Tom's Midnight Garden
by Philippa Pearce
Puffin, £4.99

Philippa Pearce, who died last month, produced more than 30 books, but will be most remembered for the children’s novel Tom’s Midnight Garden, which won the 1959 Carnegie Medal.

When Tom is exiled from home because his brother has measles, he stays with his aunt and uncle, who live in a house converted into flats in a crowded and ugly Fenland town. “It’s not worth your while going out the back,” they tell Tom, “there’s a sort of backyard, very poky, with rubbish bins.”

In the hall, with a laundry box and empty milk bottles, is a grandfather clock, belonging to old Mrs Bartholomew, who lives on the attic floor. The face keeps perfect time, but the pendulum strikes at random, much to the irritation of Tom’s uncle. One sleepless night, Tom hears it strike 13 and creeps down to investigate. In the dark hall, he opens the back door to let in the moonlight. He slides back the bolt, and sees . . . a great lawn, a tall fir tree, thick yews, a big greenhouse, and a path twisting enticingly away across the green.

Night after night, in the secret hour after midnight, Tom returns to the garden. He sees Abel the gardener tending the asparagus beds and saying grace after each of his lunchtime sandwiches. He climbs trees and observes the seasons — summer in full bloom one day, wintry frost lacing the trees the next. He watches Edgar, James and Hubert as they play. And, most important of all, he meets Hatty, the boys’ cousin.

At children’s level, the book is about escape and adventure. But it is also a profound meditation on time, grief and desire for all the lost days that glimmer still in memory. When Tom is due to return home, he cannot find the door to the garden. He cries out in horror, calling

for Hatty. But Mrs Harriet Bartholomew hears him, and they recognise each other across the years.

As Tom departs, to his aunt’s amazement, he runs back and “he put his arms right round her, and he hugged her good-bye as if she were a little girl”.



MARGARET REYNOLDS

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