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Crusoe's Daughter

3.7 of 5 stars 3.70 · rating details · 256 ratings · 52 reviews

When Polly Flint was six she was sent to live with her two holy aunts in a yellow house close to the Irish Sea. To the lonely orphan this bleak coast of England was so isolated she might well have been marooned on an island. For Polly the world of books—especially Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe with whose hero she will conduct a lifelong dialogue—became a source of emotiona...more

Paperback, 265 pages

Published April 24th 2012 by Europa Editions (first published 1985)

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Sep 29, 2012 Tom rated it 3 of 5 stars

Britain’s multi-prize-winning author Jane Gardam was relatively unknown in America until the publication of her delightful novel Old Filth in 2004. That book brought her the long-overdue attention she deserves.

Gardam’s writing is smart, bright and impressionistic: she colors places and characters deftly but never lingers too long on description or dialogue. Her novels are remarkable for their insinuation of the emotional undercurrents of ordinary lives.

Crusoe’s Daughter is Gardam’s own favorite...more Britain’s multi-prize-winning author Jane Gardam was relatively unknown in America until the publication of her delightful novel Old Filth in 2004. That book brought her the long-overdue attention she deserves.

Gardam’s writing is smart, bright and impressionistic: she colors places and characters deftly but never lingers too long on description or dialogue. Her novels are remarkable for their insinuation of the emotional undercurrents of ordinary lives.

Crusoe’s Daughter is Gardam’s own favorite among her many novels. With the fine tip of her word-brush, she paints a portrait of an intelligent, bookish girl who, at the turn of the 20th century, goes to live on the isolated northeast coast of Yorkshire with her spinster aunts and remains there into her own old age.

Crusoe’s Daughter, Gardam explains in her preface, was the “deeper” book she wanted to write after her initial successes, a story imagined from her mother’s experience of an “old-fashioned” world that had ceased to exist. Gardam says: “But it would not be a nostalgic, romantic or historical novel of bonnets and bustles and tea parties and endless summer days. I would show women of the early nineteenth [sic] century as I knew they had been—starved of money, employment, sex and the love of men who were not their ‘class’. Their success in life in these immovable, unrelenting country places was judged by their ability to get married as soon as possible to a suitable man who could support them, to breed, to live chaste and never to think of working for their living.”

That description pretty well sums up the book she wrote. It is quiet and exciting at the same time, full of ordinary events and emotion, much of it repressed. Protagonist Polly Flint’s attraction to the story of Robinson Crusoe becomes a leitmotif, and although the theme at times feels overdone (its use at the end is odd and not quite satisfying), Gardam creates a female character who is as determined, strong, rational and sexless as Defoe’s.
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Mar 10, 2013 Winnie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Polly Flint was born just before the opening of the 20th century. Polly is six when she comes to the yellow house on the Yorkshire coast between the marsh and the sea. The yellow house overwhelms her at first but she soon makes it home. Shortly after arriving, Polly's father dies, leaving her to be brought up by her Aunts Mary and Frances in a place so isolated that there are virtually no other children. One aunt is distant and very religious – Polly refuses to share the extreme religiosity of t...more Polly Flint was born just before the opening of the 20th century. Polly is six when she comes to the yellow house on the Yorkshire coast between the marsh and the sea. The yellow house overwhelms her at first but she soon makes it home. Shortly after arriving, Polly's father dies, leaving her to be brought up by her Aunts Mary and Frances in a place so isolated that there are virtually no other children. One aunt is distant and very religious – Polly refuses to share the extreme religiosity of this aunt and at the age of 12 refuses to be Confirmed – and eventually the aunt leaves to go into a convent. The other aunt is warmhearted and Polly feels close to her but she too abandons Polly when she gets married and leaves to go to India with her husband.

There's also an unexplained older woman living in the house, penniless and peculiar, who teaches young Polly German and French. Polly supplements her education by becoming a voracious reader of the hundreds of books in the family library.

Being a child on a virtual island, feeling isolated and abandoned, it is not surprising that when she first reads the book, Robinson Crusoe, she feels an affinity for the man who lived in isolation on an island for twenty-eight years. He becomes her literary hero offering a way for her to deal with her own isolation. Indeed, the book becomes like a bible for her.

Polly tried to be like Crusoe in his resourcefulness and self-sufficiency, and in not being driven mad by prolonged isolation. Crusoe, an obviously pragmatic man who must deal with each day as it comes, relies on his own ingenuity to solve his problems, just as Polly knows she will have to do.

In her teens Polly goes to stay with elderly family members, Arthur Thwaite and his sister Celia, who live on the Yorkshire moors, some distance away. Their house – an artists' retreat – expands her vision of life dramatically, though she is not sure if it is a madhouse, a hospital, or a private asylum. Poets, writers, and musicians – some of them failed – provide a totally different kind of life for Polly, the other extreme from what she has known.

Over time, a number of young men showed an interest in her; one loved her, and she loved another. A few friendships give Polly's life a semblance of normalcy as she matures to her twenties, but as the novel continues to progress up to the 1980s, two world wars, industrial changes and population growth create chaos even in the rural countryside. We see her cope with love and loss. We care for her, despair for her, and then ultimately rejoice for her.

I enjoyed this book and recommend it highly. It is a bit different, even quirky -- maybe that's why I liked it. Excellent writing.
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Aug 14, 2012 Alta added it

Crusoe's Daughter by Jane Gardam (Europa Editions, 2012. First publ. 1985)

I had read The Man in the Wooden Hat (a sequel to Old Filth, both published by Europa Editions) and fell in love with Jane Gardam’s sensuous style. By “sensuous” I don’t mean “lavish” or “lush.” I simply mean that her writing has a strong capacity to evoke feelings and states, and thus, to appeal to our senses. There are few contemporary writers who give one (me, at least) that feeling of intense pleasure we used to have w...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Heather rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, library-books

Crusoe's Daughter is the story of Polly Flint, who, when she's six years old, comes to live with her two aunts in a big yellow house on a marsh in the North-East of England. Polly's mother has been dead since Polly was one; her father is a sea-captain and not around much, and, as it turns out, he is soon to be dead as well, leaving Polly permanently with the aunts, and with sour Mrs Woods, a widow who lives with them, along with Charlotte, the housekeeper. It's Polly's story but it's also the st...more Crusoe's Daughter is the story of Polly Flint, who, when she's six years old, comes to live with her two aunts in a big yellow house on a marsh in the North-East of England. Polly's mother has been dead since Polly was one; her father is a sea-captain and not around much, and, as it turns out, he is soon to be dead as well, leaving Polly permanently with the aunts, and with sour Mrs Woods, a widow who lives with them, along with Charlotte, the housekeeper. It's Polly's story but it's also the story of a place and a country and a time—the changing light and shifting winds on the marsh and the beach, and England at the very start of the twentieth century and then later, leading up to and including WWI and WWII. It's also the story of a solitary child whose biggest love is a character in a book—Polly has a youthful infatuation with Robinson Crusoe that stays with her well into adulthood.

I picked this up at a whim on the library, having heard of Gardam's work (I want to read Old Filth eventually, and I have a copy of Bilgewater that I picked up in the kitchen at work) but never having read her, and it turned out to be exactly the kind of book I was in the mood for. In the preface that's included in this edition, Gardam writes of wanting to write a book set in the place she was born, a book that captured "the elf-light of childhood" that she still felt, and "the wonder of the marsh," and whose heroine would be "a sort of castaway girl," marooned in the island of her place and time and life (13). She says she wanted to capture "the enfolding murmuring magical marsh so flooded with light, sunshine, silvery rain and mist, and the running sea" (14). And she does, beautifully.

Polly comments, when she's ruminating about Robinson Crusoe, on "Defoe's unhurried pace, his grandly confident unrolling of the years," and the description applies to this book just as well (184). It's wonderful to see Polly Flint's life unfold: she's a smart and compelling narrator, maybe especially compelling to me because of how bookish she is, and how solitary. (less)

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Jul 11, 2012 Vivek Tejuja rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“Crusoe’s Daughter” by Jane Gardam is not everyone’s cup of tea read. It is not the usual fare that novels have to offer. It is different and written in a manner that takes time sinking into and enjoying the book. I went through that and once I did I could not stop reading it. Maybe because it is about books and a young girl understanding their need and loving them over a period of time. It is surreal and also elements of magical realism are present in it which makes it all the more interesting....more “Crusoe’s Daughter” by Jane Gardam is not everyone’s cup of tea read. It is not the usual fare that novels have to offer. It is different and written in a manner that takes time sinking into and enjoying the book. I went through that and once I did I could not stop reading it. Maybe because it is about books and a young girl understanding their need and loving them over a period of time. It is surreal and also elements of magical realism are present in it which makes it all the more interesting. These are my initial thoughts about the book.

Jane Gardam has always maintained that style of writing which is has been consistent, right from God on the Rocks to Crusoe’s Daughter, that of dry wit and a sense of dramatic irony. I remember reading, “God on the Rocks” for the first time at eighteen and being absolutely awe-struck by the book. The eccentrics, which obviously were the secondary characters, were my most favourite. The same applies to this one.

Readers would be surprised to know that “Crusoe’s Daughter” was first published in 1985, and now reprinted by Europa Editions. The book begins when Polly Flint, a mere five-year old girl arrives with her widowed father at Oversands, a big yellow house inhabited by his wife’s older unmarried sisters. Shortly after the arrival, Polly’s father dies, leaving her to be brought up by the sisters, in an isolated place, where there are virtually no more children but Polly. In her loneliness, Polly turns to books and their comfort. In doing so, she identifies herself the most with Robinson Crusoe, who lived in isolation on an island for twenty eight years. She finds a way to cope with her loneliness and anguish as she grows up.

Polly knows that she has to make her own life given the circumstances. For instance, when she is twelve, she rejects communion and its idea. The realism in her head is too much to be handled by anyone. Polly then moves to live with her elderly family members, Arthur Thwaite and his sister Cecilia, who live in Yorkshire moors, some distance away. Here again, life takes a different turn. Their home is an artist’s retreat. Polly meets various new people – poets, thinkers, writers, believers, musicians and dreamers and this further shapes her character and persona, leading to an end which will for sure surprise readers and make them drop their jaw slightly.

The things that worked for me in the book: The setting. Northeast Rural England is not a place I would be visiting sometime too soon. Reading about it and trying to imagine the moors (as I did while reading Wuthering Heights) and the scenes that play out is a different experience by itself. The charm is unbearable. The characters as I mentioned earlier took me by surprise with their wide range of eccentricity and comfort provided to Polly at times. Ms. Gardam may not talk about them in detail during the course of the book, however when she does, she ensures that their voices are heard.

At times the pace of the book got to me. It was turning out to be slower than what I had expected, but I kept reading, because of the writing and the plot. Polly as a character is hard to put my finger on. She is everything and at the same time, she springs from the pages and does something totally unexpected. Kudos to Ms. Gardam for visualizing and bringing her to life in our heads.

The writing is not only descriptive but also insightful. From the thoughts of the single sisters to Polly’s views on things are unique and refreshing. Jane wants us to empathize with her characters, what they are going through, but never sympathize. So from that perspective, the book is not sentimental and I am glad it isn’t.

“Crusoe’s Daughter” might be termed by some as a coming-of-age book, but for me it is more than that. It is discovering oneself through everything. It is about relationships formed in the world known to us and in the world that isn’t known to most people. “Crusoe’s Daughter” is a cracker of a read that should not be missed. But be warned: It is slow. It is not a thriller. It is not your usual fare. So read it only if the story appeals to you.(less)

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Oct 11, 2012 Lawrence rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As in "Old Filth", Jane Gardam writes about the life of a person who was virtually abandoned as a child and must "live by his wits" in the sense that he/she must bring himself up alone and find his/her way by application of innate intelligence without much external guidance. In this book, as opposed to "Old Filth", the protagonist is raised by strangers (aunts and their companion, Ms. Woods, and their housekeepers/servants) who exhibit at least some love (though not parental). Again, unlike the...more As in "Old Filth", Jane Gardam writes about the life of a person who was virtually abandoned as a child and must "live by his wits" in the sense that he/she must bring himself up alone and find his/her way by application of innate intelligence without much external guidance. In this book, as opposed to "Old Filth", the protagonist is raised by strangers (aunts and their companion, Ms. Woods, and their housekeepers/servants) who exhibit at least some love (though not parental). Again, unlike the protagonist in "Old Filth" who, in my opinion, lacks some measure of personal identity, the protagonist in "Crusoe's Daughter" becomes emotionally self-reliant and, eventually, self-sufficient in a practical sense within her circumscribed sphere. This is not to say her life is ever easy.

How does she do this? is the big question for me. It is not that literature is her entertainment and teacher. Rather, she becomes so attached to or affiliated with one character in literature, Robinson Crusoe, that, in his practical and sexless way, becomes a surrogate parent or at least a model of how to live one's life. I say "that" to refer to R.Crusoe, but really I should say "who" because, though he lives on the page only and our protagonist knows it, she observes him so carefully that, in my opinion, she comes to love him.

Why Robinson Crusoe? Well, the protagonist is stranded on a desert island, too, with no way of exit. In this respect, the character, Mrs. Zeit, who says "we" must work a way for the protagonist to get to Oxford, never does so. (This is not Mrs. Zeit's fault: The situation just shows how the protagonist must take second place to other concerns --- that is, Mrs. Z is not a mother.)

As a grown up woman, the protagonist is herself entrusted with children. Her care of them, and their various achievements show how the protagonist responded with generosity, perhaps in reaction to her isolation on her personal "Crusoe's Island".

Of course, this is also a great "read" with its many interesting and surprising (!) characters. So, as story, it's a wonderful book. But, mainly, I can't think of another book where the power of literature is depicted as so piercing and so personalized.

One delight for me is that I've walked the coast of Yorkshire where this book is set and have been in Darlington and Middlesbrough stations to change trains (just like the protagonist!). So, Ms. Gardam's creation of place was meaningful to me.

A keeper to be re-read.

P.s. I read the Europa edition which surprisingly has a number of typos.(less)

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Aug 06, 2012 Theresa Tomlinson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is one of my favourite books, I have read it two or three times and re-read it recently - everytime I read it I cry at a certain point in the story, even though I know it's coming. Each time I read it i discover more detail and parts thati hadn't fully appreciated. It tells the story of Polly Flint who is orphaned as a young girl and sent to live with two maiden aunts who live on the north east coast of England, in a house that's almost like a ship beached on an island, surrounded by sand....more

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Dec 26, 2012 Alecia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a very pleasant read, and the prose is lovely, with some surprises (for me) in the writing. Motherless 6 year old Polly Flint is taken by her father to live with her two aunts around the turn of the 20th century. Her father dies soon after. She lives with her aunts and their housekeeper in a big yellow house, where she is, as we now say, home-schooled. Polly is an intelligent, curious girl, and through her eyes, her life and loves comprise this novel. Some of the action and scenes confu...more

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Mar 20, 2013 Michele rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, library-loan, literary-fiction, england

NPR has called Jane Gardam "the best British writer you've never heard of." Curiously, my local library only carried this title, which the author herself claims is her favorite book but wasn't nominated/awarded any literary honors as many of her other novels were.

Crusoe's Daughter is Polly's story. From her early childhood as an orphan dropped off with her spinster aunts in a small desolate English town on the coast of the Irish Sea. Lonely and cut off from the world, Polly grows up isolated and...more NPR has called Jane Gardam "the best British writer you've never heard of." Curiously, my local library only carried this title, which the author herself claims is her favorite book but wasn't nominated/awarded any literary honors as many of her other novels were.

Crusoe's Daughter is Polly's story. From her early childhood as an orphan dropped off with her spinster aunts in a small desolate English town on the coast of the Irish Sea. Lonely and cut off from the world, Polly grows up isolated and develops an intense 'relationship' with the novel Robinson Crusoe. Indeed, there are many similarities between the two. The intertwining of their lives and circumstances, however, seem undeveloped...never quite reaching what it might have been throughout the novel.

Polly's life we follow throughout the 20th century...throughout two world wars and everything in between. Despite her isolation and inability to ever really connect with family or develop friendships, she is still touched by world wide events. The novel follows her life through to a ripe old age of 87.

There is no doubt that Gardam is a distinctly British writer. I might have given the book three stars were it not for the fact that I recognize my (American) limitations of understanding her phrasing and colloquialisms. Ultimately, I just had to muddle through. While many of the turning points in Polly's life were riveting, the times between were mundane and seemed to last a hundred pages at a time. This, of course, marks our own lives: long stretches of mundane boredom punctuated by moments of tragedy or terror.

Without giving away any spoilers, I will say that I thought the 'full-circle' effect of the ending was too pat and slightly predictable in it's sentimentality.

My favorite portion of the book?

"But changes - huge changes - do take place and in spite of Freudian evidence to the contrary, the deep stamp of past years and even of dreams can be eradicated, washed away, and new people can emerge: and it will be a bad day for novels when this is not so." (p. 69)

Ultimately, it was a worthwhile read, although I suspect not her best work, author's thoughts to the contrary. It was an admirable literary fiction effort, though, and enough to make me pick up another of her novels ---- if only my library would carry them. ;)(less)

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Nov 19, 2012 Jill rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Crusoe's Daughter followed a path that I didn't expect, and I liked not knowing where it was leading or how to react to the long progression of years. It was moving, I felt despair, joy and hope for Polly Flint.
You come to know the characters the same way a child does, at first just superficially and then as years go by with the deeper understanding and forgiveness that maturity brings. The revelation that Polly's life is remarkable presents itself slowly over time too. There was a dreamy, magic...more

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Marianne I'm so glad you liked it. Dreamy is the word. Intelligent and slightly mad. I went looking the other day for the passage where she walks the beach wit...more
Nov 20, 2012 11:58am

Lynn I liked it a lot too. I can see the big yellow house by the sea. I can see time changing the landscape with the marsh being slowly usurped by the encr...more
Nov 28, 2012 09:38pm

Marianne I have a Christmas ornament I can't wait to find this year - A woman dressed in Edwardian rags and her hair a literal bird's nest. It never occured to...more
Nov 29, 2012 06:45am

Aug 28, 2012 Roseamber rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Jane Gardam is a great writer. She's quirky in a highly intelligent way. This story flowed, even though it was about a woman from childhood to old age who never goes more than a few miles from home, never marries, or has children of her own and is cut off from the events of the world in many ways. Yet you are drawn in to her dilemmas, her way of viewing the world, her heartbreaks, difficulties and, thank God, triumphs. It is what I would call a redemptive tale. The heroine loves Robinson Crusoe,...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Jim rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Despite the glowing recommendation of my local bookseller and despite my respect for the author's voice and wordcraft, I found myself "pushing" to finish this book. Perhaps I read it at a time when I had a lot of distractions going on; perhaps, as a guy, I'm not quite able to identify with the narrator's situation(?); perhaps I wasn't in the right time and place to savor Gardam's complex, understated British voice. Whatever it is, I feel as if I SHOULD have loved this book, yet I ended up apprec...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Kathy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

Quirky and delightful. Perhaps only anglophile book lovers will appreciate this touching, funny and thoughtful novel, but hey, that’s what I am. I loved the oh-so-English setting of the old yellow house sandwiched between the sea and the salt marsh, the cast of odd English characters, the struggles of an orphan girl trying to make her place in the world (shades of Jane Eyre), the keeping-a-stiff-upper-lip attitude towards each World War...it was lovely and sad and probably best read on rainy day...more

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Dec 19, 2012 Lydia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club

I'm an ardent Jane Gardam fan, and will read all of her 21 books...someday. She deserves all acclaim. "Crusoe's Daughter" is 6-year old Polly Flint brought to live with two aunts by her sea-faring captain dad in 1904. They live in a seaside town in northern England. The aunts begin Polly's German, math, writing, and church training. The writing is rich and thoughtful. We follow Polly as becomes a teenager, an aunt goes off to Africa with the pastor, Polly goes to her grandfather's artist's colon...more

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Aug 05, 2012 Maria Mccann marked it as to-read · review of another edition

In 1904, six-year-old Polly Flint is sent to live with her aunt’s in a house by the sea. Orphaned shortly thereafter, Polly will spend the next eighty years stranded in this quiet corner of the world as 20th century rages in the background. Throughout it all Polly returns again and again to the story of Robinson Crusoe, who, marooned like her, fends off the madness of isolation with imagination.

Like previous Gardam titles will skew to female readers and Anglophiles. An ideal choice for book club...more

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Sep 03, 2012 Bridget rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reads

This is the story of Polly Flint, a young girl whose mother is dead, and whose father - a sea captain - leaves her in "The Yellow House" with two aunts, older sisters of her mother. They live in a marshy area of England, and the house is somewhat remote from the nearby town. Polly ends up spending the entire book except for a small amount of time in this house, and lives an extremely sheltered and lonely life. Her one "friend" - Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe - a book she read as a young girl,...more

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Mar 14, 2013 Josh rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: europa-editions

It is worth noting that I have read 4 of Jane Gardam’s novels prior to “Crusoe’s Daughter,” (Old Filth, The Man in the Wooden Hat, Queen of the Tambourine and God on the Rocks) and have her “Last Friends” on my list for this year. Outside of John Irving, and excluding fantasy or science fiction works, Jane Gardam may be my most widely read author of fiction. The novel is her admitted favorite among her already quite long list of works and was inspired by Gardam’s own mother. Going into “Crusoe’s...more It is worth noting that I have read 4 of Jane Gardam’s novels prior to “Crusoe’s Daughter,” (Old Filth, The Man in the Wooden Hat, Queen of the Tambourine and God on the Rocks) and have her “Last Friends” on my list for this year. Outside of John Irving, and excluding fantasy or science fiction works, Jane Gardam may be my most widely read author of fiction. The novel is her admitted favorite among her already quite long list of works and was inspired by Gardam’s own mother. Going into “Crusoe’s Daughter,” Ms. Gardam would have had to write something truly abysmal for me to dislike it and I am happy to report that of the many adjectives one could use to describe “Crusoe’s Daughter,” abysmal is most decidedly not one of them.
Elegant would be more appropriate; moving, graceful, poetic, rich and bitingly witty also apply here. In short, everything that makes all of Jane Gardam’s works so very “her” are in full supply here, evidenced by lines like: “Fortunately, it was the beginning of influenza—or something in the nature of the week had informed the influenza it might be worth calling in.” Polly Flint’s life story, from early childhood to old age proves simply fascinating. Raised by her two aunts, Polly experiences little of what many would call a normal life, even by the standards of an early 20th century rural English life. With no father figure, and little in the way of motherly affection, Polly finds herself completely unsuited to the realities and expectations of the world outside her yellow house, Oversands, situated on the marshes with a view of the sea.
Polly finds herself consistently surprised and thus unprepared for the realities of an adult life, from societal and class differences and the necessary steps one must take in order to secure money for food, lodging and the like. Her one source of wisdom and comfort is books, specifically “Robinson Crusoe,” by Daniel Defoe. While those around her may not universally share her love and admiration for the book, “Crusoe” becomes her life’s obsession and guidepost.
One could argue that through Crusoe Polly finds strength and support when she feels she has none, but alternately one could also reasonably argue that Polly’s fixation with Crusoe in some ways becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. There are segments of Polly’s life where I wondered if the island apart Polly inhabited was a self-inflicted condition rather than the result of the world turning away from Polly. Responding to Alice’s insistence that “everyone” in town was discussing her, Polly replies “Who is everyone? Everyone’s no one to me.” Are these the words of one life has put outside the rest, or one who simply found themselves there and has chose to remain?
Gardam has a way in everything of hers I have read of using her characters and plot machinations to address, and often criticize English societal norms in the 20th century. Her depictions of women’s rights and freedom, the importance of religion and propriety are biting and hilarious. “Crusoe’s Daughter” is no exception. The reader is left to wonder what her life would be like had she had been raised outside of the closeted world in which she came up. We see glimpses of that life in other characters, like the housekeeper Charlotte, the Zeit family and the adorably endearing Mr. Thwaite. Class, religion and propriety bring heavy consequences for each of these characters in their own way.
I’ve not read “Robinson Crusoe,” thus I do not know if Gardam’s plot moves forward in much the same way or if there are significant parallels between the two stories. I do know that Polly is among the most fully-formed, developed and rich a character I’ve read in some time. She inhabits this work so completely that I felt what she did; I mourned and celebrated with her, discovered and despaired at the twists of fate life pulled her through and thought, this is someone I would gladly sit with and have a cup of tea. There are passages I connected to on such a personal level, “Had Moll Flanders, Cleopatra, Emily Bronte loved Theo Zeit they could not have told him so with more passion and with less restraint. And they were I dare say the wiser women,” reminding me of the times I have felt the same way.
“Crusoe’s Daughter was a welcome addition to my collection of Europa Editions by Jane Gardam. If you are a fan of her previous works, or looking for a great way to jump into them, you will enjoy this. I’m glad it was not my first however, seeing many of her familiar themes flowering at their fullest here was appreciated more because of my familiarity with them in prior works of hers. “Last Friends” has a pretty high bar to meet.

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Jul 14, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I find all Gardam's novels to be odd, but endearing. I always want to keep reading because she makes me care so much about her characters and as a reader, that matters to me more than anything. I found the last few pages to be unnecessary, an almost lazy way to wrap up the last few years of Polly Flint's life, but I forgive Gardam. Her preface is interesting... she points out that this is an early novel of hers. I look forward as always to reading more. Have read GOD ON THE ROCKS and OLD FILTH.

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Dec 30, 2012 Colleen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This is a very quiet book. The main character is subdued, the plot is subdued... it's just quiet. The premise is that Polly Flint, an orphan living with a couple of odd aunts on an isolated English coast, is obsessed with the book Robinson Crusoe and is living out her own kind of stranded life. I probably would have gotten a little more out of this if I had read Robinson Crusoe. Overall, the book was OK; I'd recommend it for a quiet, subdued, character-study kind of mood.

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Dec 23, 2012 Brita Beyerlein rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Here's one more review of a recent read before I started Goodreads. Fellow book clubbers, for me, this book was akin to Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson. This book is full of endless details with a plot that seems to go nowhere and characters that I didn't care about. I gave up halfway through after my mom sent me an article with a plot summary that showed only misery and depressing times ahead. This may be someone's kind of read but I don't have any positives on it.

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Aug 17, 2012 Seamus Thompson marked it as to-read

I read about 1/3 of Crusoe's Daughter and found it to be a beautifully written novel. Unfortunately, I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately and just wasn't able to give it the attention it deserved. My plan is to return to it in a few months time when I can, hopefully, focus on what promised to be a fantastic piece of work.

"She was a tall girl, very spare, white-blonde, not exactly smiling. Her hair and legs were very long and she had no eyebrows or lashes but a heavy mouth and broad, shin...more

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May 29, 2012 Ellen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dazzling imagery as usual, as well as one of those character voices only she seems to get right--odd, but not coy, intelligent rather than off-putting, truly humorous without being tiresome and self-loving. Gardam's sleight of hand is infallibly engaging and admirable. It's an idiosyncratic story, told well, about an obscure life that is nevertheless remarkable. Her love for the character is evident, yet she never descends into letting her be cloying.

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Dec 31, 2012 Margaret rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This was a very odd book. I kept working on it and finally at the very end, something real happened. The author has won awards for her writing, and this is her favorite book of her work, but I cannot really recommend it. I appreciated what she was trying to do, but it was just an odd, coming of age story that stretched out for 28 years like Robinson Crusoe's time on the island. It didn't take me that long to read it, but it kind of felt that way.

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Nov 18, 2012 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Jane Gardam is one of the best authors no one has ever heard of. This is the third novel I've read of hers, after Old Filth and The Man in the Wooden Hat, and while I liked the other two better, Crusoe's Daughter is a beautifully written story of a young girl who is orphaned and sent to live with her maiden aunts. She lives a remarkable circumscribed life but manages to rise above it in the end.

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Aug 03, 2012 Sharron rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I very nearly quit this book as the beginning, actually the first half, was so boring. But I've read, and really enjoyed, several other books by this author so I persevered and am glad I did. The second half is well worth enduring the tedium of the first. in fact, it's very good and protagonist and her story are quite interesting. But, a word of advice -skim the first 100 or so pages.

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Feb 10, 2013 Mimi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a wonderful quirky book, not as wonderful as Old Filth, but still excellent. Much of the book deals with the childhood of a lonely, solitary, bookish but only self-educated young girl. Then the last 60 pages hurry through the rest of her life, sometimes leaving me wanting to know more, but then feeling that Gardam has told us just enough.

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Oct 04, 2012 Keri Daskam rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: year-10

Another Europa book score from the library. This book provides a sweeping view of world wars 1 and 2 from the perspective of a young (and then older) woman "marooned" in the marshes of Britain. A modern aesthetic with a classic writing style, the only way you can tell that this is not an older book is the preference for despair.

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Sep 07, 2012 Nancy Cullinane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a little different read. It's the life story of a girl who, though isolated geographically, moves through many different chapters in her life with reference to her favorite book hero, Robnson Crusoe. Not an exciting book, but thoughtful. Loved her conflict on religion and her commitment to those she cares about.

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Sep 22, 2012 Dan Verner rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The narrative technique is intriguing. It's not exactly what I would call psychological realism because all the action is external, bu are given hints and innuendos about the plot, along with explicit statements: "Aunt Clare died." Whap. Years can pass between paragraphs, or seconds. It's an intriguing story of twentieth century England and the life of Polly Flint, orphan and admirer of Robinson Crusoe. Well worth a read, but don't expect a conventional narrative.

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Jan 08, 2013 Hether rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club-picks

I just really, really liked it! Beautifully written. Strangely compelling for a story in which little happens, full of contemplation of childhood memories and small moments of everyday life. I loved seeing Polly evolve and find the strong girl inside her. Guess now I need to read Robinson Crusoe.

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About Jane Gardam

Jane Mary Gardam OBE is a British author of children's and adult fiction. She also reviews for the Spectator and the Telegraph, and writes for BBC radio. She lives in Kent, Wimbledon and Yorkshire. She has won numerous literary awards including the Whitbread Award, twice. She is mother of Tim Gardam, Principal of St Anne's College, Oxford. Jane has been awarded the Heywood Hill Literary Prize for...more Jane Mary Gardam OBE is a British author of children's and adult fiction. She also reviews for the Spectator and the Telegraph, and writes for BBC radio. She lives in Kent, Wimbledon and Yorkshire. She has won numerous literary awards including the Whitbread Award, twice. She is mother of Tim Gardam, Principal of St Anne's College, Oxford. Jane has been awarded the Heywood Hill Literary Prize for a lifetime’s contribution to the enjoyment of literature and has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

Her first book for adults, Black Faces, White Faces (1975), a collection of linked short stories about Jamaica, won both the David Higham Prize for Fiction and the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize. Subsequent collections of short stories include The Pangs of Love and Other Stories (1983), winner of the Katherine Mansfield Award; Going into a Dark House (1994), which was awarded the PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award (1995); and Missing the Midnight: Hauntings & Grotesques (1997).

Jane Gardam's first novel for adults, God on the Rocks (1978), a coming-of-age novel set in the 1930s, was adapted for television in 1992. It won the Prix Baudelaire (France) in 1989 and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction. Her other novels include The Queen of the Tambourine (1991), a haunting tale about a woman's fascination with a mysterious stranger, which won the Whitbread Novel Award; Faith Fox (1996), a portrait of England in the 1990s; and The Flight of the Maidens (2000), set just after the Second World War, which narrates the story of three Yorkshire schoolgirls on the brink of university and adult life. This book was adapted for BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour. In 1999 Jane Gardam was awarded the Heywood Hill Literary Prize in recognition of a distinguished literary career.

Her non-fiction includes a book about the Yorkshire of her childhood in The Iron Coast (1994), published with photographs by Peter Burton and Harland Walshaw.

She also writes for children and young adults. Her novel Bilgewater (1977), originally written for children, has now been re-classified as adult fiction. She was awarded the Whitbread Children's Book Award for The Hollow Land (1981) and is the author of A Few Fair Days (1971), a collection of short stories for children set on a Cumberland farm, and two novels for teenagers, A Long Way From Verona (1971), which explores a wartime childhood in Yorkshire, and The Summer After the Funeral (1973), a story about a loss of innocence after the death of a father.

Jane Gardam is a member of PEN and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She is married with three children and divides her time between East Kent and Yorkshire. (less)

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