PASSING THE BATON

Tamsin Holroyd, Librarian, Sherborne Prep

Queenie by Jacqueline Wilson, Illustrated by Nick Sharratt (Yearling 2013)

It’s 1953 and Nan and Elsie are desperately saving up, dreaming of going to London on Coronation Day. They have their hearts set on standing close to Westminster Abbey on 2nd June. Their aspiration is to catch a glimpse of Queen Elizabeth II and her golden coach the moment they pass by. Sadly these plans, along with their domestic harmony, are scuppered by illness. Both Nan and Elsie have TB and are sent to different hospitals to be cured.

The young Queen’s golden coach becomes one of several clever tropes neatly woven through the novel: ‘Nan had already bought me a little gilt replica with tiny white horses. I’d drive it along the carpet and across the sideboard and up and down the walls, imagining a weeny Queen being tossed about inside, squealing as if she was on a roller coaster.’

Queenie, the eponymous cat, progresses from a comforting presence on Elsie’s hospital bed to a full-blown talking anthropomorphic central character with a mind of her own. Nurse Gabriel, another of Elsie’s champions who gives us hope, is similarly aptly named.

To me, Elsie’s story is a shining tribute to grandmothers – capturing the very essence of pure, unconditional love and understanding, the joyful appreciation that is specific to the liminal meeting place of young and old at the beginning and end of their lives, Nan is as much the story’s heroine as Elsie is. When Nan was nine was she like Elsie? It is Nan’s voice that echoes in Elsie’s last words.

When the doctor says ‘Hello, hello, hello... And who have we here?’ Nurse Patterson tells him, ‘We’ve got Elsie Kettle and she’s a right handful.’ Despite adversity (such as being perennially bullied and perpetually let down by her shockingly self-centred mother) poor little Elsie is no victim. Her irrepressible spirit and vivid imagination create the backbone of this book. Love of story, love for Nan, and a richer than Croesus interior life see her through, making Elsie a resilient, indomitable heroine.

The period is evoked authentically (‘bread and dripping’, ‘cascara and carbolic’, ‘The Dandy and The Eagle’, and ‘Spangles and Fry’s Five Boys Bars’) and we are reminded of the charm of old-fashioned vocabulary in general. ‘Fret’ and ‘weep’ are less alarming, gentler versions of ‘worry’ and ‘cry’.

Although Jacqueline Wilson tells of the grand themes of life, the mood is elevated by her trademark levity of touch. The drama is there but it lies lightly beneath the surface.

Placing King Charles’ Coronation in context, this story about the last Coronation, 70 years ago, is the perfect book to read this month whether you are Elsie’s or Nan’s age.

In the afterword, Elsie writes to us from 2013, the year this book was published, anticipating 6th May 2023 by having the last say ‘I have my own little granddaughter now. I wonder if I’ll ever get to take her to see a King on his Coronation Day?’ sherborneprep.org

And so life comes full circle.