'Passionately, as other children collect shells, stamps or bus tickets, Judith collected kind words and kind looks dropped by Mother.'
Twelve-year-old Judith has been brought up in Europe by her mother, governess and highbrow uncles and aunts. She's had her hand held all the way through life - even though that hand has often been cold and distant. Now she's about to board a plane to England all alone to visit the father who abandoned her . . .
Although instead of despising her distant father, Judith finds she really likes him. He treats her as an adult, his side of the family seem to enjoy her company and she finally receives the appreciation she's always craved from her mother. But is he really as wonderful as he seems?
Carnegie Medal winning author Noel Streatfield navigates through complicated family issues in this perceptive coming of age novel, Judith. Mary Noel Streatfeild was born in Sussex in 1895. She was one of five children born to the Anglican Bishop of Lewes and found vicarage life very restricting. During World War One, Noel and her siblings volunteered in hospital kitchens and put on plays to support war charities, which is where she discovered her talent on stage. She studied at RADA to pursue a career in the theatre and after ten years as an actress turned her attention to writing adult and children's fiction. Her experiences in the arts heavily influenced her writing, most notably her famous children's story Ballet Shoes which won a Carnegie Medal and was awarded an OBE in 1983. Noel Streatfeild died in 1986. Twelve-year-old Judith reunites with her forgotten father in this striking and perceptive novel by Noel Streatfeild, the author of Ballet Shoes.
