The Witch's Daughter

by Nina Bawden

On the Scottish island of Skua, a friendship develops between lonely and mysterious Perdita and a blind girl and her brother as the threesome look for rare orchids, explore the island caves, and meet up with jewel thieves.

Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Mystery, Young Adult, Juvenile, Witches, Middle Grade

184 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Nina Bawden was a popular British novelist and children's writer. Her mother was a teacher and her father a marine.

When World War II broke out she spent the school holidays at a farm in Shropshire along with her mother and her brothers, but lived in Aberdare, Wales, during term time.
Bawden attended Somerville College, Oxford, where she gained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Her novels include Carrie's War, Peppermint Pig, and The Witch's Daughter.

A number of her works have been dramatised by BBC Children's television, and many have been translated into various languages. In 2002 she was badly injured in the Potters Bar rail crash, and her husband Austen Kark was killed.

Bawden passed away at her home in London on 22 August 2012.

Reviews

[dianne b. · Rating 5 out of 5]

First off, this is a really good story. I’m not sure what makes a book a “children’s” book. Perhaps the lack of sex and profanity? Certainly not the simplicity of the 3 main characters, as this book develops them with more clarity and depth than the characters in many of the “grown up” novels i’ve read this year. The author captures the raw emotion of adolescence and childhood; for instance, the occasionally fleeting misplacement of our developing sensations: I Hate You (for what i’ve done...because you were there and saw it) - soon thereafter recognizing the error in that thinking, and then having to decide what to do with that.

The honesty in the writing, the crisp refreshment of a story well told; the excellent use of a dramatic background - the spare Scottish Isle of Skua - without ever overdoing it, all combine for a perfect book. The slippery black rock, dangerous caves, and unpredictable surf, balance the gentle peat fire, unlocked doors, words like ‘bairn’, lots of heather, and the illusive black orchid which brings the family to the island in the first place.

The Hoggarts have 2 children, Tim an adolescent and Jane, a younger - and blind - sister. They meet the usually hidden and isolated “witch’s daughter”, Perdita (the little lost one?) - who also has a handicap, her's is illiteracy. She is not allowed to go to school, thus perpetuating the entrenched prejudices on this tiny island. She is the orphan of an Ausländer, usually teased and ostracized. The connection between Jane and Perdita is immediate and almost magical, initially communicating by bird calls no one else could hear. Using the skills developed when one is deprived of others, the girls, Jane and Perdita, sociologically opposite but similarly underestimated, prove to be beyond heroic and critical in the solving of the mystery driving part of the story. And, yes, of course, Tim helps too. He is very focussed on his father’s approval and trust - which is far from the cynosure of the girls - they couldn’t care less about a particular person’s opinion. They’re growing their competencies, & accomplishing minor miracles. At least Jane thinks people should be aware of that.

Wholly satisfying.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superficially, this is a fun mystery adventure... but not the best one a kid will ever read. Kind of exciting, sort of intriguing.... Much more than that it's a study of how different children cope with different challenges, and what different strengths they develop.

The title character, an orphan, is half-wild only because her caregivers raise her so; the fact is that she desperately wants to go to school, to learn, perhaps even to make friends. The blind girl is the most bold, the most dissatisfied with being a child. Her older brother is almost as guilty as the adults in not realizing what his sister *can* do, instead focusing on what she can't; his challenge is that of finding an identity compatible with making his Dad proud of him, despite the fact that the two are very different.

Everything I said above sounds almost cliched, at least to me. But it's actually not. Bawden has a talent for presenting us with real children, somehow, not just characters. Getting to know these children in this brief story is an exercise that develops a reader's ability to understand better the children, classmates, siblings, students..., in his or her own life.

If you can easily find a copy and like the older books that were quietly respectful of young readers, I do recommend this. I won't say it's worth going to trouble for, though, as it's well-done but not unique.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog here.

This is the second book I have read from Faber's "Faber Finds" series of reprints, and the second which has been a revelation. Nina Bawden is not a writer who is entirely unfamiliar to me; I am sure that I read some of her books as a child, but no titles spring to mind unprompted. I definitely hadn't read The Witch's Daughter before.

The story is aimed at young readers of around ten or eleven, and is set on the fictional Scottish island of Skua. Two girls are central to the tale. The first, Perdita, is native to the island but is an outsider to the community because she is the orphaned daughter of a reputed witch, and spends her time running wild on the island, having never been to school. The other, Janey, is a visitor to the island, with her family; she too is separated from those around her, because she is blind.

Even today, I cannot think of another children's book which has as unusual a pair of characters at its centre. In 1963, it must have had a huge impact to its readers. Just think about what would have been popular books at the time for children of about this age to read, especially from the "classic" children's authors. Enid Blyton, Anthony Buckeridge, C.S. Lewis, Arthur Ransome, E. Nesbit, Richmal Crompton... All these writers feature children from upper middle class backgrounds (Crompton's Just William perhaps slightly less "upper" than the others), almost all attending private schools. The actual plot of The Witch's Daughter - the discovery of stolen treasure, and the children, unable to convince adults of its reality, trying to outwit the thieves themselves - could be from any one of Enid Blyton's popular adventure series - The Famous Five, or The Secret Seven, for example. Whether or not Bawden deliberately set out to counterbalance these stories, she succeeds in doing so, without preaching.

To any receptive child, The Witch's Daughter will have a lot to say about what it means to be different from those around us, and how even those who are dismissed from consideration in society have the ability to have adventures and do amazing things. Whether this Faber Finds edition is one which will appeal to children is another thing. In the midst of colourful, bright, and illustrated children's books, this is plain and has a only a couple of illustrations, and also has very small print: Faber seem to be aiming it at adults who remember the book from their own childhood, by using the standard packaging from the imprint. Perhaps they might read the book to their own children - I would definitely recommend it to parents whose children are the right age.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

... little things are important. Even if they don't always seem it. It's like doing a jigsaw puzzle. All the little bits don't mean much on their own, till you fit them together to make a pattern.
---Tim, chapter 14

Makng a pattern. This is what the human brain is trying to do all the time in order to make sense of experiences. And that's what the reader, in common with Tim in The Witch's Daughter, is attempting with the seemingly random facts presented in its pages.

But life isn't nice and ordered, is it? Sometimes the occasional facts refuse to fit the pattern, like odd socks in a drawer, or a misplaced piece in a jigsaw puzzle; and this novel, though it gives us a satisfying conclusion, doesn't attempt to resolve all the loose ends. It a strange way, this gives it an authenticity and a realism rare in much children's literature of this period.

And from the title you might be expecting a surfeit or at least a sufficiency of the supernatural but contrary to expectations this aspect is so muted as to cause you to doubt that it's actually present. Nevertheless I think an underlying theme is sensitivity, a sensitivity which may include feelings and perceptions that everyday folk can be unaware of.

Young orphan Perdita (the name means 'lost') is suspected of being a witch's daughter and therefore a social outcast from a tight-knit community on Skua. (We may imagine this last as a fictional compound of the Inner Hebridean island of Mull and its neighbour Staffa, site of the famous Fingal's Cave.) Shunned by locals, she has only the arthritic housekeeper of the mysterious Mr Smith to look after her; and though Mr Smith tolerates her presence -- he even tells her stories once in a while -- she is left largely to her own devices in a decrepit house by a sea loch.

Into her life one day come some visitors disembarking from the occasional ferry that plies the islands west of Oban: a family of four and a man with some golf clubs (oddly, there are no golf courses on the island). The family interest her as there are two children -- a boy a little older than herself and his younger sister, who is blind. We get to know not just Perdita quite well but also the boy, Tim, as we explore the relationships they have with parents, guardians, Mr Jones (he is the stranger with the golf clubs) and the owners of the island's hotel.

We might have expected Nina Bawden to have gone full-on fantasy with a title like The Witch's Daughter, perhaps even tying up all the loose ends as in a detective novel (because there is stolen treasure involved), but she doesn't. This is a much more subtle novel than that. Nobody is quite as idealised or vilified as another children's writer might have been tempted to do. Tim would like to be the heroic boy detective who solves the mystery but keeps coming up against hard reality. His sister Janey, compensating for her blindness, senses things which the sighted miss, but is this a case of extrasensory perception or a perfectly explicable 'sixth sense'? Nevertheless this doesn't stop the nine-year-old being a bit spoilt and prone to crowing about her accomplishments. The villains, meanwhile, have their soft spots which humanise them even as we decry their wicked deeds -- we even feel sorry for them.

The most interesting character -- for me, at least -- is Perdita, whose origins are hinted at but never made clear. Unlettered, uneducated, she would love to go to school but is alienated from the local children who do go: she believes if she concentrates she can pass invisible amongst the villagers, and mostly does. Her relationships with her foster mother and Mr Smith are touching, her anxieties about her new found friends Janey and Tim understandable; and it's easy for the reader to want to will her to succeed even though it remains touch-and-go till the end.

This is a delightful story, defying predictions and so making it, to my mind, a better novel. There is mystery: who exactly are Mr Smith and Mr Jones, and are these even their real names? There is suspense: will individuals survive perilous situations, and will we ever know for sure one way or another? There are echoes of the supernatural -- a possible kelpie, for example -- and of other narratives (Treasure Island, because there's an island with treasure; Tom Sawyer and The Weirdstone of Brisingamen because there is a perilous journey through a cave, one like the famous cavern on Staffa Island; Shakespeare's The Tempest and A Winter's Tale because illusion is a key element), all of which helps add a richness and enjoyment to the storytelling.

Even though they may not seem it, little things, as Tim says, are indeed important.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a classic, the book covers insightful, modern topics which are told in a fascinating creative way ! Perdita shows that not everything is as it seems and Janey shows that disability is not everything. I found the plot gripping and the characters moving . A fantastic read!

[Metaphorosis · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
Perdita, an unschooled orphan on a remote Scottish island, lives under the care of old Annie Maclaren and helps her care for their lodger. But when a strange man comes to visit the island at the same time as a family with two small children, Perdita and the kids become involved in something much bigger than they expected.

Review
We had two Nina Bawden books when I was growing up – this one and The Runaway Summer. I loved them both and am not sure why we didn’t have more. Runaway Summer was my favorite, though Witch’s Daughter seems to be better known. Actually, looking down the Wikipedia list, we also had The White Horse Gang, but I didn’t like that one as much.

In any case, I liked Witch’s Daughter then, and I think I like it more now. Then, it was a straightforward story of adventure, with the lonely Perdita giving the story a poignancy most children’s books didn’t have. Now, I can see more clearly what Bawden was doing, and I think it’s great. Now a middle-aged man, I was literally crying at the end, and both sniffling and laughing at several points throughout. There’s not a lot of surprise in the book for an adult, but there is some subtlety. There’s some evident heart-string pulling via Janey, the blind girl, but it’s fairly deft, and Janey’s blindness is treated with what I thought was reasonable care. Contrary to many children’s books of the period, the lone boy of the group is not the de facto leader (though he is older), and the emotional center is the relationship between the girls.

All told, a lovely children’s book that still stands up. I recommend it to adults and children alike.

[lucky little cat · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd entirely forgotten that ESP was A Thing in 1970s children's literature. But this novel has an disproportionately grim tone and plot points that are telegraphed from 150 pages away. Although there are some vivid Scottish tourist scenes.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent and evocative children’s mystery tale set on a Scottish island.

[Peter Jamieson]

What does the word "plangent" mean? "Having a loud, mournful sound".



OK - this book is well plangent. And it makes you want to spend time in the Hebrides.



Focuses on the themes of insight and vision: the central character might have the Second Sight, another of the main characters is blind. There are searches to find things: stolen jewels, black orchids.



However, for such an exotic setting and main character, the novel can come across as strangely pedestrian. And maybe that's the most mournful thing of all about the book.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was supposed to read this in high school, but I bluffed my way through the English class questions and never read a word of it. But after reading Day of the Triffids recently, another book I was supposed to read in high school, and loving it, I wondered what else I had missed.

This one isn't as good as Triffids. It's a kids' adventure story about jewel thieves hiding out on a small Scottish island. This reminded me of all those Hardy Boys books I used to read. They were all about smugglers.

I don't know why it's called The Witch's Daughter. Yes, that character is in there, but for a lot of the story, I wouldn't say she's the main character, and the witchy bit doesn't really play into the narrative either.

Still, it's not bad and I wish I had read it in my teens. I probably didn't because it was a girls book about a girl! LOL

[Rosamund Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perdita is alone until Tim and his blind sister Janey land on the Scottish island of Skua. There, they gradually become friends with Perdita, and help her out of her shell. Meanwhile, Tim's quick thinking and Janey's resourcefulness uncover a jewel thieves. The descriptions of place, and the psychology of the children, are deftly handled, and Bawden's prose is impeccable. But it's hard to know whether this is an adventure story or a friendship story, and it doesn't entirely work as either.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of The Witch’s Daughter is rather misleading. The titular character is a lonely, neglected girl on a lonely, neglected Scottish island who is shunned by the other children for being a “witch’s daughter.” She does not go to school, cannot read, and is almost feral. There is no actual witch to be found.

Then two tourists kids (one blind) arrive and they all get involved in solving a jewel heist. Fun is had and lessons are learned. Decent read.

[Whitney Oaks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Childhood favorite!

[Sarah Thornton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another rich and well-developed novel from Nina Bawden. Strong characters, good grasp on human nature and a really good read.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book which is the ideal children's book--can be read by children and enjoyed by adults. There are some moments when as an adult you can see the author making her points about how we treat those who appear different from us, about what's really important to children, and acknowledging the mysteries of life. But it's well written and in a way that the reader comes to care about the children at the heart of this story.

I found this first American edition at an old library warehouse and glad to have stumbled on this intrigue set on a Scottish isle in the early 60s. It has a timeless quality about it that I appreciated.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Bawden’s adventure stories for children. When I read her (along with Rosemary Sutcliff, and Diana Wynne Jones), I don’t feel like an adult reading children’s books - the way I do when reading Mary Norton (Borrowers, Bedknob and Broomstick) or Paddington, for example (still worthy books!).
But like a child reading children’s books: wholly absorbed in the story. This isn’t Bawden’s best, but still a treat.

[Joel Barnhill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book not a good book, a simple story that I believed could use some embellishment of descriptions. I don’t believe that I would have the patience to finish this book if I were still a child, some portions were rather boring, however it had its good moments as well. At its best, I was reminded of a studio ghibli movie, and some of the settings were quite satisfying, but lukewarm overall.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun old fashioned mystery. I was surprised at the ending. I think it might be challenging for young readers. As an adult I also wondered what happens to the Witch's Daughter after the end of the story. I liked the children and their support of one another.

[magicandscience · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favourite part of this how the boy, who starts off being very pro-police and wanting to be a policeman when he grows up, ends the story by saying he would rather be a botanist like his father. A very sweet story about children solving mysteries.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a fantasy. Adventure story on a remote Scottish island with hints of second sight and superstition.
Children discover jewel thieves but more depth to the characters than Enid Blyton.
Enjoyed this one more than Carrie's War.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard for me to think of this book as for children because it's rather depressing. With that said, the book is incredibly good at capturing the heart of a child, which feels so much more than they have the language to express.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another grade school level book. This one is set on the Scottish Isle of Skua. It involves an orphan girl who is kept isolated from other people, thieves, and island people. Good mystery.

[Iffrah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean, nice work tho.

[Skye · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is good! Blind girl who isnt magic but *is* skilled. Caves! jewel thieves!

[Derek Henderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit long-winded.

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 3 out of 5]

B-. fiction, children's fiction, mystery; from stash, keep

[Georgina · Rating 4 out of 5]

this read like a prequel to where the crawdads sing 🥹 very wholesome

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book that made me fall in love with reading

[Alessandra Durham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard going at the beginning. Nice little read, not too taxing. Probably good for readers who like the the famous five etc.

[Alison Hampton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A re-visit of this delightful book.