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The Carved Lions
It is already a long time since I was a little girl. Sometimes, when I look out upon the world and see how many changes have come about, how different many things are from what I can remember them, I could believe that a still longer time had passed since my childhood than is really the case. Sometimes, on the contrary, the remembrance of things that then happened comes over me so very vividly, so very real-ly, that I can scarcely believe myself to be as old as I am. I can remember things in my little girlhood more clearly than many in later years. This makes me hope that the story of some part of it may interest children of to-day, for I know I have not forgotten the feelings I had as a child. And after all, I believe that in a great many ways children are very like each other in their hearts and minds, even though their lives may seem very different and very far apart.
130 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1895
About the author
Mrs. Molesworth
435 books22 followersMary Louisa Molesworth, née Stewart was an English writer of children's stories who wrote for children under the name of Mrs. Molesworth. Her first novels, for adult readers, Lover and Husband (1869) to Cicely (1874), appeared under the pseudonym of Ennis Graham. Her name occasionally appears in print as M.L.S. Molesworth.
She was born in Rotterdam, a daughter of Charles Augustus Stewart (1809–1873) who later became a rich merchant in Manchester and his wife Agnes Janet Wilson (1810–1883). Mary had three brothers and two sisters. She was educated in Great Britain and Switzerland: much of her girlhood was spent in Manchester. In 1861 she married Major R. Molesworth, nephew of Viscount Molesworth; they legally separated in 1879.
Mrs. Molesworth is best known as a writer of books for the young, such as Tell Me a Story (1875), Carrots (1876), The Cuckoo Clock (1877), The Tapestry Room (1879), and A Christmas Child (1880). She has been called "the Jane Austen of the nursery," while The Carved Lions (1895) "is probably her masterpiece."
Mary Louisa Molesworth typified late Victorian writing for girls. Aimed at girls too old for fairies and princesses but too young for Austen and the Brontës, books by Molesworth had their share of amusement, but they also had a good deal of moral instruction. The girls reading Molesworth would grow up to be mothers; thus, the books emphasized Victorian notions of duty and self-sacrifice.
Typical of the time, her young child characters often use a lisping style, and words may be misspelt to represent children's speech—"jography" for geography, for instance.
She took an interest in supernatural fiction. In 1888, she published a collection of supernatural tales under the title Four Ghost Stories, and in 1896 a similar collection of six tales under the title Uncanny Stories. In addition to those, her volume Studies and Stories includes a ghost story entitled "Old Gervais" and her Summer Stories for Boys and Girls includes "Not Exactly a Ghost Story."
A new edition of The Cuckoo Clock was published in 1914.
She died in 1921 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.
[Wikipedia]
She was born in Rotterdam, a daughter of Charles Augustus Stewart (1809–1873) who later became a rich merchant in Manchester and his wife Agnes Janet Wilson (1810–1883). Mary had three brothers and two sisters. She was educated in Great Britain and Switzerland: much of her girlhood was spent in Manchester. In 1861 she married Major R. Molesworth, nephew of Viscount Molesworth; they legally separated in 1879.
Mrs. Molesworth is best known as a writer of books for the young, such as Tell Me a Story (1875), Carrots (1876), The Cuckoo Clock (1877), The Tapestry Room (1879), and A Christmas Child (1880). She has been called "the Jane Austen of the nursery," while The Carved Lions (1895) "is probably her masterpiece."
Mary Louisa Molesworth typified late Victorian writing for girls. Aimed at girls too old for fairies and princesses but too young for Austen and the Brontës, books by Molesworth had their share of amusement, but they also had a good deal of moral instruction. The girls reading Molesworth would grow up to be mothers; thus, the books emphasized Victorian notions of duty and self-sacrifice.
Typical of the time, her young child characters often use a lisping style, and words may be misspelt to represent children's speech—"jography" for geography, for instance.
She took an interest in supernatural fiction. In 1888, she published a collection of supernatural tales under the title Four Ghost Stories, and in 1896 a similar collection of six tales under the title Uncanny Stories. In addition to those, her volume Studies and Stories includes a ghost story entitled "Old Gervais" and her Summer Stories for Boys and Girls includes "Not Exactly a Ghost Story."
A new edition of The Cuckoo Clock was published in 1914.
She died in 1921 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.
[Wikipedia]
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 23, 2016
I found this book very hard to rate. It's a rather sad book, and for this reason I nearly didn't finish it. I hate sad books, though as a child, some of my favourite books were miserably sad. This one had me nearly in tears, which made me consider lopping off a star, but that's hardly fair is it. If a book can make you cry, it must have good writing behind it. Still, the sadness did drop my enjoyment level. Some of the other reviewers have commented that they couldn't relate to the main character and didn't even like her. I had the opposite problem, I could relate too much, hence the tears.
I think I would have liked this book as a child, and for that reason I'm going with four stars.
By the way, the description given here on Goodreads is terribly inaccurate, there weren't any orphans, just a lonely, misunderstood girl sent to boarding school after her parents take up an overseas posting.
I think I would have liked this book as a child, and for that reason I'm going with four stars.
By the way, the description given here on Goodreads is terribly inaccurate, there weren't any orphans, just a lonely, misunderstood girl sent to boarding school after her parents take up an overseas posting.
January 30, 2022
As a fan of C.S. Lewis, the title of this book by Mrs Molesworth - the Carved Lions (1895) - made me wonder it might perhaps have been among C.S. Lewis' sources of inspiration for the Narnia series. Not sure if it was, but if so, I suspect he probably felt (like I do) that there were elements in it that could have made it a good fantasy book - but weren't used to their full potential.
The narrator in the book is an old woman, Geraldine, looking back on her childhood. She and her brother were quite happy living with their parents in a village. They were not exactly poor, but also not rich. ("It never entered my head that there was anything to be ashamed of in living in a small house and having only two servants.") Her brother (a couple of years older) went to school, but Geraldine was home-schooled by her mother. Sometimes she wished she could go to school to. One of both children's favourite things was to accompany their mother when she had some errands in the village. At the entrance of one shop there were two huge carved lions, looking very life-like. The children used to imagine that these could come alive, and carry them off on adventures.
Then suddenly there is a big change in their lives. Their father gets a job abroad (which it seems he has to take for financial reasons). His wife has to go with him; but for reasons to do with climate and whatever, they can't take the children. So they are both sent to boarding schools - Geraldine to one for girls in the same village where they lived. Apart from her parents going away, she is actually kind of looking forward to this - hoping to make some new friends. But the school turns out a disappointment to her. And here the story goes off into lengthy descriptions of the school, the teachers, and her growing unhappiness - until one day she runs away, gets lost for a while, but ends up at the shop with the lions...
… and that's where the story could have turned into a Narnia-like adventure; but alas does not live up to the expectations of modern readers used to Narnia and Harry Potter...
The book (which is quite short, only 79 pages) has been called the author's masterpiece by some; but to me it felt uneven, with some parts of it very detailed, but others too hastily sketched, and the fantasy parts not really allowed to to flourish.
The narrator in the book is an old woman, Geraldine, looking back on her childhood. She and her brother were quite happy living with their parents in a village. They were not exactly poor, but also not rich. ("It never entered my head that there was anything to be ashamed of in living in a small house and having only two servants.") Her brother (a couple of years older) went to school, but Geraldine was home-schooled by her mother. Sometimes she wished she could go to school to. One of both children's favourite things was to accompany their mother when she had some errands in the village. At the entrance of one shop there were two huge carved lions, looking very life-like. The children used to imagine that these could come alive, and carry them off on adventures.
Then suddenly there is a big change in their lives. Their father gets a job abroad (which it seems he has to take for financial reasons). His wife has to go with him; but for reasons to do with climate and whatever, they can't take the children. So they are both sent to boarding schools - Geraldine to one for girls in the same village where they lived. Apart from her parents going away, she is actually kind of looking forward to this - hoping to make some new friends. But the school turns out a disappointment to her. And here the story goes off into lengthy descriptions of the school, the teachers, and her growing unhappiness - until one day she runs away, gets lost for a while, but ends up at the shop with the lions...
… and that's where the story could have turned into a Narnia-like adventure; but alas does not live up to the expectations of modern readers used to Narnia and Harry Potter...
The book (which is quite short, only 79 pages) has been called the author's masterpiece by some; but to me it felt uneven, with some parts of it very detailed, but others too hastily sketched, and the fantasy parts not really allowed to to flourish.
May 31, 2014
This an audio book on LibriVox.
https://librivox.org/the-carved-lions...
https://librivox.org/the-carved-lions...
January 1, 2015
I was expecting a little more magic. A "nice" story - meh.
September 27, 2019
I listened to an audio recording by Librivox. Not listed on Goodreads.
What a sad little story about a young girl who had to go from a very loving home to a strict boarding school when her parents were posted to South America. Very different that a recent book I read, The Fortunes of Philippa.
The book is written by an ‘old’ lady about a period in her childhood which memories were still so strong that it is as if the events left a very deep scar.
Instead of finding girls to become friends with, she finds that others look askance at her for her different accent. The rooms rarely, if at all, were heated. The children avoided her and the teachers were very hard on her. Instead of giving her time know the place, she was scolded for not doing what she was expected to do. And punished for standing in confusion, as if she were being sullen or rebellious. One light spot was a certain young teacher, but she had to beware lest her care should be noticed and so bring more difficulties to both of them. As it was, one teacher took very strongly against her. For the most part, the child didn’t understand what caused this, as her attempts to do well did not bring praise but more scolding for some infringement due to her ‘attitude ‘.
It was hard to hear about such mistreatment! and it was no surprise that she started to decline.
When the little girl had been small, she and her brother found great interest in two majestic carved lions in a furniture shop they went to with their mother. So, as the story progresses, it makes one wonder when these lions will become part of the picture again, seeing that they are so prominent in the title. But if you carry on with the story, you will find out they do.
The readers were fine for the story, though I preferred to the first and the last readers.
What a sad little story about a young girl who had to go from a very loving home to a strict boarding school when her parents were posted to South America. Very different that a recent book I read, The Fortunes of Philippa.
The book is written by an ‘old’ lady about a period in her childhood which memories were still so strong that it is as if the events left a very deep scar.
Instead of finding girls to become friends with, she finds that others look askance at her for her different accent. The rooms rarely, if at all, were heated. The children avoided her and the teachers were very hard on her. Instead of giving her time know the place, she was scolded for not doing what she was expected to do. And punished for standing in confusion, as if she were being sullen or rebellious. One light spot was a certain young teacher, but she had to beware lest her care should be noticed and so bring more difficulties to both of them. As it was, one teacher took very strongly against her. For the most part, the child didn’t understand what caused this, as her attempts to do well did not bring praise but more scolding for some infringement due to her ‘attitude ‘.
It was hard to hear about such mistreatment! and it was no surprise that she started to decline.
When the little girl had been small, she and her brother found great interest in two majestic carved lions in a furniture shop they went to with their mother. So, as the story progresses, it makes one wonder when these lions will become part of the picture again, seeing that they are so prominent in the title. But if you carry on with the story, you will find out they do.
The readers were fine for the story, though I preferred to the first and the last readers.
April 10, 2021
Appropriate for all ages of readers. Fun.
💥 Recommended.
🟣
💥 Recommended.
🟣
October 30, 2025
Ten year old me thought this story of orphans at a boarding school in England, and the fortunes and misfortunes that befall them, (first published January 1, 1895) was good.
January 2, 2015
The Carved Lions was published in 1895 and is the story of a little girl sent to an English boarding school because her father has been assigned a job in South America. She’s very unhappy, but manages to squeeze a cheerful ending out of all of her trials. (The definitive book with the same theme is, of course, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess, which had been published seven years earlier.)
There was nothing dreadfully wrong with this book. It was not overly didactic or moralistic - even though young Geraldine reads quite a few preachy books that were popular in the 1850’s. My main complaint against the book is that Geraldine is an unappealing heroine. As narrator, she makes too many excuses for herself and for the faults of others. All the mistakes she made in her school had to do with her being sick and not hearing well, or being naive and not responding well. She never seems quite real. Or likable.
There was nothing dreadfully wrong with this book. It was not overly didactic or moralistic - even though young Geraldine reads quite a few preachy books that were popular in the 1850’s. My main complaint against the book is that Geraldine is an unappealing heroine. As narrator, she makes too many excuses for herself and for the faults of others. All the mistakes she made in her school had to do with her being sick and not hearing well, or being naive and not responding well. She never seems quite real. Or likable.
October 29, 2012
Simple, charming, somewhat predictable story. A nine-year-old who is miserable at her boarding school runs away.
January 14, 2013
A sweet story, very standard, not much to it.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews