What do you think?
Rate this book
A Late Beginner
The backdrop to Priscilla Napier's childhood was Egypt; the golden years of the Edwardian age were coming to an end, the First World War was just around the corner, but for the confident, buoyant upper-class English of her parents' world "the sun would never set upon the regimental band playing selections from HMS Pinafore under the banyan tree". This wonderful recreation of a time and a climate of mind - a hundred years ago - is not an evocation of place but also of the child's eye view. A Late Beginner ranks quite simply with the greatest accounts of how it is to be a child, to see with that strange, skewed, uncontaminated vision.
335 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1966
3 people are currently reading
105 people want to read
About the author
Priscilla Napier
17 books1 followerPriscilla Napier was an English author, specializing in biography.
Sister of Alethea Catharine Hayter also a writer.
Sister of Alethea Catharine Hayter also a writer.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 30, 2019
I've waited too long to write this review, darn it. I had some wonderful quotes to put in - we'll see if I can find them. Great writing, wonderful setting, a memoir I will remember (!), which is a compliment, seeing how many I've read and how quickly I get them muddled. Imagine looking out your window at the pyramids every morning. An extraordinary childhood.
March 22, 2012
Priscilla Napier’s autobiography was first published in 1966 and I was surprised at how difficult it is now to get hold of. I searched the library catalogue for it after hearing The Duchess of Devonshire’s recommendation of it on the first series of “My Life in Books” on the BBC. The Birmingham library system didn’t appear to have it however, so I turned to Abebooks – a few copies were available when I looked but were very expensive. More recently I remembered that Slightly Foxed had published it as one of their charming cloth bound books. I ordered it and was so pleased with the lovely quality of the book when it came. However I believe that, that print run of ‘A Late Beginner’ has now sold out.
Priscilla Napier’s early childhood was spent in Egypt where she lived with her parents and siblings and a succession of nannies, nursery maids and governesses. When she was twelve Priscilla left for school and this book is about her life in the years before that sad departure. The backdrop of this autobiography is the end of the golden Edwardian era in the few years before World War one, the turbulent years of the Great War and its immediate aftermath. The daughter of William Hayter a liberal financial advisor to the Egyptian government, her elder brother William became a British ambassador to Moscow, and her sister Alethea a writer. The war impacts most strongly of course upon the adults who surround Priscilla and her siblings, and it is through watching them and over hearing their conversation that Priscilla learns what is happening. Her stupefaction at seeing her mother silently weeping in the dentist’s office after an Uncle is killed obviously making a lasting impression upon her.
Priscilla Napier’s recreation of her world through her young child eyes is wonderful; she loved Egypt, and hated the forced returns to England during the hot Egyptian summers. This was particularly terrifying for young Priscilla as it meant sailing through war ravaged seas, with the fear of torpedoes a very real threat. The fear she felt all those years before is absolutely palpable – and quite understandable, presumably though the fear of the heat and disease of the Egyptian summer just as great for her parents, for them to have undertaken such a journey – more than once. This is a memoir of growing up, childish pranks, and battles of wills with stern faced nannies, desert picnics and long summers in England.
I have to admit that I preferred the first two thirds of the book – but this could be simply be because of my mood – a little over tired possibly for this kind of writing. However the writing is excellent and the world re-created beautifully memorable.
Priscilla Napier’s early childhood was spent in Egypt where she lived with her parents and siblings and a succession of nannies, nursery maids and governesses. When she was twelve Priscilla left for school and this book is about her life in the years before that sad departure. The backdrop of this autobiography is the end of the golden Edwardian era in the few years before World War one, the turbulent years of the Great War and its immediate aftermath. The daughter of William Hayter a liberal financial advisor to the Egyptian government, her elder brother William became a British ambassador to Moscow, and her sister Alethea a writer. The war impacts most strongly of course upon the adults who surround Priscilla and her siblings, and it is through watching them and over hearing their conversation that Priscilla learns what is happening. Her stupefaction at seeing her mother silently weeping in the dentist’s office after an Uncle is killed obviously making a lasting impression upon her.
Priscilla Napier’s recreation of her world through her young child eyes is wonderful; she loved Egypt, and hated the forced returns to England during the hot Egyptian summers. This was particularly terrifying for young Priscilla as it meant sailing through war ravaged seas, with the fear of torpedoes a very real threat. The fear she felt all those years before is absolutely palpable – and quite understandable, presumably though the fear of the heat and disease of the Egyptian summer just as great for her parents, for them to have undertaken such a journey – more than once. This is a memoir of growing up, childish pranks, and battles of wills with stern faced nannies, desert picnics and long summers in England.
I have to admit that I preferred the first two thirds of the book – but this could be simply be because of my mood – a little over tired possibly for this kind of writing. However the writing is excellent and the world re-created beautifully memorable.
January 14, 2022
"The mystery of what sinks in in infancy and what flows by is profound: a child a baffling mixture of receptivity and inattention. Waves of words, breaking continually over the impressionable sand, leave weed and stick and broken glass and echoing shell, and sweep as much away. Another tide takes some, brings more; how much unaccountably sinks down to become part of the permanent structure of the shore?"
I picked this out at the Slightly Foxed office at the end of my internship with them last summer mainly because I found this paperbacks series so pretty, and the name Napier seemed vaguely familiar to me. Months later, I'm still not sure where I'd previously heard it, but I am glad that it led me to this little gem.
Priscilla Napier writes so vividly of her childhood in the most exquisite and detailed language; her memory and her reflection upon memory are equally profound throughout this text. I love how well she interwove contemporary Egyptian, British, and global politics into this narrative, tying her childhood impressions in with the reality she has since grown to understand.
I will admit that this dragged in some places, but really it was overall a great work of writing if nothing else, and certainly a profound historical text in its own right. This is the kind of memoir I'd like to find more of in the future.
May 30, 2019
I like reading about happy families, Englishness, and, to some extent, history, and I admire 'Slightly Foxed' where I read an excerpt of this book, so I expected to at least 'really like' it. 'A Late Beginner' is funny, and nostalgic, and likeable, but somehow I expected more, judging by the 'episode of the eggs', which is indeed brilliantly written.
Still, it has many great quotes, some of which I've written down:
'Babyhood is a happy state from which with tireless energy one battles to be free.'
'His own antecedents were of course impeccable; it is only from the stock of our in-laws that we look for trouble.'
'A mile south along the river bank was the bridge to Giza, interestingly called the Pongly-Zongly: it was many years before these words revealed themselves to me as Pont des Anglais.'
'The darkest thoughts that cross the minds of little girls are in connection with the apparel imposed upon them by their elders.'
'... and wearing those very short French shorts which mysteriously exacerbate the English, who invented shorts and feel sure that they know the right place to stop.'
Still, it has many great quotes, some of which I've written down:
'Babyhood is a happy state from which with tireless energy one battles to be free.'
'His own antecedents were of course impeccable; it is only from the stock of our in-laws that we look for trouble.'
'A mile south along the river bank was the bridge to Giza, interestingly called the Pongly-Zongly: it was many years before these words revealed themselves to me as Pont des Anglais.'
'The darkest thoughts that cross the minds of little girls are in connection with the apparel imposed upon them by their elders.'
'... and wearing those very short French shorts which mysteriously exacerbate the English, who invented shorts and feel sure that they know the right place to stop.'
Read
May 30, 2023Very good at the thing that it dies, some very nice words where the author picks out a detail in just the way to indicate a great deal more- her father’s “pedantic” habit of seeing all foreigners as human beings, for example, or the almost incidental comment that the Egyptian poor made Christianity impossible.
I did start chewing over my impression of both great warmth and a sort of impersonal quality. There’s a reflexive description of people as types or sorts or embodiments of national characteristics of one flavour or another, sitting alongside a strong and more particularizing sense of feeling. Not sure whether Napier simply more decent than some memoirists- even if so, she definitely also has some idea of bringing out something about Englishness that is (to me) less interesting than, say, her contributions to that far greater genre, Childhood Mistakes about Christianity (paying the harlot- some small harp perhaps- a delight).
Perhaps one of those books that succeed wonderfully and in spite of their ambitions.
I did start chewing over my impression of both great warmth and a sort of impersonal quality. There’s a reflexive description of people as types or sorts or embodiments of national characteristics of one flavour or another, sitting alongside a strong and more particularizing sense of feeling. Not sure whether Napier simply more decent than some memoirists- even if so, she definitely also has some idea of bringing out something about Englishness that is (to me) less interesting than, say, her contributions to that far greater genre, Childhood Mistakes about Christianity (paying the harlot- some small harp perhaps- a delight).
Perhaps one of those books that succeed wonderfully and in spite of their ambitions.
February 4, 2019
Amazing telling of child's view of the world, made more fascinating by fact the child spent most of every year in Cairo and summered with landed gentry relatives in England. Also, unique relating of view of war, WWI, from a child's point of view.
May 19, 2020
I owned this book for a long time but only found I wanted to reread it once, so I let it go a few years ago. An interesting memoir with lots of the sort of everyday detail I like about a time period I love in England.
August 9, 2020
Very vividly written memoir of a privileged childhood spent between Egypt and England before and during World War I. A fascinating portrait of a vanished time seen through the eyes of a rumbustious girl. An immersive read.
October 4, 2023
Priscilla Napier is a master at protraying the thoughts and feelings of childhood. Her writing is beautiful, but the book felt a bit dense. I think the book would have been stronger if it was shorter. I really enjoyed it though and her descriptions of life in Egypt were wonderful.
June 18, 2021
Priscilla Napier's A Late Beginner is a vivid memoir about the author's childhood, which was shaped by her life in Egypt and her summers abroad in England.
Priscilla's childhood takes place in the Edwardian era. She grew up with her parents and two younger siblings, William and Alethea. Her father, William Hayter, was a part of the British Protectorate and served as a legal and financial advisor to the Egyptian government. Stationed in Cairo, Priscilla and her family spent most of the year in Egypt but traveled back "home" to England in the summers, to visit family and avoid the sweltering Egyptian months. In the eyes of Priscilla, the world is a fun, loving place: her days are filled with play sessions with William and Alethea, trips to the Cairo Zoo and picnics at the desert. She can always count on two things: the watchful eye of her stern nanny, and the devoted love of her parents.
As the world begins to slip into World War I, however, Priscilla notices a change in the adults around her. They are worried, and the uncertainty begins to affect important aspects of all their lives. Priscilla sees adults, including her mother, cry for the first time, as the war takes a direct and sad toll on the lives of her uncles and cousins. Parts of Priscilla's life that had been commonplace, such as her family's annual voyage to England, are all of a sudden surrounded by fear and stress. Though Priscilla and her siblings remain oblivious to the full extent of what is happening around them, they are still aware of the changes - and this awareness plays an important role in shaping their outlook and their futures.
Although this memoir is filled with the usual markers of a childhood - rampaging with neighbors, playing pranks on other children - Napier shows a keen eye for observation, and manages to vividly create a world that would otherwise seem far-off and inaccessible to most readers. Her memoir fully encapsulates what it is like to be a child; to think like a child; to see the world through the eyes of a child. Although I can't relate to many aspects of Napier's childhood, I found myself thinking back to my younger years and reminiscing about my own adventures; about my own naïve way of observing and interpreting the world around me.
There were times when the book felt too slow - or perhaps I grew a bit tired of the writing towards the end - but this was a highly enjoyable read; a memoir that is truly unique in its style and story.
Priscilla's childhood takes place in the Edwardian era. She grew up with her parents and two younger siblings, William and Alethea. Her father, William Hayter, was a part of the British Protectorate and served as a legal and financial advisor to the Egyptian government. Stationed in Cairo, Priscilla and her family spent most of the year in Egypt but traveled back "home" to England in the summers, to visit family and avoid the sweltering Egyptian months. In the eyes of Priscilla, the world is a fun, loving place: her days are filled with play sessions with William and Alethea, trips to the Cairo Zoo and picnics at the desert. She can always count on two things: the watchful eye of her stern nanny, and the devoted love of her parents.
As the world begins to slip into World War I, however, Priscilla notices a change in the adults around her. They are worried, and the uncertainty begins to affect important aspects of all their lives. Priscilla sees adults, including her mother, cry for the first time, as the war takes a direct and sad toll on the lives of her uncles and cousins. Parts of Priscilla's life that had been commonplace, such as her family's annual voyage to England, are all of a sudden surrounded by fear and stress. Though Priscilla and her siblings remain oblivious to the full extent of what is happening around them, they are still aware of the changes - and this awareness plays an important role in shaping their outlook and their futures.
Although this memoir is filled with the usual markers of a childhood - rampaging with neighbors, playing pranks on other children - Napier shows a keen eye for observation, and manages to vividly create a world that would otherwise seem far-off and inaccessible to most readers. Her memoir fully encapsulates what it is like to be a child; to think like a child; to see the world through the eyes of a child. Although I can't relate to many aspects of Napier's childhood, I found myself thinking back to my younger years and reminiscing about my own adventures; about my own naïve way of observing and interpreting the world around me.
There were times when the book felt too slow - or perhaps I grew a bit tired of the writing towards the end - but this was a highly enjoyable read; a memoir that is truly unique in its style and story.
April 30, 2016
A pure delight from start to finish! Not only is it an uncanny description of the world seen through the eyes of a child, but it also provides an insight into the lives of well-to-do Edwardians and the officials who used to run the British Empire.
Dare I say that this memoir is on a par with Cider With Rosie? It puzzles me that it is not more well known.
Just hunting down a copy of this book was a treat in itself. I too first heard about it on the BBC show My Life in Books where it was picked as an old favourite by the Duchess of Devonshire. Via Google I found Slightly Foxed and their wonderful book shop near Gloucester Road station. And so I was lucky to get hold of one of the limited edition cloth-bound pocket editions. What a treat to read a book with a ribbon placeholder! I went back there recently and was told that A Late Beginner is now sold out but that a pocket paperback will be done next. Exactly when, they cannot say yet.
Dare I say that this memoir is on a par with Cider With Rosie? It puzzles me that it is not more well known.
Just hunting down a copy of this book was a treat in itself. I too first heard about it on the BBC show My Life in Books where it was picked as an old favourite by the Duchess of Devonshire. Via Google I found Slightly Foxed and their wonderful book shop near Gloucester Road station. And so I was lucky to get hold of one of the limited edition cloth-bound pocket editions. What a treat to read a book with a ribbon placeholder! I went back there recently and was told that A Late Beginner is now sold out but that a pocket paperback will be done next. Exactly when, they cannot say yet.
February 19, 2025
As the book travelled with me from Switzerland to the grainy sandbanks of Portugal, to the beaming sun of California to the backdrop of my own childhood summers in Japan, I fell in love with the eloquent manner which Priscilla Napier used to describe her own upbringing.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews