Moondial (Faber Children's Classics)

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And, again - who was Miss Raven and what truly was her objective? With just that little bit more, this book could have had full marks from me. Regardless, I did enjoy it, and will probably gladly reread it at some point. And I will read further works by this author, time and availability permitting. :)

Books by Helen Cresswell (Author of Moondial) - Goodreads

I have a vague recollection of being 7 years old, coming home from school and watching a terrfying kid's tv show in which a young girl with a birthmark on her face cannot look in a mirror for fear she'll summon the devil. I knew there was a sundial central to the story, but didn't know much else about it - and couldn't find anyone else who remembered it, until I met Alysa. The moondial, for example, is the central device from which all the twists and turns of the story and furiously stoked, but do we ever find out how or why it does what it does? Like hell we do! Okay, there's a brief discussion between Minty and World about 'moontime', which attempts to broach the subject but this is sadly smothered by vague notions. And Miss Raven's appearance in the modern day is an exciting twist, but, Regarded as a nostalgic favourite by followers of 1980s BBC children's drama, Moondial employs extensive location filming (in the grounds of Belton House in Lincolnshire) and fantastical, dreamlike imagery.The narrative both in the novel and the adaptation doesn’t offer a clear resolution or straight-forward explanations and appears to deliberately leave us with a fair degree of ambiguity. Even director Colin Cant admits being puzzled by the scripts and having to explore their meaning further.

Moondial’ - Lincolnshire Life Belton House and ‘Moondial’ - Lincolnshire Life

In her autobiography, Helen wrote ‘I played with words as other children play with Lego’. Her play with words began with poetry at age 6, later producing around 100 children’s stories including Moondial. After becoming a teacher, she returned to writing in 1963. Helen wrote early in the morning, with a pot of tea beside her. She would sit on the floor and write in a large plain book, with ‘real pens and real ink’. When writing Moondial, as with other timeless fantasies, she used a white pen with sepia ink. After writing between 500 and 3,000 words, she would then type up her work, while it was fresh in her mind. Helen never edited the content once it was written. The book is short, and the plot is simple, but it's a beautifully mysterious and atmospheric read, with a big dollop of nostalgia in it for me. Belton is a real house, and the Moondial of the story is a real thing in the grounds, so I think one day I'm going to have to visit and see it.This story follows the saga of Araminta (or Minty for short), who has discovered she has a strange talent for seeing ghosts. After her mother is involved in a car accident, Minty is sent to stay in the country with an elderly Aunt who lives on the grounds of an old stately home now open to the public. Whilst staying with her Aunt, Minty befriends a local groundskeeper called World who informs her that she must help the past residents of the home find peace as they are lost souls. Minty meets these residents through some form of ghostly vortex which is triggered by the garden sundial that only seems to work in moonlight. These residents include a young stable hand by the name of Tom and a former resident with an unfortunate birthmark who spends her days hiding and her nights being taunted by neighbourhood children. The introduction of a sinister local ghost hunter with multiple personalities through time adds drama and a twist ending to this book. It features children from three different time periods – Minty of the 1980s, Tom from the 1860s and Sarah from the 1770s. Moondial, a ‘time shift within a time shift’ centres around the sundial in the gardens of Belton House. As 2017 marks the thirtieth anniversary of Moondial, an exhibition loaned by the Cresswell family has been on show in Belton House’s library. A legacy of Helen’s book is the Moondial Trail which she worked on with the Learning and Community officer at Belton House. The trail begins in the west courtyard, going through the entrance into the garden. School parties are encouraged to use their senses along the trail. Standing on the north terrace the path to the sundial lies ahead. Going through the church gate the trail reaches the icy corner of the tower and Tom’s headstone, before going onto the Orangery and the fountain in the pool of the Italian garden. This trail helps children experience the garden as the author and Minty did. I recognised Helen Cresswell's name as writing the screenwriter for the excellent BBC adaptation of The Demon Headmaster so was interested to find out she had written some fiction for children. When Minty is taken by her mother, Kate, to stay with her aunt in Belton, she has no reservations. Living with a mum who is so busy with work that her daughter is almost independent, Minty sees this trip as an adventure of sorts and hopes that something exciting will happen when she explores the grounds of Belton House: a stately home which he aunt lives across home. Perhaps she'll see ghosts!