SWISS HOLIDAY

by Mabel Esther Allan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 1957

**Few authors writing for adolescents show the respect for their readers' intelligence that Mabel Esther Allan does. A British writer, she achieves a synthesis of scene, romance, characterization which is poetic, ironic and observant. Furthermore in the story of Philipa Wynward, a girl from a middle class London family who needs money for her studies at Cambridge, we meet a credible heroine, who finds romance. The author closes the story with the implication that later the romance may develop into serious committal. She achieves a wholesome balance by neither overemphasizing the importance of the attraction Philipa feels for Timothy Randal nor underestimating her heroine's determination to continue her education. Philipa takes advantage of a chance at a Swiss holiday when Aunt Millicent Hamlin, a patronizing upper-class matron asks her to look after the Hamlin children, Clemency, beautiful, almost 18, her mother's darling, Gay and Gordon, rebellious, troublesome nuisances and Tilda, the awkward poetic girl who enters adolescence overshadowed completely by Clemency's grace and beauty. Philipa's adjustment to a more privileged milieu is interwoven with incidents of conflict and danger in the pastoral peace and crystal altitudes of Switzerland and its resorts. Carefully wrought, and in style a little reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier.

Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1957

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Vanguard

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1957

Categories: FICTION