Quicksilver

The Boy With No Skid to His Wheel

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Pages: 387

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About this book

A toddler splashing in a roadside pool draws the attention of a farming couple on a Devon lane. His rough travelling companion claims him, carries him onwards and eventually reaches a workhouse. This uneasy opening gives George Manville Fenn's children's novel a sharp contrast between the child's trust and the judgments adults make from appearances.

Later scenes follow Dexter as he struggles with lessons under Mr Limpney and tries to explain his failures to the doctor. His complaint that his brains are too slippery to hold knowledge catches both his distress and the story's humour. Hoping for Helen Grayson's sympathy, he instead meets Maria's sharp words and heads towards the garden and river. The book's interest lies in these small encounters between a lively child and adults who demand better behaviour. Readers can follow its treatment of friendship, discipline and the need to be understood through a boy's everyday troubles.