Noel Streatfeild's characters are built on a simple principle, one dominant trait for each. The central figure of Caldicott Place … has a certain bounce and independence which come to the fore when unexpectedly he is left a huge neglected mansion…. [The] idea of a holiday home for homeless children somehow grows and comes to fruition. So we get the familiar Streatfeild situation, a group of ill-assorted children—rich, spoilt Athene, timid Freddie who is heir to a great estate, the problem child Sophie; and from the assortment come the storms and calms of a highly skilled but somehow rather cold story. Readable though it is, up to the minute in social mores, I found myself thinking back wistfully to White Boots and Ballet Shoes and other stories from that early period when the Streatfeild boys and girls, still with one trait apiece, really came to life. (pp. 1091-...