Six to Sixteen

Two girls on the Yorkshire moors decide to write the stories of their own lives in Juliana Horatia Ewing's novel of childhood and family life. Eleanor believes that an honest account of a mind growing from childhood can be valuable. Her companion has already burned most of her embarrassing childhood diaries, but one surviving volume gives them material to revisit together. Their project takes shape within a household of shared hobbies and lively teasing with the boys.

The schoolroom scenes bring the girls' different habits of thought into focus. Eleanor searches for explanations of other people's behavior and insists on considering more than one side of a grievance, while Emma turns that habit into a joke. Drawing lessons expose another side of Eleanor: her questions about Mr. Henley's repeated colors are sharp enough to make her cleverness feel aggressive. The surviving diary, everyday disagreements, and observations of adults offer readers a close look at how these girls think about themselves and those around them.