Forgotten Vintage Children's Lit We Want Republished! discussion
This topic is about
Agnes Charlotte Stewart
Authors
>
Agnes Charlotte Stewart
date
newest »
newest »
Mod
Anyway, just "Wandering Star" for the unlisted books.
AND, her average is now 3.36, with those other books accredited to her (was 2.50 when I started writing an hour ago!). ;)
I found a mini biography on A.gnes C.harlotte Stewart in “Something About the Author” Volume 15 pages 250-251.https://archive.org/details/something...
Mod
https://archive.org/details/something..."
Oh wow, thanks so much, Saffron! I'll add some salient points from it here:
Agnes Charlotte Stewart:
- born in Liverpool
- grew up "in a small seaside town in Cheshire"; moved to Kent as teen. Lots of various pets and animals (esp. Labradors and Siamese cats)
- sole companion as child was older sister; educated by series of Governesses
- lived at Knowetop, Corsock, Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland (married F. Stewart, mech. eng., has three children) - very specific!
- privately educated; Church of England
- land owned by them in Galloway was demarcated as a nature reserve by the Scottish Nature Trust, thanks to their involvement; lends a bungalow there to physically handicapped children's groups
- never intended to write for children, but wrote for own daughter and went from there
- "My books appear under my initials only to avoid my personal identity being imposed on the story. Nothing about me can possibly be as interesting as a stranger in a tower, a mystery train running against the signals or an invisible boy whistling in the Highland hills."
Awarded:
Edgar Allan Poe award (Mystery Writers of America) for Elizabeth's Tower
Award of Merit (Scottish Arts Council) for Beyond the Boundary
There was a WIP for a sequel to Falcon's Crag about the Highland Clearances. So now I am suspicious that Biddy Grant of Craigengill, released some 10 years after Falcon's Crag is in fact that sequel.
(If a lovely Librarian is so inclined, would they kindly add the record for Biddy Grant of Craigengill? :) It does exist!
https://www.amazon.com/Biddy-Grant-Cr...
Publisher : Blackie (November 22, 1979)
Language : English
Hardcover : 192 pages
ISBN-10 : 021690756X
ISBN-13 : 978-0216907560 )
I have a Highland Clearances list I'd love to tack it on:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Mod
Capn wrote: "(If a lovely Librarian is so inclined, would they kindly add the record for Biddy Grant of Craigengill? :) It does exist!"Done. I have created. Biddy Grant of Craigengill
Mod
Now to see if I can get my hands on a copy! (Unlikely..!). :S
Thanks very much. :)
Mod
I have just finished reading Ossian House--A boy raised in London by a rather materialistic mother visits his grandfather's Scottish estate; at first he counts the days until he goes back to the city but gradually he starts to feel a connection to this place his family has tended for centuries. And when his grandfather dies, he inherits it, and must defy his mother in order to keep it, win over his hostile cousins, and start learning his new responsibilities. There's a slight fantastical element involving the Covenanters who were killed there back in the 17th century (not sure whether it was time slip or ghosts), and lots of great nature/farm detail. I liked it lots, and now want more of her books!
Mod
She's not bad, eh?!
Mod
Mod
Mod
Thank you Cap. I appreciate it. I'm hopeful that she was brought up in Heswall. The same town where Mabel Esther Allan lived.
Mod
Just finished Beyond the Boundary....not to my personal taste, and it didn't feel like a book for kids. The main character is so tremendously damaged psychologically there was little pleasure in spending time with him/her, and I felt there was a sort of overarching gothic misery to the whole story...
Forgotten Vintage Children's Lit We Want...
Books mentioned in this topic
Biddy Grant of Craigengill (other topics)Beyond the Boundary (other topics)
Elizabeth's Tower (other topics)
Falcon's Crag (other topics)
Silas and Con (other topics)
More...
I just stumbled across her book Beyond the Boundary (thanks, Rainbowheart, for adding it to GR!) while browsing (alright, shopping... I said I was going to take a break on that, but apparently I can't resist temptation) on The Children's Bookshop's website (Hay-on-Wye). I almost added it to the cart, but realised that I could read it for free on OpenLibrary first and buy it later if I wanted it. Much more fiscally responsible. ;)
Beyond the Boundary is set in Scotland like most or all of this author's books. So far, so good - I didn't know what to expect, and 3/4 of the way through, I'm still not totally sure where it's going. I feel it's quite 'on trend' for the present moment, despite being written in 1976: Donul (born 'Alexandra') eschews her feminine identity altogether and works hard to become a boy (this following rejection and consequential abandonment by an unloving mother when she was born a girl; being raised primarily by a spiteful, gossiping old b*tch of a housekeeper, who constantly judges and labels and derides her (and everyone else - a toxic female for sure); and only really feeling accepted by an elderly shepherd and his bachelor son who tend to Donul's absent Canadian father's lands).
Thanks to the toxic femininity surrounding her, she also grows up believing herself to be a 'changeling', and, tragically, like ALL CHILDREN, takes to her heart all judgments passed on her by other adults. The poor child is even incapable of tears, she is so broken and unloved, and believes this to be further proof of her fairy-folk origins (as well as the coincidental(?) effects of an unfortunate schoolyard incident). Three-quarters of the way through this book, and we are still not 100% sure if Donul is, in some way, in possession of supernatural powers or enchantment, or if it's simply a result of the worldview of a totally neglected and abused child.
Either way, Donul's personality and development (such as it is) is captivating. I especially like the negative portrayal of the female characters in this book, written by a female author. Without spoiling anything, female characters who are only referred to (i.e. the mothers of others, or the shunned resident midwife/witch) are shown to have positive characteristics and are generally encouraging, loving, supportive, etc. But not those women in Donul's life - even the young, female university students sent to help mind her are described as distracted and impatient.
I suppose I ought to save the rest for my review of Beyond the Boundary, but already I am a fan of Agnes Charlotte Stewart. She seems to me to be someone who can see the world as it is, rather than as it should be. There aren't many people who seem comfortable with challenging the notion that all mothers are loving, all middle-aged females tender and broody. I have to say that I, like Donul, have unfortunately been saddled with a good number of cold, cruel and genuinely unloving females in my young life, and while it's lovely and hopeful to see affectionate, loving and good mothers or ersatz-mother figures represented in literature, it's also very reassuring to read about the sort of people I have experienced, and the consequences of those toxic types. I'll save more for the proper review, but Stewart seems to understand the effects of every word said or not said, actions taken or withheld, on the development of malleable young persons. Stewart revisits the 'abandoning mother' theme in Silas And Con, and Dark Dove has a 'dour father'. She seems to be an author who understands emotionally unavailable (or downright abusive and cruel) parents, with insight on the outcomes for the children.
Agnes Charlotte Stewart a.k.a. A. C. Stewart has written at least these other eight books, possibly more:
Ossian House - 1976: An eleven-year-old city dweller inherits his grandfather's estate in Scotland where he must deal with hostile cousins and his own knowledge of the land's history. (NB: There's a footnote in Beyond the Boundary mentioning that the old Covenanter's cottage employed in that book is also featured in Ossian House)
Falcon's Crag - 1969: Biddy and her brother visit their uncle at Cragengill and discover that he is faced with having to sell the house and its lands. which have been in their family for centuries (possibly republished as "Biddy Grant of Craigengill" A. C. Stewart (Blackie, 1979), or possibly this is a sequel some 10 years later?)
Brother Raimon Returns - 1978
Silas And Con - 1977: A ten-year-old boy, abandoned by his mother and abusive stepfather, sets out through the wilds of northwest Scotland to seek a new life for himself with only a stray dog as a companion
The Boat in the Reeds (Blackie 1960): A nine-year-old boy finds an old boat and keeps it a secret until he meets a mysterious man who seems to know all about boats and how to repair them
Elizabeth's Tower (S.G. Phillips, 1972): Unpopular with her aunt and cousin because she always knows how things should be done, a young girl finds friendship and understanding with a lame stranger she meets in the woods
The Quarry Line Mystery, (Faber&Faber 1971; MacMillan, 1975): Through an afternoon's misadventure riding trains, a young English boy stumbles on a mystery involving a disappearing freight train
Dark Dove - 1974: In northwestern Scotland sixteen-year-old Margaret tries to cope with her dour father and the problems connected with his premonitions of disaster.
OpenLibrary: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL64547...
Wandering star (Hale, 1981)
-
Agnes Charlotte Stewart's books on OpenLibrary: https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL439...
A. C. Stewart's books on OpenLibrary: https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL171...