false 588752 2 <p>The four Wiltshire children live a comfortable middle-class English life. But as WWII overtakes the country, the family, like so many others, slowly disintegrates. Told from the perspective of the children, <em>Saplings</em> is “immensely readable . . . a dark inversion of the author’s best-known book, the children’s classic <em>Ballet Shoes</em>” (<em>Sunday Telegraph</em>).</p> <p><em>Laurel, at eleven, was conscious of being happy. She was almost afraid of it. “I’ll never be as happy again. When I’m quite old, as old as thirty, I’ll come back to this bit of Easterbourne. I’ll come on the same day in June and remember me now.”</em></p> 575546 22 6 2000 Saplings total:28|5:7|4:12|3:7|2:2|1:0| 28 108 67 9 5 0 false false Thu Jun 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 05:34:37 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 04 09:47:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Apr 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 17 19:54:43 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 20:35:37 -0700 2009 "Really! I wish I didn't have to grow up. Do you know, Alice, I'm beginning to wonder if we've not been told things wrong. I mean, we're told that children behave badly and grown-ups are always right. I wonder if we shan't find that grown-ups do worse things than children." (240)

...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jan 21 11:58:39 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 21 11:58:50 -0800 2008
from the publisher
Saplings (1945), Noel Streatfeild's tenth book for adults, is about children: a family with four of them, to whom we are first introduced in all their secure Englishness in the summer of 1939. 'He...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Feb 25 09:15:54 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 25 09:17:39 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Mon Aug 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 08:32:22 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 08:34:28 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Jan 05 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Mon May 12 20:15:35 -0700 2008 Mon May 12 20:32:07 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Sep 10 12:25:18 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 10 12:28:05 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Tue Sep 02 09:21:48 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 02 09:23:54 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Fri Jan 24 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Sat Feb 02 06:51:52 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 02 06:52:16 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Fri Oct 30 16:51:14 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 16:51:14 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Fri Oct 30 08:58:34 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 08:58:34 -0700 2009 1 0 0 false false Tue Oct 27 15:07:10 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 15:07:10 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Oct 24 16:44:52 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 16:44:52 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Oct 21 17:05:51 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 17:05:51 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Oct 20 15:51:01 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 20 15:51:01 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Sep 23 08:18:19 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 08:18:19 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Sep 14 11:55:46 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 11:55:46 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Sep 12 03:47:44 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 12 03:47:52 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Aug 31 18:44:05 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 31 18:44:05 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Aug 27 22:38:15 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 27 22:38:20 -0700 2009