Chapters from Childhood » (REVISED)

Enchanting Edwardian memoir by Ford Madox Ford's gifted but forgotten sister, Juliet Soskice.

Publishers Weekly

Turtle Point has unearthed a luminous literary and historical treasure that was first published in 1921 to rave reviews. Soskice (nee Hueffer) was Ford Madox Ford's younger sister; Christina, William Michael and Dante Gabriel Rossetti's niece; and the granddaughter of another famed pre-Raphaelite painter, Ford Madox Brown. This intimate, simply told memoir captures the vital pre-adolescent years of a spirited girl on a universal quest. She searches for something to believe in because ``believing in nothing at all is like walking up a long staircase with no bannisters to hold on to.'' Delightfully willful and curious, the young narrator questions everything that she doesn't understand as she tries to make sense of the world and find her place in it. Her naivete only widens her perspective and gives her the wherewithal to see through the stifling institutions trying to mold her. Her beloved relationship with her grandfather is the focal point of her strength even after his death. As Juliet moves from one home to another, she also unknowingly opens our eyes to the politics, religion and position of women in her time. (June)