GeraniumCat – I so agree about her writing! As well as being interesting, it’s so very individual – you’d never mistake her writing for anyone else’s! I always wonder how she thought to write that way, or if that was just how her brain went.

You know what I loved (as a kid) about Godden’s doll books? I loved how the children had parental-type power over the dolls. The dolls were as impotent as children are; all they could do was hope and wish that their “girls” would intuit and meet their needs. When Nona and Elizabeth and Clementine began caring for their dolls, it made ME feel powerful; I loved how little girls could make the world right for their helpless dolls.