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A review by mat_tobin
An Enemy at Green Knowe by L.M. Boston
4.0
Far darker than its predecessors, Enemy sees the holiday return of both Ping and Tolly to Green Knowe and its guardian, Mrs. Oldknow. Shortly after arriving, a letter is arrives from a Dr. Melanie Powers who shows an unhealthy interest in a dark secret buried within Green Knowe: that of an occultist who, centuries before, had summoned something horrific into this world and paid the price with his soul. The Dr wishes to explore the house in the hope of unearthing any of the occultist’s texts for ‘historical and cultural research’. So begins the most uncomfortable and invasive story of Green Knowe yet with the most unnerving villain in children’s literature.
From those I have spoken to, there are mixed opinions on this book. Is is too dark for children? Does it go against the spirit of the earlier books? But this is Boston’s story to tell and if anyone is the patron of this world it is her. The more I reflect on her books the more I wonder if she is contemplating and perhaps impressing the concerns of her time and her place (Hemingford Grey) on the narrative world. The threat to Green Knowe this time is unrelenting and no longer lies beyond the Manor but in its floorboards and oakbeams to the point where I could not see how the boys could overcome this dark shadow. It is the objects of Green Knowe, again, that help us to see the ‘truth’ of the place and know it and a special mirror which proves all important.
There is much to consider here. I need to go back and read it carefully whilst, perhaps, finding out more about the author herself. ‘'What's thought cannot be unthought' says the necromancer, Dr. Vogel. I wonder then what thoughts would not leave Boston when she wrote this.
From those I have spoken to, there are mixed opinions on this book. Is is too dark for children? Does it go against the spirit of the earlier books? But this is Boston’s story to tell and if anyone is the patron of this world it is her. The more I reflect on her books the more I wonder if she is contemplating and perhaps impressing the concerns of her time and her place (Hemingford Grey) on the narrative world. The threat to Green Knowe this time is unrelenting and no longer lies beyond the Manor but in its floorboards and oakbeams to the point where I could not see how the boys could overcome this dark shadow. It is the objects of Green Knowe, again, that help us to see the ‘truth’ of the place and know it and a special mirror which proves all important.
There is much to consider here. I need to go back and read it carefully whilst, perhaps, finding out more about the author herself. ‘'What's thought cannot be unthought' says the necromancer, Dr. Vogel. I wonder then what thoughts would not leave Boston when she wrote this.