SUMMARY, by Begoña Devis
I
think the author uses the stone as a symbol of the feelings that the
protagonist has when, through it, she makes friends with Madeleine.
She
is surely a girl who goes unnoticed, she is not in the popular group of girls,
and that is why she admires Madeleine. «I’m smart but she’s blonde», she says
at one point, feeling adoration for her.
She
admires too how Madeleine dances, sings, and even how she cheats her, stealing
the Eggy Stone from her pocket. Surely he also admires her courage when she
goes out at night to the boys’ tents to kiss them, when she is incapable of
doing such a thing. Being friends with Madeleine makes her feel special,
deserving of being in the group of the lovely girls.
That
is why, when he sees Madeleine throwing the Eggy Stone, his plans to keep their
friendship go up in smoke. When she says she’ll never be able to find a stone
like that, what she really means is that she’ll never feel again like the
special girl that she has been for that one week.
TESSA HADLEY
She was born in 1956 in Bristol, on the East Coast of
England.
Her father was a teacher and an amateur jazz trumpeter,
and her mother, an amateur artist.
She studied to be a teacher and worked as a teacher
until she decided to form a family. Then she had three children.
When she was 37 she decided to study for a Master of Arts
at the Bath Spa University, where she dedicated her time specially to the works
of Katherine Mansfield, Elisabeth Bowen and Jean Rhys. Then, at 41, she started
to teach creative writing at the same university.
Her first novel, Accidents in the Home, written
while she was bringing up a family, was published when she was 46.
As a part of her studies, he wrote a book about Henry
James. So, James, together with the authoress mentioned above, are her
principal influences.
From the issue of her first novel, she has gone on
publishing novels and short stories collections. Her last novel is Free Love.
Her stories are usually realistic, situated away from
London, and her characters belong to the middle classes. She tends to focus the
plots on the family relationships and on women. It’s remarkable her
psychological insight.
She has won several awards and she is a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Literature.
QUESTIONS
What do you remember of your camps / holiday homes?
The boys began throwing pebbles in the sea; the girls
looked for treasures. Is there something biological in our constitutions that
make boys to do different things from girls? Or is it sociological?
They touched fingers: Is physical contact always a
prelude of something?
Situations can change friendships: do you have a
literary or personal example?
When you were at school, where did you use to sit
down? Were the ranks in alphabetical order or the teacher gave you your places,
or you could choose your desk?
When can an object be a special thing (souvenir,
memory, idol, talisman…)?
Do you remember any curious / invented rhyme from your
childhood?
What do you know about Gargantua and Pantagruel?
Why do you thing Madeline wouldn’t go on with the
narrator’s friendship?
VOCABULARY
rim, seaweed, sealed, daintily, felts, plantains, by
rote, skipping rhymes, yearned, filching, bond, trailing, tepid, foam, publicity,
constipation, netball
