Nina Bawden Quotes

“She stopped. Old Rowland owned the firm Father worked for. Poll had seen him once. He was a short, stout man with a barrel-shaped belly and a red jolly face. He had said, ‘So this is your little maid, James. Pretty-Poll,’ pinched her cheek, rather rad, and given her sixpence.”

“Set in the 1900s it tells the story of one family life when they are thrust into poverty when the man of the house ups and leaves for a year.. ”

“It’s a little story of a family that is set around the turn of the century. The father has to leave his job abruptly and decides to pursue a new career in America. The mother and four children are left in England, staying with two elderly aunts, while the father gets settled.”

“The pig Johnny was very smart and acted like a dog. As the pig got older, he was not as active, and like older pets, he just hung around eating and sleeping.”

“When the Greengrasses move from London to rural Norfolk, mischievous nine-year-old Polly acquires a runt piglet, whose rapid growth and uncontrollable antics surpass even Polly’s expectations”

“Johnny the pig started off as a family pet for a poor girl Emily. The pig was the runt of the litter and no one wanted him. He was given to Emily who treated him as a pet even though the understanding was that he would eventually be eaten.”

“For this poor family who owed many bills, the animal was a luxury that they couldn’t afford. Emily comes home from school one day and Johnny is not there. ”

“Emily Greengrass was very good at telling stories. Most of her best ones were about the town in Norfolk were she was born and lived until she grew up and married James Greengrass and moved into London.”

“Poll and Theo enjoyed dreadful tales because their own lives were so comfortable: nothing dreadful had ever happened to them, nor ever seemed likely to. How could it?”

″ He was sent to the butcher’s as payment for a bill. It was devastating to her and also to me. ”