This is one of the sequels to Exile for Annis, set at the Farm School which is one of several unconventional fictional schools inspired by Summerhill School. The school has expanded, and amongst the new pupils are Hans and Johanna, two children brought from Germany to Britain on what we now call the Kindertransport. Both they and the other new pupils initially struggle to fit into life at the Farm School, and, whilst of course everyone settles in in the end, what happens is quite interesting and thought-provoking.
The timing with the Kindertransport’s actually a bit out, because they arrive at the start of the 1938/39 academic year, three months before the transports began. That can be forgiven, though. The book was published in 1940 and, with most children’s authors either writing spy stories or ignoring the war and the build-up to war, this book, with its focus on refugees, would have been something different.
We see contrasting attitudes from the children. Johanna is happy and grateful to be in Britain, but Hans is initially suspicious of the British due to hearing Great War stories whilst growing up; and, the children being from a wealthy family, he resents the fact that they no longer live in a big house with servants and luxuries. That’s very interesting. It’s not unrealistic that a child might have felt like that, but I think that an author today would be afraid to present a refugee in a negative way for fear of a backlash, even though it’s explained that Hans is reacting like this because he’s afraid and unsettled and struggling to come to terms with what has happened to him and his family..
Meanwhile, Annis has been elected as the first female president of the school. The book is very supportive of women’s rights: Annis learns to drive, and insists that girls should be allowed to play whatever sports they like. We also see that several female former pupils have gone on to university, and that Annis herself is hoping to go to Cambridge, to study sciences. We also get arguments in favour of food and drink using only natural ingredients, with mutterings about not wanting beer produced in test tubes: that again seems like a very modern view in a book from over 80 years ago. Comments about “peasants” and “gippos” are more dated. I’m not trying to judge the book by today’s standards, just interested in the views on these issues, especially given what an “in” topic women’s sport, in particular, is at the moment.
Other than Annis, no-one actually seems to do very much schoolwork! They’re either doing farmwork, learning to ride, watching hop-pickers or playing sport. Very little time seems to be spent in lessons, something which the new pupils find strange and objectionable. To be fair, people with exams coming up are excused from some of the farmwork, but they still seem to do an awful lot of it. But then there’s trouble when some of the new kids don’t want to get stuck in.
Of course, everyone eventually decides that the school is wonderful, but I’m not sure how realistic it is that people would have sailed through external exams after so little preparation. And there’s a happy ending for Hans and Johanna. But it’s not a simplistic book: there’s a lot in it to make the reader think. The idea in a lot of Girls’ Own books is that everyone should learn to fit in and subjugate their own interests to the common good, but, using beehives as a metaphor, Annis suggests that that would be like living in a totalitarian state, and makes it clear that a balance has to be found between personal interests and group interests. But that’s easier said than done: they run into trouble with packing the apples because there are no rules about it and not enough kids volunteer. But then is it OK to miss group work to pursue, say, a talent for art?
It’s a very interesting book, which goes a lot deeper than some school stories do. Of course, all turns out well in the end, but it takes a while to get there.
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