The Boys and I

Audrey looks back from the age of fourteen on a troubling year she shared with her younger brothers, Tom and Racey. Recovering from measles, she overhears a conversation that turns a happy family evening into a source of worry. Her father's work requires him to go to China, and her mother must accompany him. Mrs. Molesworth tells this children's novel through Audrey's lively recollections, with their sudden digressions, private guesses and careful explanations of family habits.

In London, the three children bring ingenuity to an ordinary tea. With thick slices of bread, scraps of string and the fireplace tools, they devise a way to make toast, then struggle to divide the remaining slices fairly. Mrs. Partridge's arrival interrupts their delight in the buttery results. Such small domestic scenes give the story its humour and immediacy. Readers can enjoy the practical schemes and sibling conversation while following Audrey's efforts to understand adult decisions and describe her own feelings.