THE PATH THROUGH THE TREES

by Christopher Milne ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 31, 1979

If Christopher Robin Milne's childhood memoir, The Enchanted Places (1975), was read largely because of the associations with A. A. Milne and Winnie-the-Pooh, this second volume of autobiography will be read and loved entirely for the younger Milne himself. Nearly the first half of Milne's ""escape from Christopher Robin"" is devoted to his five years (age 20 to 25) of WW II service--as a ""Sapper"" with the Royal Engineers in North Africa and Italy. And, while not remarkably different in content from other young-soldier reminiscences--the horrors, the growing-up, the game-like unreality (especially when clearing land mines)--Milne's leisurely sorting-out has a particular openness to natural beauties (Vesuvius erupting, the desert in bloom) and human ironies: ""When my corporal, Bob Whalley, was hit in the throat and collapsed on top of me and bled to death all over me, what struck me as interesting was that even in his dying gasp, 'oh, oh, oh,' I could still detect his North Country accent."" Powerful, mused-over memories. But it is in postwar years, when the gauche veteran returns to England and casts about for a career, that the book takes on a distinctive, quirky allure. Briefly, disastrously employed in furniture-selling and such, Christopher--now briskly partnered by wife Lesley--decides to choose a road less traveled, far from the scenes of his father's triumphs and without benefit of his father's fortune: opening a very special bookstore in the West-coast town of Dartmouth. Milne is at his best here: the rigorous joys of a build-it-all-yourself business; the practical arts of book-selling; the expansion into tasteful sidelines--gifts, second-hand books (a trade made too unpleasant by dealers), prints, framing, and exquisite greeting cards (not ""stationer's cards!""). And only with the greatest grace and plainspoken tenderness does he introduce : his nearly helpless, spastic daughter Clare, for whom he designs and crafts a world of elegant furniture and utensils to add beauty and ease to her limited life. Slightly less captivating are Milne's reflections on town and country life and a rather longwinded explication of his very straightforward religious belief in Nature; and there's a tendency here and there toward over-delicate expression that some U.S. readers will find a bit soggy. But everyone who loves books or seaside towns or gentle people will share at least some of Milne's infectious, thoughtful enthusiasm for the rich, small-scale life he has made while running away from Christopher Robin; yes, even those who've never heard of Eeyore and couldn't care less about the House at Pooh Corner.

Pub Date: Aug. 31, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1979

Categories: NONFICTION