Portrait of Margarita

by Ruth M. Arthur, Margery Gill (Illustrator)

After her parents have been killed in a plane crash, a teen-age girl learns to cope with the several problems & mysteries of her family background, including the fact that she is dark and that her mother wanted her to be as fair as other English girls. She also learns about feelings of love and figures out what kind of adult she's going to grow up to be.

Genres: Fiction, Childrens

185 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Working name of UK writer Ruth Mabel Arthur Huggins, long active as a children's author, her career beginning with Friendly Stories (collection, 1932). Most of her early work, like the Brownie sequence -- The Crooked Brownie (1936), The Crooked Brownie in Town (1942) and The Crooked Brownie at the Seaside (1942) -- is for younger children, but with Dragon Summer (1962) and A Candle in her Room (1966) she began to write the haunting fantasy-tinged adolescent novels for which she became best known. Often featuring first-person narratives spanning multiple generations filled with echoes of centuries past.

Reviews

[booklady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another one of those books for young people I want to give five stars to just because it is so rare to read books like this anymore. I do not remember coming across this delightful author as I was growing up but my friend, Hilary, wrote a review about one of her books which made me quite sure she was someone I would have loved then. Thank you Hilary!

This was one of the books still in print I could afford. Also Margarita is a pet name I use for my daughter, Meg. In the story, the main character, an English girl, doesn't like to be called by her full name, Margarita, preferring to go by Meg.

My own daughter is not into this genre at the moment, alas. However, I plan to set it aside for for when she (or her sister) has/have children of their own.

Highly recommended as a coming-of-age story for pre-teen girls especially. Would have less appeal for boys.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

When sixteen-year-old Margarita Somerville's parents are both killed in an air accident, she finds herself the ward of a distant relative, Cousin Francis. Spending her school holidays at Swithins Mill - his home in Hockton, Oxfordshire - Meg (as she prefers to be called) develops a deep love for the reserved older man who is now her guardian. But although she forms friendships with Hawthorne and his Austrian wife Trudie, who looks after Cousin Francis' home, Meg takes an instant dislike to Miss Laura, his old nurse who also lives in the village. Similarly, although Meg eventually befriends a local artist and his family, she finds that she has made enemies in the village.

This animosity comes to a head on her second visit, when a destructive act reveals just how deep the resentment against Margarita runs... Like many of Ruth M. Arthur's novels, belonging is an important issue, especially so here, where it is complicated by the "problem of color," as Meg phrases it. Although the reader is aware throughout the book that Meg is of mixed racial ancestry, it is only at the end that we learn she is half West Indian on her mother's side. Like the heroine of Arthur's The Little Dark Thorn , Meg finds her sense of self primarily through her English heritage, although the narrative makes it clear that she should embrace all aspects of her inheritance. In some ways, this sensitive portrayal reminded me of Joseph Bruchac's current book Hidden Roots , in that the issue of racial/cultural identity is like a constant presence, despite the fact that it is almost never referred to directly.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one held up to re-reading a little better than did My Daughter, Nicola, but there was a creepy Daddy Long Legs vibe to this that was a little off-putting. The scary, almost supernatural, thread that runs through so many of Arthur's books was a little more developed here in the character of Miss Laura. The subplot about the protagonist's dark skin was unsatisfactory in a lot of ways- I got that Meg felt like there was prejudice because of that, but there wasn't any external supporting evidence in the story. This book is the first place I ever encountered an autistic child, back when autism was comparatively rare. As you might surmise from this wildly scattered review, there's a LOT going on in this book. It's good but not splendid- Arthur's best are so much better than this one, it suffers in comparison. 2.5

[Jossalyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

love this author. discovered her when I had the ambition to read all the titles in the children's section of the library and started at A. love the Margery Gill illustrations about as much as the books.

[Alison C · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Margarita’s parents die in a plane crash, she is taken in by her father’s Cousin Francis, a shy and reserved bachelor who lives in the country in a magnificent house. Meg, as she prefers to be called, finds herself right at home there, happy to spend time with servants Jacob and Trudie, and she soon makes friends with the vicar and his family, and, later on, the painter Giles Willard and his young family. But Ms. Laura, Cousin Francis’s elderly old nanny, is a constant thorn in her side, trying to undermine Meg and to pry out her secrets; indeed, Ms. Laura’s animosity is so forceful it could lead to Meg’s demise…. This book is from 1968, and I probably first read it shortly after that date; in many ways it is quite outmoded, particularly in the mistress/servant relationship between Meg and the married couple who look after her, and in terms of the “dreadful secret” about Meg’s identity and her guilt about it. However, it’s still a fun read, and interesting in the fact that one of the minor characters, a young child, is described as being autistic; I had no idea the term even existed 50 years ago! I have several books by Ms. Arthur and would love to find the rest of her work, but I think they are all long out of print; perhaps some enterprising publisher could bring them back as e-books? I can only hope!

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was enjoyable but doesn't have the depth of A Candle in Her Room and The Whistling Boy. The author hinted at some characteristics of the protagonist but didn't explain them until quite far into the book; I didn't see any reason for the delay.

Spoilerish: It ends rather happily and sappily.

[Judith A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Children

[gabrielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

pietro’s nutmeg 🤭

[Marillabw · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed Margarita's journey, discovering a new spirit in her identity, as well as her finding a new home where she felt nurtured and loved and whole. The mystery and ambiguous events within the novel kept me on edge. I only wish that Ruth M. Arthur expanded more on Meg and her journey, for I think all the events whizzed by too quickly.

[Jenel · Rating 4 out of 5]

After looking for this book for years, I finally sent an email to the library of congress (after looking into how to find books on Goodreads) and within 1 day I had my answer.

Re-read it and it is has one of the most intriguing combination of elements for a story of its time.
Race, War, Broken Families, Coming of Age, Loss, and Love