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Auntie Robbo
Hector is an 11-year-old boy living near Edinburgh with his great Auntie Robbo who is in her eighties. A woman calling herself his step-mother arrives from England and Hector and Auntie Robbo realize that they have to run away. The chase leads all over the north of Scotland, narrowly escaping police and the authorities, adopting three homeless children on the way.Ann Scott-Moncrieff tried to publish Auntie Robbo in 1941, but the book was rejected because deemed to be "too Scottish". Today, Auntie Robbo is revived and reprinted in this beautiful new edition by Scotland Street Press.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1940
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33 people want to read
About the author
Ann Scott-Moncrieff
10 books1 followerAnn Scott-Moncrieff, née Shearer (1914 - 1943) was a Scottish journalist and author. She was born in Kirkwall in 1914, a daughter of Major J.D.M. Shearer. She undertook her apprenticeship in journalism with The Orcadian aged seventeen. She then studied at the University of Edinburgh, after which, in 1934, she married George Scott-Moncrieff, a Scottish novelist and topographer.
She contributed to the making of BBC programmes and her first published literary work was a children's story, Aboard the Bulger, which appeared as a serial in The Bulletin before its publication in book form. Later appeared a volume of short stories, The White Drake and Other Tales. Her last book, Auntie Robbo, was published in the United States in 1940.
Ann Scott-Moncrieff died in 1943. She was survived by her husband and three children.
She contributed to the making of BBC programmes and her first published literary work was a children's story, Aboard the Bulger, which appeared as a serial in The Bulletin before its publication in book form. Later appeared a volume of short stories, The White Drake and Other Tales. Her last book, Auntie Robbo, was published in the United States in 1940.
Ann Scott-Moncrieff died in 1943. She was survived by her husband and three children.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 4, 2011
This charming gem of a book is somewhat obscure, but is now available to read at Gutenberg--http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0700...
Please read my post about my love for "Auntie Robbo" here:
http://cindysbookclub.blogspot.com/20...
Please read my post about my love for "Auntie Robbo" here:
http://cindysbookclub.blogspot.com/20...
October 17, 2019
Thanks to Scotland Street Press for sending me this wonderful ARC ahead of today's release. This book was actually released nearly 80 years ago and thanks to this re-release will be able to thrill and enthrall a whole new generation of children and adults.
The story follows the octagenarian Auntie Robbo and her great-nephew Hector as they go on the run from his evil English stepmother and adventure around Scotland, getting into some scrapes along the way.
This book is crazy because Auntie Robbo herself is so old she doesn't care what anyone thinks. She just wants to have fun in her twilight years. I loved the illustrations in this book too. I miss illustrations now that I have to read adult books. This book reminded me how much I appreciate a drawing of what's going on.
The story follows the octagenarian Auntie Robbo and her great-nephew Hector as they go on the run from his evil English stepmother and adventure around Scotland, getting into some scrapes along the way.
This book is crazy because Auntie Robbo herself is so old she doesn't care what anyone thinks. She just wants to have fun in her twilight years. I loved the illustrations in this book too. I miss illustrations now that I have to read adult books. This book reminded me how much I appreciate a drawing of what's going on.
May 14, 2017
An absolutely delightful and unusual story about the antics of 81 year old Aunt Robbo and her great nephew Hector, who go on the run in the Scottish countryside to flee the clutches of a stepmother who wants to put Aunt Robbo away, and send Hector to formal schooling. Laughs, warmth, and travel tales....a superb story.
July 31, 2020
Unglaublich unterhaltsam. So eine Tante wünscht man sich!
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February 6, 2024Ann Scott-Moncrieff died at just 29, leaving behind her author husband and three children. Her short writing career took place mostly over the Second World War. Auntie Robbo, rejected by her English publisher as “too Scottish” was then published in America but all the comp copies were lost when the ship they were traveling in was torpedoed in the Atlantic; most copies of an earlier book were destroyed when her publisher in London was bombed.
Auntie Robbo is a truly delightful book. Auntie Robbo (81, energetic, hedonistic, “totally transparent”) and her orphaned great grand-nephew, 11 year-old Hector, are living a delightful life in their home Nethermuir, twelve miles out of Edinburgh, which is suddenly imperiled by the arrival of Hector’s long-forgotten stepmother Merlissa Benck, who lands upon the happy household and rapidly decides Auntie Robbie is mad as a hatter and Hector would be much better off at public school. So Auntie Robbo and Hector do a runner, launching themselves on a rollicking adventure into the Scottish highlands, picking up three extra, largely homeless, children and a tinker’s wagon along the way. Much food is eaten, scrapes squeaked through, weather endured, talents discovered and good sense expressed until we reach a happy ending with Miss Benck happily dealt to and Auntie Robbo and Hector’s happy way of life restored.
It’s like a much less cruel Roses Dahl, with an eccentric old lady who expects the world to confirm to her expectations and a gaggle of children who joyfully bob in her wake. The Scottish setting is lovely, and the scattering of Scottish words a pleasure. I do have to make a dash of racism warning. A great pity, because the book otherwise stands up so well.
Auntie Robbo is a truly delightful book. Auntie Robbo (81, energetic, hedonistic, “totally transparent”) and her orphaned great grand-nephew, 11 year-old Hector, are living a delightful life in their home Nethermuir, twelve miles out of Edinburgh, which is suddenly imperiled by the arrival of Hector’s long-forgotten stepmother Merlissa Benck, who lands upon the happy household and rapidly decides Auntie Robbie is mad as a hatter and Hector would be much better off at public school. So Auntie Robbo and Hector do a runner, launching themselves on a rollicking adventure into the Scottish highlands, picking up three extra, largely homeless, children and a tinker’s wagon along the way. Much food is eaten, scrapes squeaked through, weather endured, talents discovered and good sense expressed until we reach a happy ending with Miss Benck happily dealt to and Auntie Robbo and Hector’s happy way of life restored.
It’s like a much less cruel Roses Dahl, with an eccentric old lady who expects the world to confirm to her expectations and a gaggle of children who joyfully bob in her wake. The Scottish setting is lovely, and the scattering of Scottish words a pleasure. I do have to make a dash of racism warning. A great pity, because the book otherwise stands up so well.
July 27, 2022
Eleven year old Hector is happy living with his great-great Aunt Robina in her Scottish country home. The two of them get on very well together. But trouble looms when Hector's stepmother, who he has never met (his father was abroad when he married her, and died soon afterwards)comes on a vist, and decides she would like to adopt Hector. She disapproves of Hector's free and easy existence with his eccentric elderly aunt, and wants to send him to an english school. She plans to have Auntie Robbo put in a home. Hector and Auntie Robbo are not going to stand for that, so they decide to run away, to the highlands (the proper place for an escape, as Auntie Robbo explains). Thus begins a series of entertaining adventures that leads them into encounters with various characters, until eventually they find a refuge where they think they will be safe from Hector's stepmother - or will they?
This is an immensely entertaining story, one of my favourite books as a child, I still think it very engaging now. Auntie Robbo is a marvellous character, and her adventures with Hector remain as amusing to read now as they were over fifty years ago.
This is an immensely entertaining story, one of my favourite books as a child, I still think it very engaging now. Auntie Robbo is a marvellous character, and her adventures with Hector remain as amusing to read now as they were over fifty years ago.
January 12, 2023
I can’t remember how this got onto my ‘want to read’ list but I usually jot down book recommendations here so I must have heard about it somehow. I just can’t imagine why someone would recommend this book in the 2020s. It’s pretty anachronistic and very Enid Blyton-esque. I guess people in those days enjoyed an adventurous romp through the Scottish highlands. Reminds me a bit of wind in the willows and a lot of the famous five.
April 19, 2026
Just fun
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews