Violet Needham Quotes

“When Laurette is left an orphan and taken to live with her rich, surly guardian, Count Schillinger, the one really precious possession that she takes with her is a white china peacock that belonged to her scientist father.”

“Laurette finds her guardian a fierce, lonely man, with only one great desire in life. This is to discover a mysterious formula that would make him, as he tells her, ‘master of the world’.”

“It is only gradually that Laurette discovers how her precious white peacock could help him in his search. ”

“At her new home there is a real white peacock who preens himself on the terrace, as well as everything else, ponies, party frocks, pearl necklaces, that the Count can think of to spoil her with.”

“What happens when she reveals her secret, how she is involved with plots about which she never guessed, and how she is helped and befriended by some of the delightful characters who come into earlier books..”

“She shook her head, ‘I can’t go without my parcel,’ she said. ‘Did Clara perhaps put it in the trunk for you?’ ‘No, but I can’t go without it.’ She ran upstairs again and soon came back clasping a wooden box tied up with knotted string like the trunk.”

“They had gone upstairs in a lift though they only ascended one story and Mrs. Rachel told Laurette down a long passage; at the end of it she turned right and opened a door. The room that Laurette was shown into was furnished with chintz curtains and covers..”

“Laurette’s sobs subsided as with deft hands Philippine disentangled the mop of dark hair and brushed it till it shone. ‘Lovely hair you’ve got,’ the girl commented, ‘so thick and soft. Now you’d better bathe your eyes so’s no one will see you’ve been crying.”

“That’s all right. Come and make the acquaintance of the white peacock.′ ‘I’ve met him before.’ His eyebrows lifted in surprise. ‘Indeed,’ he said, ‘when?’ ‘Yesterday. I got lost there,’ she pointed to the wooded slopes of the hill..

“The chief characters are twins, a boy and girl of eleven, christened Giles and Gillian Alvington but called Jack and Gill. ”

“They were orphaned when they were six, and the death of their grandmother is the cause of their moving from a cramped existence in London to the enjoyment of all the pleasures of life in a country house.”

“The house is named Merlyns and it has been in the family for many generations. It is said to be cursed, and the story of the curse is bound up in the loss of an ivory horn.”

“Certainly the latter history of the Alvingtons seems to prove the truth of the old story of a curse. But it is also said that on Midsummer Eve ‘twain shall the magic Horn retrieve,’ and this is what the twins accomplish.”

“The story is about eleven-year-old twins who are sent to stay with their aunt and uncle in an old country house called Merylns. It’s a lovely place, but not a happy one; their uncle suffered a terrible tragedy, and their Aunt is disabled.”

“Jack spends most of the year in school; Gill slowly settles in, and gets to know an eclectic mixture of local people, as well as learning about the history of the house, which includes a missing horn and a strange curse...”

“I found myself quickly drawn into the story, feeling for Gill as she explored her new environment nervously, expecting constant reproofs or worse, puzzled when she is shown kindness.”

“All in all, a very enjoyable book. Written as contemporary fiction in 1943, it gives a nice picture of everyday life in the countryside in the war years.”

“A grand country house that lies under a curse, a prophecy, twin children who set out to find the lost horn and break the curse.”

“Orphaned young, they have lived with their rather strict grandmother for some years, repeatedly told that their father’s side of the family are unpleasant people who dislike them.”