Four and a half stars, with a half star off for all the French--I quite enjoyed it and I think even those who don't speak any French would be able to follow the plot, but it might be off-putting for some. York and Bogarde did eventually appear together some years later in the spy comedy-drama Sebastian, released in 1968).

She and her three sisters and a brother are taken abroad for the first time in their lives, mother disappears into the local hospital with septicaemia following a horsefly bite, older sis laid low by The Curse, and the four other children are vaguely 'looked after' by various members of staff or guests of the hotel on the banks of the Marne. Madame Courbet refuses to have a sick patient under her roof, and is not keen on the idea of assuming responsibility for the children. Under the veneer of languid summers and the joys of new experiences, run currents of darkness with hints of violence, death, sinister happenings. Who did what in the war, who collaborated, or hid secrets, or profited from others’ misery are still topics of gossip and shame.

the main and supporting characters were irresistibly showcased > especially the endearing five English children….

If you enjoyed Rumer Godden’s An Episode of Sparrows, you will find The Greengage Summer a sheer delight.

Coming from the streets and small front gardens of Southstone, we had not been let loose in an orchard before; it was no wonder we ate too much. Their mother, realizing how circumspect their lives had been in the usual drab watering places where she had taken them on vacations, did a most unpredictable thing. But as these warm days of freedom, discovery, and adolescent adventure unfold, Eliot’s interest becomes more and more focused on the eldest of the Grey children, sixteen-year-old daughter Joss. I loved the narrator's intelligence and insight into the many characters and events which evolved rather slowly. For instance, the emotional situation here is clear to the children–they recognize the love triangles within triangles, though the underlying personal histories of the lovers are not always clear.