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JEMIMA by Oriel Malet

JEMIMA

By

Pub Date: Oct. 16th, 1952
Publisher: Little, Brown

17 year old Jemina Dean's summer in Paris not only cuts her loose from the schoolgirl and family world she had known but also enables her to grow out of her childish dependence. Dismissed from Cranleigh Towers because of her parents' long and scandalous divorce proceedings, Jemina is handed over to Mrs. Emma Marchant for a season at the Pension Villemerin together with Candace Brown, daughter of an archeologist. The girls find a friend in Frederick, nephew of a countess, and have their stay brightened by Villemarin's daughter, Ciella, and her playmate and relative, Didi. Jemina is the means by which Mrs. Marchant's proposed marriage to Villemarin is successfully averted. But when she turns for help to Grandmother and her loyal companion, the unbending Dixon, for permission to stay on -- and win Frederick -- time is her enemy and as her heart is breaking when Frederick goes off with Candaca, Dixon arrives -- a dependable, staunch comforter. Engagingly artless and delightful in its characters, this gives a quiet credulity to youth and its yearnings.