ma bellissimo) epilogo che ha il sapore di una battaglia per la libertà individuale e rende la nostra voce una piccola giovane eroina.
Si tratta di un libro abbastanza breve, si legge in una giornata, e non potrebbe essere altrimenti, perché la lettura procede con una certa difficoltà. Manca totalmente la punteggiatura, e la grammatica è molto sommaria per simulare il fatto che Mary, la nostra voce protagonista, è illitterata. Inutile dire che, se fosse stato più lungo, sarebbe impossibile (o quantomeno molto difficile) da leggere ed eccessivamente pesante. Ma, a questa lunghezza e nelle quattro partiture (o stagioni) in cui è divisa, la narrazione scorre di filata, con la sua durezza e con la nostra protagonista non del tutto simpatica, sino al suo epilogo.
Francamente ho percepito parecchio (in senso perlopiù positivo) che la scrittrice è una sceneggiatrice, perché la narrazione ci arriva direttamente per immagini, luci, suoni, colori ed inquadrature. Tutto ci sempre di vederlo piuttosto che di leggerlo, o almeno questa è stata l'impressione che io ho avuto. E sì, la luce ed il colore giocano un ruolo importante, tanto che più che la campagna inglese dell'800 mi è sembrato di avere davanti una sorta di quadro fiammingo di Veermeriana memoria, così come i dialoghi, bruti ed essenziali, irrompono a darci impressioni nette dei personaggi e della società in cui vivono. Mary è una ragazza imperfetta, anche fisicamente ha una gamba storta e zoppa, con dei capelli color del latte, il colore che da il titolo al libro e che lo inizia e lo conclude, ma è soprattutto una narratrice molto vicina, che se da un lato vuole convincerci a seguirla dove lei vuole dall'altro vuole anche, più sottilmente, che noi scopriamo tutta la verità. Non vuole essere compatita, vuole essere ascoltata. E piano piano ci cattura nella sua storia, nella sua terra amara, nelle sue credenze.
Un romanzo vivido che mi sento di consigliare. Non fatevi scoraggiare dall'assenza di ordine grammaticale poiché una volta "agganciati" al libro non lo si lascia sino alla fine, ed anche quando è finito, le immagini, le luci, restano per un pò con noi che abbiamo ascoltato.(less)

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Jun 01, 2012 Deborah Swift rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Colour of Milk is a fictional diary of a farm girl from the 19th century who has just learnt to read and write. The style of the writing and the voice that Nell Leyshon creates is compelling. The pared down prose is matched by the size of the edition I read which will just fit in a pocket - which is just as well, because you won't want to put it down.

Masterful dialogue conveys Mary's individual relationships with her sisters, her parents and her grandfather.

As a picture of the small rifts b...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Sandy Mahal rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Written as a personal journal, The Colour of Milk is about the cost of achieving literacy. Set in 1831, the story is told through the voice of 15-year-old Mary, an illiterate farm worker with hair ‘the colour of milk’. Living on a farm, Mary works tirelessly from dawn to dusk. It’s a grim existence, punctuated by violence, but what Mary lacks in physical strength she makes up for with a strong will and a sharp tongue. When her father sends her to work for the local vicar’s invalid wife, she star...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Colour of Milk is Mary's story. Mary and her three sisters live with their parents and grandfather on a farm. Their father is abusive and all of the girls suffer under his hand. Mary has always been outspoken even when she was beaten for it. Out of the blue her father tells her that she will be living with the village vicar and helping care for his ill wife - Mary of course has no say in this matter. When she arrives at the vicarage she has a lot to learn about working for a "fancy" family....more

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Feb 18, 2013 Diane S. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A farm in the 1830's, 4 girls live with their mother and their abusive father on a farm, where they are worked from sunup until sundown. The youngest, Mary, who is 14 is sent to help the local preacher with his wife who is ill. Mary is very special, it is her journal, her story we read, and it is written simply and rather starkly to reflect the circumstances in which she lives. Her reading and writing has come at a high cost to herself, but it is the one thing she can do to make her grandfather...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Colleen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

At first I was a little worried. I opened up this book to browse through for a second and immediately noticed there are NO CAPITAL LETTERS! How am I going to get used to this? every "i" was lowercase, all proper nouns... and now I know Mary had barely learned to write and this is supposed to be her voice, but she doesnt also print in typeface so I am thinking at least to capitalize the I's would not have taken away from the dialect and personality.

Anyway, on to the story! I was pleasantly surpri...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Ginni rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-novels, modern-fiction

The power of the Internet - I read this as a result of a review on Sally Zigmond's blog. It is written in the first person by Mary, a Victorian farmer's daughter with a crippled leg; because of her disability, her father deems her of little value as a farm worker. He is a dominating and tyrannical presence; having four daughters and no sons, he has to be ruthless about keeping the farm running, but shows no affection to any of his family. Only right at the end do we see any sign of compassion fr...more

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Mar 02, 2013 Cheryl rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

This was a simple, absorbing read; though saddening. I suppose that in some genre classification circles, it could be on an "experimental fiction" list. It's also the second book I've read this week (Purple Hibiscus was the other) with the fifteen year old girl and her ill tempered father. Huh. Wasn't planned, I promise.

Mary is sassy, the girl who says everything that's on her mind. She also doesn't know how to read because she's lived on a farm all her life (where though? the author doesn't sa...more This was a simple, absorbing read; though saddening. I suppose that in some genre classification circles, it could be on an "experimental fiction" list. It's also the second book I've read this week (Purple Hibiscus was the other) with the fifteen year old girl and her ill tempered father. Huh. Wasn't planned, I promise.

Mary is sassy, the girl who says everything that's on her mind. She also doesn't know how to read because she's lived on a farm all her life (where though? the author doesn't say...) She is sent away by her father to become the housegirl of a vicar--in exchange for money that is paid to her father. She takes care of the vicar's sick wife, cleans, and in exchange, she learns how to read. This book is written in diary form, so you get the forthright Mary's voice, but you also get the writing of a girl who has just learned the alphabet--no punctuation, everything in lowercase, etc.

Example:

"the year is our lord's of eighteen hundred and thirty one and i am fifteen years old and i think again of that evening when we was outside in the warm, where grandfather was on his chair and we was clearing out the hay and mother was helping and we all four girls was doing it. and the air was warm and smelled of summer and the farm.

and if i could stop time that is what i would do and i would stay in that minute for all my life and for ever."

I actually liked this, how Leyshon went "there" with her character and showed true voice in writing. It made the reading so light and easy, this straying from conformity to focus on character authenticity.

Even descriptions were simple and real:

"the grass got long and it yellowed. shadows got longer. hedges filled with berries and apples swelled on trees.

and when i went out the air was different for it was fresh and new and after the sun went down i could feel some cold."

If you could imagine the routine of farm and servant life, you could envision how the book reads. Not a whole lot of crescendos or incredible plot twists. The movement in the book centers around Mary's unnerving experiences at her father's house, and later at the vicar's house. What is upending is the drama that unfolds at the end. I didn't particularly care for the ending because somehow it seemed like it should have been the beginning, a story told through backstory because by the time you get to the end, you've been through so much with Mary that you reach for more pages, only to find out there aren't any, and then you realize what has really happened, your hope dwindles and you're sad and a bit disappointed... (less)

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Feb 22, 2013 Diane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, mystery-thriller

I didn't know what to expect from this book, but I am happy I read it. Mary is an outspoken and nearly illiterate English farm girl from an abusive family who tells her own story. Since she can't read or write very well, Mary's first-person narrative is often hesitant and rambling (not to mention repetitive), but her storytelling does serve a purpose: Mary's perspective is crucial to understanding events and consequences in this short mystery novel.

I would have enjoyed more character development...more

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Jan 25, 2013 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I won this book in a Goodreads First Reads contest, and it's an unexpected change of pace. Written in first-person and with the lack of punctuation of someone who has just learned to write, it's told in Mary's point-of-view: a farm girl in the early 1800's who lives an extremly hard life, with no education and living conditions barely above squalor. The reader is immediately drawn in by her voice, her personality and her spunk. You can't help but like her, and she is a character you won't soon f...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Teresa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Looks can be deceiving – The Colour of Milk looks like a dainty little thing, measuring just 15cm x 10cm and at 176 pages, more novella than novel but behind that delicate exterior lurks a powerful story with a strong female protagonist.

It is 1851 and this is the story of 15 year old Mary, the youngest of four daughters in a farming family where a son would have been more highly prized. Mary tells it as it is and doesn’t suffer fools gladly. She tells her story over four seasons and over the cou...more

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