Advent Calendar 3 - Monica Edwards: Storm Ahead

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I asked over on my Facebook page for suggestions for the Advent Calendar, so thank you very  much indeed to Sue Atkins, without whom this would certainly have passed me by. It's funny what you remember of a book - to me, Monica Edwards' Storm Ahead is the storm, the village hall and the shocked, sodden victims of the flood and the shipwreck, and Tamzin's epic ride to fetch the doctor for Lindsey.

At the end of the book, when the village is beginning to emerge from the aftermath of the storm, Tamzin, Lindsey and Diccon are given the task of going to Hastings and buying toys for the children of the victims of the flood. Donations have been flooding in, and there is £50 specially for present buying.

It's a wonderful scene, beautifully illustrated by Geoffrey Whittam:

"The whole place was lavishly decorated for Christmas, with paper-chains, holly, mistletoe and ivy, and silver bells. Down at the far end was a towering frosted Christmas tree, as hung with toys and baubles as the holly was with scarlet berries. Everywhere you looked were toys, and more toys....The colour of them all together was so uproarious that it almost shouted at you, and Tamzin and Lindsey stood in the doorway with Diccon for a brief half-minute to get accustomed to the dazzle and the riot. Then Diccon bolted down the room. He had seen the grand display of electric trains...
"Well!" said Tamzin, coming to earth next. "Perhaps we'd better find an assistant and make a start somewhere. Though where on earth to start in all this-"

Comments

Anne Rogers said…
I absolutely love Storm Ahead, and along with Hidden in a Dream it's my favourite of Monica Edwards; books.
8 December 2015 at 13:35
Anonymous said…
I've only just got around to reading your Advent calendar of books.
The end of Storm Ahead is one of my favourite Christmassy reads. Not just the trip to Hastings, but the delivery of the presents, with Cascade's trap piled high. Magic.
12 December 2015 at 07:58
Jane Badger said…
The whole thing is lovely, isn't it? I think the Cascade scene is a shoe-in for next year.
15 December 2015 at 12:23
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