Title: No Lily-Livered Girl
Author: Phyllis Johnston
Series: The May series, book 4
Major Themes: Sewing, Dressmaking, New Zealand
Synopsis: After moving to town from the farm in the King Country, May became a dressmaker for several years and learned what it was like to live in a big city as World War I began.
Several years ago, we read the book No One Went to Town, and enjoyed those stories of pioneer life in New Zealand. Last year, I came across No Lily-Livered Girl, and realized it was number four in a series of five books following May Tarrant, the main character of that first one—and that we either had or could borrow all of them! So, I decided it was time to read the entire series together.
Publisher’s description:
No Lily-Livered Girl is the story of four years in the life of May Tarrant. At fourteen, in 1912, she is apprenticed to a dressmaker in Hamilton in the North Island of New Zealand. Her ten-hour working day is wearisome, town life is strange, and she is homesick for the farming country she has left. A courageous old lady recognizes May’s strength and tells her, “You don’t look like a lily-livered girl!” That her opinion was right is demonstrated as May makes friends, including a young bank clerk named Ken, enters the world of competitive swimming, and copes with a traumatic experience. The start of World War One brings another crisis to May, and when she is seventeen this determined young woman returns to the King Country and makes the biggest decision of her life.
My thoughts:
We came away from No Lily-Livered Girl with mixed feelings. The history was well worth reading about; seeing New Zealand grow and develop, and what it was like for people here during the First World War. We enjoyed seeing May grow up and learn to navigate life in a young city. On the other hand, we did not like some of her attitudes. May did not respect her mother, and got downright angry at some of her mother’s decisions. At the same time, her mother did not respect May, and did not seem to try to understand her feelings and needs. May’s mother seemed to be holding tightly to the standards and expectations she had grown up with in upper-middle-class England 40 or 50 years before, and was very disparaging of the way things were being done in colonial New Zealand. This led to a very nasty scene at one point, with both of them angry with the other.
The other aspect of this book that really stood out was May’s job. She worked for a person who did not respect her employees. That led to bad attitudes being displayed by May and her fellow workers, and they did things behind her back when they could without getting caught. As we discussed this book, we realized it is quite a study of the way one person’s decisions and attitudes affect other people.
There was also a bit more romance than I like to see in children’s books. It is natural, since May was nearly 18 at the end of the book, and many girls would have been getting married by that time. (This is a true story, told by May’s granddaughter, based on what really happened.) May spent a little bit of time with a bank clerk who worked next door to the dressmaker where she was apprenticed, and later, after moving back to the farm, was courted by two different men. There are detailed descriptions of two community dances, at which May had to explore her feelings for both men.
I would recommend that No Lily-Livered Girl be used as a read-aloud, so that it can be discussed. I would not want my children reading this one alone without guidance.
WARNING: Chapter 3: Older woman describes being attacked by the Maori many years before. Chapter 4: Description of killing a chicken. Chapter 5: Woman commits suicide, by Jove, description of breaking up a strike. Chapter 7: May got very angry with her mother, fire, horse burned to death, girl caught in compromising situation. Chapter 8: Mention of Jack the Ripper. Chapter 9: Kissing, notice that a man was killed in action, description of the massacre at Gallipoli. Chapter 10: Mention of millions of years. Chapter 13: Description of a man being badly injured by a horse, kissing. Chapter 14: Darn rabbits, kissing.
Age levels:
Listening Level—Ages 12 – 15
Reading Independently—Ages 15 and Above, Adults
Links to buy this book:
Amazon: Kindle
AbeBooks: View Choices on AbeBooks.com
