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The New Moon with the Old
When Jane Minton arrives at Dome House as a secretary-housekeeper, she finds herself sharing the comfortable country home of four attractive young people. Their handsome widower father, Rupert Carrington, too occupied with his London business to see very much of them, merely provides for them generously and leaves them to cultivate their talents -- which they energetically do. Richard, the eldest, is a composer; Clare, whose true talent (if it can be called that) has never disclosed itself, attempts to paint; Drew is collecting material for a novel to be set in the Edwardian era; and Merry, still at school, already works hard towards a stage career. Jane Minton, warmly welcomed into this happy household, feels her luck is too good to be true. And it is certainly too good to last. The delightful private world of Dome House is fated to break up.It is Jane who learns from Rupert Carrington that he is in danger of prosectuion for fraud and must leave England. He asks her to break the news to his children -- who must now fend completely for themselves -- and do what she can to help. She is very willing to, for his sake as well as theirs, as she is greatly attracted by him. What happens then makes an engrossing and unpredicable story, for the Carringtons are not usual young people, and it is, perhaps, their own basic originality which draws to them unusual adventures, in which humor and more than a touch of strangeness are often inextricably blended.
367 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1963
About the author
Dodie Smith
80 books1,099 followersBorn Dorothy Gladys Smith in Lancashire, England, Dodie Smith was raised in Manchester (her memoir is titled A Childhood in Manchester). She was just an infant when her father died, and she grew up fatherless until age 14, when her mother remarried and the family moved to London. There she studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and tried for a career as an actress, but with little success. She finally wound up taking a job as a toy buyer for a furniture store to make ends meet. Giving up dreams of an acting career, she turned to writing plays, and in 1931 her first play, Autumn Crocus, was published (under the pseudonym “C.L. Anthony”). It was a success, and her story — from failed actress to furniture store employee to successful writer — captured the imagination of the public and she was featured in papers all over the country. Although she could now afford to move to a London townhouse, she didn't get caught up in the “literary” scene — she married a man who was a fellow employee at the furniture store.
During World War II she and her husband moved to the United States, mostly because of his stand as a conscientious objector and the social and legal difficulties that entailed. She was still homesick for England, though, as reflected in her first novel, I Capture the Castle (1948). During her stay she formed close friendships with such authors as Christopher Isherwood and John Van Druten, and was aided in her literary endeavors by writer A.J. Cronin.
She is perhaps best known for her novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians, a hugely popular childrens book that has been made into a string of very successful animated films by Walt Disney. She died in 1990.
During World War II she and her husband moved to the United States, mostly because of his stand as a conscientious objector and the social and legal difficulties that entailed. She was still homesick for England, though, as reflected in her first novel, I Capture the Castle (1948). During her stay she formed close friendships with such authors as Christopher Isherwood and John Van Druten, and was aided in her literary endeavors by writer A.J. Cronin.
She is perhaps best known for her novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians, a hugely popular childrens book that has been made into a string of very successful animated films by Walt Disney. She died in 1990.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 157 reviews
January 15, 2011
It's an odd story, but it's always pleasant to read Dodie Smith. That's part of the oddness, actually: you're reading along having a pleasant enough time and at some point you'll sort of pull up and go "Wait! What's happening here?!" Because almost all of her characters get into relationships that are kind of a little almost unsavory. And then pretty soon you're lulled by the pleasantness again and everything's fine. Until the end when you shut the book and wonder what the hell you just read.
July 28, 2015
I suppose I say fuck too much for anyone to understand my secret Dodie Smith soul, but if I could live in any kind of novel - it would be something along the lines of L.M. Montgomery or dear old Dodie. She's that secret part of me that likes to say things like, "oh darling!" or "tolerably happy" or "so fond." Reading Dodie makes my soul happy.
I had the opportunity to be whisked off by a Brit - and Dodie would have had me take him, I think.
This is my last Dodie Smith novel and I have to admit that it's all very bittersweet. I have her plays left, but I have a feeling things shall never be the same.
Quickly now - on the book - my favorite parts were the Jane sections. I also enjoyed Richard's - although isn't he a prude? (Dodie would say sentimental.) I still enjoyed his meeting Clare and her man very much. Merry and Lord Crusty (I think his name might be Crestover, but ugh) were perhaps the worst parts of the book.
Nothing more to say than I adore Dodie. Not another soul I know would, but I sort of like that she's my own private world.
One line I've been thinking about: "One gets, he thought, not what one wants but what one is."
I had the opportunity to be whisked off by a Brit - and Dodie would have had me take him, I think.
This is my last Dodie Smith novel and I have to admit that it's all very bittersweet. I have her plays left, but I have a feeling things shall never be the same.
Quickly now - on the book - my favorite parts were the Jane sections. I also enjoyed Richard's - although isn't he a prude? (Dodie would say sentimental.) I still enjoyed his meeting Clare and her man very much. Merry and Lord Crusty (I think his name might be Crestover, but ugh) were perhaps the worst parts of the book.
Nothing more to say than I adore Dodie. Not another soul I know would, but I sort of like that she's my own private world.
One line I've been thinking about: "One gets, he thought, not what one wants but what one is."
October 7, 2007
I think this is the book that is closest to I Capture the Castle in terms of its characters and themes. It's as though a fairy godmother liberates the well-to-do children of this family and sets them on their own paths of adventure.
I particularly enjoyed Clare's scandalous dream -- to become the mistress of a king. Nobody depicts clandestine sex like this author. Dodie had some pretty racy affairs of her own, and always includes a female character in her stories that chooses passion over moral convention. The fact that Smith is able to spin these tales without sounding sordid or preachy never fails to impress me.
Next to I Capture the Castle, I consider this to be my favorite of her novels. But it's a close race among A Tale of Two Families, Town in Bloom, and The Girl from the Candlelit Bath.. Thank you, Bloomfield Public Library of NJ, for having such a prodigious collection of Ms. Smith's work.
I particularly enjoyed Clare's scandalous dream -- to become the mistress of a king. Nobody depicts clandestine sex like this author. Dodie had some pretty racy affairs of her own, and always includes a female character in her stories that chooses passion over moral convention. The fact that Smith is able to spin these tales without sounding sordid or preachy never fails to impress me.
Next to I Capture the Castle, I consider this to be my favorite of her novels. But it's a close race among A Tale of Two Families, Town in Bloom, and The Girl from the Candlelit Bath.. Thank you, Bloomfield Public Library of NJ, for having such a prodigious collection of Ms. Smith's work.
February 29, 2012
Now here’s a lovely story. It’s set in the early sixties, in a real world sprinkled with just a little bit of added fairy dust.
It begins with Jane Minton, She’s a young woman all alone in the world, accustomed to standing on her own two feet and earning her own living. And she’s rather good at it.
Jane has a new job. A very good job: she is to be secretary-housekeeper at Dome House, the country home of Rupert Carrington, a successful city businessman.
Her employer is rarely at home, but Jane finds herself welcomed with open arms living very comfortably in a beautiful and well-run house with her employer’s four charming children (who are in their teens and twenties) and two members of staff.
Globe House is a wonderful mixture of the traditional and the modern. The four young people had been brought up by their grandmother and they were a credit to her. As were Cook and Edith. They continued to live together happily after she died, with just few changes. The family still ate in the dining room and the staff in the kitchen, but the family went to the kitchen to make their own coffee so that all could be cleared away in time for the whole household to settle down together and watch the evening’s television.
Tradition was nicely tempered by modernity …
It was lovely to watch over such a wonderful household - I can’t quite capture what made it magical, it just was – but I did wonder when the plot was going to arrive.
It arrived with a bang: Rupert Carrington arrived unexpectedly when only Jane was home, and told her that he was wanted for fraud and had to leave the country. He asked Jane to stay for a while, to help his children find ways of coping without the money that had underpinned their lifestyle. Jane agreed: she liked the family, she had been a little in love with their father ever since he had interviewed her, and she actually had nowhere to go.
The news was taken surprisingly well, and the household began to make plans. Jane landed a job at the local school, Cook and Edith had many offers to choose from, as their talents were renowned, and each of the four children set out to do what they could.
They all had wonderful adventures.
Precocious, stage-struck, fourteen-year-old Merry, set out for London to become an actress, but slid into a job helping with amateur dramatics at a stately home and found that the lady of the house had an unexpected plan for her.
I particularly liked Drew - he was what my mother would call a people-person. And he was an aspiring writer, planning a novel set in the Edwardian era, so seemed entirely sensible to him that he should become an old lady’s companion. He landed the job, and he found himself revolutionising her household.
And I emphasised most with Clare. She was quiet and sensible, she and didn’t think she was as talented as her siblings. But she found a job too, in the household of an elderly gentleman, reading to him. It was a job well suited to a young woman with a head full of romantic notions gleaned from novels.
Richard, was the eldest and he took his responsibilities seriously. But he lived for his music and he had jobs he could go to, if only he could deal with those difficult visitors and work out what to do about the house.
Each of their four stories is told in turn, and in between times Jane tells the story of Globe House.
There is little realism: the stories are full of remarkable coincidences, great wealth, and falling in love at the drop of a hat. But the storytelling is so lovely, so charming, that I didn’t mind at all.
The characters, all a little different, all beautifully drawn, captivated me.
Sometimes I missed one when another was centre stage, but not too much as I loved them all, and I think that the episodic structure was probably right for these stories.
There was so much wonderful entertainment: I was amused as I watched Merry disguising herself as a grown-up to make sure that she wasn’t hauled back home again; I was as puzzled as Drew by the arrangements in the household he joined; I was as thrilled as Clare when she found a library of wonderful old books; and I was delighted for Richard when it finally seemed that, just maybe, all of the pieces were falling into place.
So many wonderful details, but I don’t want to give too much away.
In the end it seemed that love or money could, and would, solve just about anything …
This is a strange, old-fashioned mixture of romance, reality, and just a little fairy dust.
I couldn’t help loving it!
It begins with Jane Minton, She’s a young woman all alone in the world, accustomed to standing on her own two feet and earning her own living. And she’s rather good at it.
Jane has a new job. A very good job: she is to be secretary-housekeeper at Dome House, the country home of Rupert Carrington, a successful city businessman.
Her employer is rarely at home, but Jane finds herself welcomed with open arms living very comfortably in a beautiful and well-run house with her employer’s four charming children (who are in their teens and twenties) and two members of staff.
Globe House is a wonderful mixture of the traditional and the modern. The four young people had been brought up by their grandmother and they were a credit to her. As were Cook and Edith. They continued to live together happily after she died, with just few changes. The family still ate in the dining room and the staff in the kitchen, but the family went to the kitchen to make their own coffee so that all could be cleared away in time for the whole household to settle down together and watch the evening’s television.
Tradition was nicely tempered by modernity …
It was lovely to watch over such a wonderful household - I can’t quite capture what made it magical, it just was – but I did wonder when the plot was going to arrive.
It arrived with a bang: Rupert Carrington arrived unexpectedly when only Jane was home, and told her that he was wanted for fraud and had to leave the country. He asked Jane to stay for a while, to help his children find ways of coping without the money that had underpinned their lifestyle. Jane agreed: she liked the family, she had been a little in love with their father ever since he had interviewed her, and she actually had nowhere to go.
The news was taken surprisingly well, and the household began to make plans. Jane landed a job at the local school, Cook and Edith had many offers to choose from, as their talents were renowned, and each of the four children set out to do what they could.
They all had wonderful adventures.
Precocious, stage-struck, fourteen-year-old Merry, set out for London to become an actress, but slid into a job helping with amateur dramatics at a stately home and found that the lady of the house had an unexpected plan for her.
I particularly liked Drew - he was what my mother would call a people-person. And he was an aspiring writer, planning a novel set in the Edwardian era, so seemed entirely sensible to him that he should become an old lady’s companion. He landed the job, and he found himself revolutionising her household.
And I emphasised most with Clare. She was quiet and sensible, she and didn’t think she was as talented as her siblings. But she found a job too, in the household of an elderly gentleman, reading to him. It was a job well suited to a young woman with a head full of romantic notions gleaned from novels.
Richard, was the eldest and he took his responsibilities seriously. But he lived for his music and he had jobs he could go to, if only he could deal with those difficult visitors and work out what to do about the house.
Each of their four stories is told in turn, and in between times Jane tells the story of Globe House.
There is little realism: the stories are full of remarkable coincidences, great wealth, and falling in love at the drop of a hat. But the storytelling is so lovely, so charming, that I didn’t mind at all.
The characters, all a little different, all beautifully drawn, captivated me.
Sometimes I missed one when another was centre stage, but not too much as I loved them all, and I think that the episodic structure was probably right for these stories.
There was so much wonderful entertainment: I was amused as I watched Merry disguising herself as a grown-up to make sure that she wasn’t hauled back home again; I was as puzzled as Drew by the arrangements in the household he joined; I was as thrilled as Clare when she found a library of wonderful old books; and I was delighted for Richard when it finally seemed that, just maybe, all of the pieces were falling into place.
So many wonderful details, but I don’t want to give too much away.
In the end it seemed that love or money could, and would, solve just about anything …
This is a strange, old-fashioned mixture of romance, reality, and just a little fairy dust.
I couldn’t help loving it!
November 18, 2022
3.5 stars rounded up. Very similar feeling to I Capture The Castle with more emphasis on characters, their individual story within the story. Enjoyable with a touch of the outlandish, in an english way, which is to say quaint yet quirky. About a family leaving the nest after the patriarch goes on the run for fraud.
October 4, 2023
From 1963
This book is four novels in one with an almost-successful framing device. It's not boring but it's not exciting either, and not entirely satisfying. I adore the writing though.
This book is four novels in one with an almost-successful framing device. It's not boring but it's not exciting either, and not entirely satisfying. I adore the writing though.
May 26, 2022
Really enjoyed this! It has something of the winsomeness of children's stories - Paddington bear fortuitously being discovered by the Brown family and taken in, or Kiki, her first day in town, stumbling upon a beautiful bakery where a job is going and a room is for rent. The fact that the boxcar children somehow find surviving by themselves in the forest to be no big issue. Just the endless optimism and the promise of being met with kindness. It's also very reminiscent of Austen and L.M. Montgomery and Katherine Mansfield and their endless interest in people and their curiosities - has a hint of the wit present in those author's works too. I will say some ideas expressed felt markedly dated, and some of the relationships did raise an eyebrow - I didn't know how to feel about how certain things panned out, but overall it was just really enjoyable:)
March 18, 2022
I really like Dodie Smith's writing and I want to like this book, so much more than I actually do. I find it a little too quirky to be convincing. And the way the children are paired off with aging partners and illicit liaisons is kind of distasteful. I couldn't feel any of the romance or interest. I wanted to like the character of Jane Minton, but her mooning after the father, Rupert Carrington, just rang false and pathetic. Sigh. Not my favourite or even my second favourite Smith.
May 9, 2018
I don't even know what to write about this book. I am bewildered. I read and loved I Capture the Castle and while Dodie Smith's charming, clever, and easy writing is on display in this book too the characters and plot just slowly devolve into awfulness. It's like you're reading Anne of Green Gables and then suddenly she's someone's mistress.
June 12, 2012
This novel from the author of I Capture the Castle is an absolute joy. There is something of the fairy-tale about it – although it is more heart-warming than frothy.
It is the early 1960’s and Jane Minton a thirty something single woman arrives at Dome house to begin a new job. The job is that of secretary/housekeeper to Rupert Carrington. On arrival Jane finds that Mr Carrington is absent – but she is welcomed heartily by his four children all in their early twenties or teens – and the two elderly sisters who work for the family. That first evening is a wonderful start for Jane, warm, well fed, settled as one of the family in front of the television – she is certain that Dome house is a place she’ll never want to leave. The following day however everything is thrown in to disarray – when Rupert Carrington suspected of fraud flees the country. Jane has to find a way to help the Carrington family live – immediately there are strict economies that have to be made and the elder Carrington children need to start to think about employment.
The narrative switches from character to character as we follow the eccentric ways they find to fly the nest and start to make their ways in the world. There is Merry- 14 and a half – who wants to be an actress, Drew who has aspirations to be a writer, Richard the musician and Clare a painter with little talent, whose only ambition is to be the mistress of a king.
Merry runs away to London disguised as someone much older – she doesn’t quite make it to London – but ends up in another equally eccentric household. Drew applies to become an elderly woman’s companion, and ends up totally reorganising her life. Clare finds her job as a reader to an elderly man in London has an unexpectedly romantic twist. Richard meanwhile tries to keep Dome house going, while coping with the arrival of the dreaded Aunt Winifred and his father’s ex-girlfriend who has also landed on him unexpectedly. Jane holds them all together admirably while working as secretary to the headmistress of Merry’s old school.
I was reminded strongly of I capture the castle while reading this – in the voices of the characters particularly. It is an enormously charming novel, humorous and engaging it’s fabulous for curling up with for long periods. I enjoyed it immensely.
June 11, 2013
I found myself at odds with this book, which is rare for me. I have read The 101 Dalmatians, and I Capture the Castle, so I thought I knew what to expect with this book. I had no idea! I was instantly confused with the time period this book is meant to represent. The characters are so stodgy and old fashioned, but there are telephones, refrigerators and cars. It felt like Pride and Prejudice and then so modern at the same time and I just had no idea.
Alright, so I moved on and accepted the time period was a world I don't think I've ever read. Then, the characters! We have the 14 and seven month old accidentally making an earl fall in love with her, the eldest sister achieving her vague wish of being a mistress to a king. The brothers find their niche as well, although Richard never rebounds from his boring name to his boring lot in life. Jane was probably the most infuriating of all, stuck in her beliefs and doggedly loyal and just argh!
So why the four stars? Because despite all the things that confused and infuriated, I picked up the book fifty pages in this morning at 8.40, and kept reading until exactly two hours later when I turned the last page. I stared bemusedly at the clock, wondering where the morning had gone. I had been utterly absorbed with this book, for better or worse and that was what impressed me. It wasn't mindless YA drivel to keep me from my depressing life. It wasn't reading a classic just so I could say yes, I've read that book. This was just a book, just a story, and despite passages of bad writing, weird writing, strange characters and utter confusion, it held me and didn't let go. Strange review yes, but for a strange book. If you manage to read it, you may find out what I mean.
Alright, so I moved on and accepted the time period was a world I don't think I've ever read. Then, the characters! We have the 14 and seven month old accidentally making an earl fall in love with her, the eldest sister achieving her vague wish of being a mistress to a king. The brothers find their niche as well, although Richard never rebounds from his boring name to his boring lot in life. Jane was probably the most infuriating of all, stuck in her beliefs and doggedly loyal and just argh!
So why the four stars? Because despite all the things that confused and infuriated, I picked up the book fifty pages in this morning at 8.40, and kept reading until exactly two hours later when I turned the last page. I stared bemusedly at the clock, wondering where the morning had gone. I had been utterly absorbed with this book, for better or worse and that was what impressed me. It wasn't mindless YA drivel to keep me from my depressing life. It wasn't reading a classic just so I could say yes, I've read that book. This was just a book, just a story, and despite passages of bad writing, weird writing, strange characters and utter confusion, it held me and didn't let go. Strange review yes, but for a strange book. If you manage to read it, you may find out what I mean.
September 23, 2013
I read about two thirds of this one and had to put it down. It took a turn I hadn't expected and didn't like. The premise was good but the execution, to my mind, was a failure -- all these sheltered young people getting into weird and creepy relationships grated on me. Someone like, say, Noel Streatfeild could have done a lot more with the basic idea of the book, making it much more interesting and not nearly as creepy!
Maybe I'll pick it up again sometime, just because I don't like to leave a book unfinished. But it was a big disappointment.
Maybe I'll pick it up again sometime, just because I don't like to leave a book unfinished. But it was a big disappointment.
September 14, 2016
Wish I'd written this review right after I read it. I liked it a lot, I mean, Dodie has a unique way of setting up expectations and then taking them off sideways that is both charming and ironically satisfying. I was having a hoot with it. The children run off in all directions and have their individual adventures. And are they far-fetched? Yes, but so fun, and a little "off", too, like edging very close to the line of social acceptability - even these days. I didn't like how she resolved it all so much, however. Nonetheless, a book I will remember for its original sparkle.
October 11, 2010
While I enjoyed this book, I reached a point about 2/3 through where I was just ready for it to end.
I feel I could've liked it a lot more than I did. None of the characters really did much for me, except Drew. I got to be very fond of Drew!
And I couldn't quite swallow some of this book's twisted morals...
Altogether it was an interesting, amusing, and rather odd book.
Not sure if I would ever read it again, but it was pleasant for a one time thing!
I feel I could've liked it a lot more than I did. None of the characters really did much for me, except Drew. I got to be very fond of Drew!
And I couldn't quite swallow some of this book's twisted morals...
Altogether it was an interesting, amusing, and rather odd book.
Not sure if I would ever read it again, but it was pleasant for a one time thing!
March 25, 2020
Review written in 2012.
The New Moon With the Old was first published in 1963. It opens with the character of Jane Minton, who has arrived at her new post as secretary and housekeeper at Dome House, deep in rural Suffolk. Her employer, Mr Rupert Carrington, is only normally in residence at the house on weekends. He is a widower with four intriguing children – Richard, Clare, Drew and Merry. The Carrington offspring range in age from Richard’s 23 to Merry’s ‘fourteen and almost six months’.
Jane is a wonderful character. She does things which are perhaps uncharacteristic of someone of her age and standing, such as bouncing upon the bed in her new room with wonderful abandon. Jane believes that ‘it would be pleasant to live in the country after three years in a dull London suburb working for a dull author and his even duller wife’.
The other characters which people the novel are also incredibly captivating, and the dialogue which they use surprises and intrigues. When they first meet Jane, Drew, the youngest Carrington boy and wannabe novelist, introduces himself as ‘a very gentle driver’, and aspiring actress Merry proudly announces that her mother got her full name, Meriella, ‘off a tombstone’. Richard, the eldest son, is ‘austere’ and ‘aloof’, intent only upon his composing. His siblings inform Jane that he is able to play four instruments but ‘very seldom does’. Clare, the eldest girl, ‘only paints’.
Jane settles in immediately to the ‘wonderful’ house and grows to love the ‘charming’ Carringtons. On her first day of duties at Dome House, Rupert Carrington comes back, announcing that he has no option but ‘to leave England, possibly for good… if I am prevented I’m likely to spend an unpleasantly long period in jail, for fraud’. He describes himself to Jane as ‘a very inadequate crook, completely amateur’. Rupert swiftly disappears, leaving no information about where he is going. He hands Jane an envelope of money for the children, leaving her with little choice but to look after them.
The story catapults into action from this point onwards. Having little money to keep the sprawling mansion alive, the Carrington children are all forced to go out into the world and make their livings. Each child leaves one by one, and their adventures are often surprising. Roles reverse, and it is soon the children’s various employments which allow Jane to stay at Dome House.
The New Moon With the Old is told from the third person perspective, which is often informal and chatty throughout. The story has been split up into five different sections, each of which focuses upon a different character. This narrative technique works extremely well. As usual, Smith’s descriptions are both pleasant and intriguing.
The New Moon With the Old is an incredibly amusing novel which successfully holds the attention of the reader. The characters are quirky and eccentric in equal measure, and are all extremely well developed. Through her clever narration, Smith has enabled a series of different stories to combine in order to create a vivid and simply wonderful novel.
The New Moon With the Old was first published in 1963. It opens with the character of Jane Minton, who has arrived at her new post as secretary and housekeeper at Dome House, deep in rural Suffolk. Her employer, Mr Rupert Carrington, is only normally in residence at the house on weekends. He is a widower with four intriguing children – Richard, Clare, Drew and Merry. The Carrington offspring range in age from Richard’s 23 to Merry’s ‘fourteen and almost six months’.
Jane is a wonderful character. She does things which are perhaps uncharacteristic of someone of her age and standing, such as bouncing upon the bed in her new room with wonderful abandon. Jane believes that ‘it would be pleasant to live in the country after three years in a dull London suburb working for a dull author and his even duller wife’.
The other characters which people the novel are also incredibly captivating, and the dialogue which they use surprises and intrigues. When they first meet Jane, Drew, the youngest Carrington boy and wannabe novelist, introduces himself as ‘a very gentle driver’, and aspiring actress Merry proudly announces that her mother got her full name, Meriella, ‘off a tombstone’. Richard, the eldest son, is ‘austere’ and ‘aloof’, intent only upon his composing. His siblings inform Jane that he is able to play four instruments but ‘very seldom does’. Clare, the eldest girl, ‘only paints’.
Jane settles in immediately to the ‘wonderful’ house and grows to love the ‘charming’ Carringtons. On her first day of duties at Dome House, Rupert Carrington comes back, announcing that he has no option but ‘to leave England, possibly for good… if I am prevented I’m likely to spend an unpleasantly long period in jail, for fraud’. He describes himself to Jane as ‘a very inadequate crook, completely amateur’. Rupert swiftly disappears, leaving no information about where he is going. He hands Jane an envelope of money for the children, leaving her with little choice but to look after them.
The story catapults into action from this point onwards. Having little money to keep the sprawling mansion alive, the Carrington children are all forced to go out into the world and make their livings. Each child leaves one by one, and their adventures are often surprising. Roles reverse, and it is soon the children’s various employments which allow Jane to stay at Dome House.
The New Moon With the Old is told from the third person perspective, which is often informal and chatty throughout. The story has been split up into five different sections, each of which focuses upon a different character. This narrative technique works extremely well. As usual, Smith’s descriptions are both pleasant and intriguing.
The New Moon With the Old is an incredibly amusing novel which successfully holds the attention of the reader. The characters are quirky and eccentric in equal measure, and are all extremely well developed. Through her clever narration, Smith has enabled a series of different stories to combine in order to create a vivid and simply wonderful novel.
August 20, 2016
3.5 stars.
I actually really did enjoy this novel on growing up in various forms, and confronting one's dreams and reflecting on how one's dreams really float amongst painstaken reality.
I docked a couple of stars because a lot of things that happened were too easy and fictional and idyll for what I said before, a novel on growing up. Also, ironically, while I really enjoyed it, I wouldn't read it again. And those books I reserve for 4 or 5 stars (which I do with little generosity).
But what I did like outweighed the dislikes and while the beginning was the slowest and toughest part to get through, the last 4 books (or at least the 2nd and 3rd books about Merry and Drew) are worth reading the book. Clare's book gave me the impression of a historical romance novel, while Richard's book was just an 'eh' ending for an already unbelievable story. Would these things happen in real life? Not at all.
That being said, the characterization of the major and even the minor characters is superb. I really got a taste of different kinds of people and personalities. I particularly loved Drew and Merry of the main cast and the minor characters in those in Drew's and Clare's books. I'm a sucker for a large cast in novels and this delivers excellently.
I'm trying to get out of reading slump and I didn't have any fantasy (which I really wanted since I've been reading mainly historical fiction), so I started this a little unenthusiastic and doubtful of my liking. So the fact I can say that I really enjoyed this counts for something.
I actually really did enjoy this novel on growing up in various forms, and confronting one's dreams and reflecting on how one's dreams really float amongst painstaken reality.
I docked a couple of stars because a lot of things that happened were too easy and fictional and idyll for what I said before, a novel on growing up. Also, ironically, while I really enjoyed it, I wouldn't read it again. And those books I reserve for 4 or 5 stars (which I do with little generosity).
But what I did like outweighed the dislikes and while the beginning was the slowest and toughest part to get through, the last 4 books (or at least the 2nd and 3rd books about Merry and Drew) are worth reading the book. Clare's book gave me the impression of a historical romance novel, while Richard's book was just an 'eh' ending for an already unbelievable story. Would these things happen in real life? Not at all.
That being said, the characterization of the major and even the minor characters is superb. I really got a taste of different kinds of people and personalities. I particularly loved Drew and Merry of the main cast and the minor characters in those in Drew's and Clare's books. I'm a sucker for a large cast in novels and this delivers excellently.
I'm trying to get out of reading slump and I didn't have any fantasy (which I really wanted since I've been reading mainly historical fiction), so I started this a little unenthusiastic and doubtful of my liking. So the fact I can say that I really enjoyed this counts for something.
November 1, 2015
I enjoyed reading this book! It wasn't as good as I Capture the Castle, though it was a lot more adult. It's divided into sections by characters (four siblings, and Jane, who is their sort of... assistant/secretery/idk). I think I liked some sections more than others because I liked some characters more than others. My favorite chapters were definitely Clare and Drew, and my least favorite Richard's. Considering it ended with Richard's, that kind of made the book end on a blah note. He was just boring, that's all! Overall though it was a good book, sort of "coming of age" only most of them were adults/young adults so it was more like, going out into the world and finding themselves. Pretty ahead of it's time, too... I mean Clare ends up happily the mistress to a rich man which was pretty great.
March 31, 2012
A light read. If you've read I capture the Castle it's a similar vein .... beautiful but poor but well born virgins rescue themselves from poverty by ensnaring what would now be considered indecently older rich 'protectors'. In this case a 14 year old 'falls in love' with a 40+ year old which made me a bit uncomfortable. One of the 'virgins' is also male & he finds an elderly widow to keep him & the 3rd 'virgin' becomes the mistress of a middle aged 'prince'. Still ... it's of its time.
October 11, 2014
Loved this story of intrepid Jane Minton who becomes housekeeper/secretary to the quirky Carrington family. Here is a link to my review:
http://perfectretort.blogspot.com/201...
http://perfectretort.blogspot.com/201...
March 25, 2013
Yet another fantastic work from Dodie Smith. You can watch my review here - http://youtu.be/vLCpWIRkmzE
March 27, 2021
Exceedingly readable, pulled me along. none of these people think like i do but they all do really feel like people. and i liked spending time with all the point of view characters, especially the main one who is in her late 30s or early 40s which is always a refreshing change in realist 1960s novels, a female narrator over 25 :D.
what an interesting book.
cn underage - middle aged person vibes, but it turned out very safe:
what an interesting book.
cn underage - middle aged person vibes, but it turned out very safe:
April 19, 2022
This book addresses a multitude of subjects: How much can you learn from reading and observation, as opposed to experience? What does maturity actually consist of? Can employees and employers really treat each other as equals? In what ways is money important or not important? And, most notably, what characteristics make make for compatibility in romantic relationships?
For the most part, the novel follows several members of the same family as they head off on their own adventures in the wake of a severe disruption to their household. Unfortunately, the most interesting parts are when the differently-minded brothers and sisters interact with one another, so the novel's structure, which mostly splits them up, is not ideal to facilitate its most interesting elements. Nevertheless, this book is both fun and thought-provoking. It gives you a happy ending but is still kind of disturbing, making you question whether what you think you want is really what you want.
For the most part, the novel follows several members of the same family as they head off on their own adventures in the wake of a severe disruption to their household. Unfortunately, the most interesting parts are when the differently-minded brothers and sisters interact with one another, so the novel's structure, which mostly splits them up, is not ideal to facilitate its most interesting elements. Nevertheless, this book is both fun and thought-provoking. It gives you a happy ending but is still kind of disturbing, making you question whether what you think you want is really what you want.
January 19, 2020
Beautifully written, with very little plot, this could be described as four or five short stories held together with very delicate threads.
The characters are well drawn if you like folk who are pretty well perfect. There’s no drama. There’s nothing to upset the comfort of it all.
The pleasure is in the descriptions, evocations of time and place. But now I need something a bit more meaty - something to get my teeth into. . . .
The characters are well drawn if you like folk who are pretty well perfect. There’s no drama. There’s nothing to upset the comfort of it all.
The pleasure is in the descriptions, evocations of time and place. But now I need something a bit more meaty - something to get my teeth into. . . .
January 20, 2024
3.5 stars
Dodie Smith has a unique ability to write about fascinating characters in ways that make me hate all of them.
The format/structure of this novel was very interesting, but her writing is good enough that she made it work. Certainly some moral issues here but I found it engaging none-the-less.
Fans of I Capture the Castle would probably enjoy this as well.
Dodie Smith has a unique ability to write about fascinating characters in ways that make me hate all of them.
The format/structure of this novel was very interesting, but her writing is good enough that she made it work. Certainly some moral issues here but I found it engaging none-the-less.
Fans of I Capture the Castle would probably enjoy this as well.
February 11, 2013
When an author hits my 5-Star list with a first novel, as Dodie Smith did with “I Capture the Castle” I naturally want to read all his /her books, in chronological publishing order. This is what I’m starting with “The New Moon with the Old.” It’s a cozy, entertaining read without quite the depth of her first.
In 1960’s England, a household with 4 siblings and a new “housekeeper” hit it off from hour one, only to be plunged into challenge by day 2. Each one, including said housekeeper Jane and the others (cook and maid, both ex-nannies and sisters) must find gainful employment in order to keep the house going. That is the “umbrella” story. Now the book follows each of the four -and Jane- as they “set out to seek their fortunes” (just as in ye olde folk tales, which the reader may compare them to). The younger sister, at 14, is the boldest and off she goes into crazy, coincidence-driven adventures which include posing as a 21-year old actress. The next youngest finds an Edwardian lady to be secretary/companion/housekeeper to, despite being a male. This was perfect for him, as he wants to write a novel set in Edwardian times. The elder sister finds herself being a reader to an ex-king, and Richard, the eldest, being left in charge, manages to grow up a bit before making his own escape.
Each of these individual stories include a cast of interesting characters, a bit of mystery, are funny, and are touched with compassion, affection, and sometimes lust. Each one could have been its own novel if expanded for that purpose, and here lies the one weakness of the book. There is no way the author could complete these story arcs in one novel which was expected to resemble “Castle.” I think she bit off more than she could chew. It was an ambitious project and I wish her publisher had let her write an expanded version or a sequel, to do the story lines justice.
I recommend the book for pure, delightful escape.
In 1960’s England, a household with 4 siblings and a new “housekeeper” hit it off from hour one, only to be plunged into challenge by day 2. Each one, including said housekeeper Jane and the others (cook and maid, both ex-nannies and sisters) must find gainful employment in order to keep the house going. That is the “umbrella” story. Now the book follows each of the four -and Jane- as they “set out to seek their fortunes” (just as in ye olde folk tales, which the reader may compare them to). The younger sister, at 14, is the boldest and off she goes into crazy, coincidence-driven adventures which include posing as a 21-year old actress. The next youngest finds an Edwardian lady to be secretary/companion/housekeeper to, despite being a male. This was perfect for him, as he wants to write a novel set in Edwardian times. The elder sister finds herself being a reader to an ex-king, and Richard, the eldest, being left in charge, manages to grow up a bit before making his own escape.
Each of these individual stories include a cast of interesting characters, a bit of mystery, are funny, and are touched with compassion, affection, and sometimes lust. Each one could have been its own novel if expanded for that purpose, and here lies the one weakness of the book. There is no way the author could complete these story arcs in one novel which was expected to resemble “Castle.” I think she bit off more than she could chew. It was an ambitious project and I wish her publisher had let her write an expanded version or a sequel, to do the story lines justice.
I recommend the book for pure, delightful escape.
May 22, 2024
This year's reissue of three of Dodie Smith's lesser-known novels is a fine thing for those who know only her super-charming debut as a novelist, I Capture the Castle (though for those content only to know her as the author of The One Hundred and One Dalmatians, there may be no hope). The New Moon with the Old is the most highly structured and lightest of the three, and is probably closest in spirit to her first and most well-known novel.
Despite being written just as the Beatles were reaching their ascendancy in their native land, The New Moon with the Old is very much an old-fashioned yarn in which four siblings set out into the world to seek their individual fortunes. With its lightness of tone, its shifting points of view, and the picaresque adventures of the likable four young protagonists, the novel very much reads like contemporary young adult literature. That said, its themes can be quite adult in content, though are never, ever explicit. (No actual sex, please. They're British.)
Like all of Dodie Smith's novels, The New Moon with the Old is never deep or especially challenging. What it is, however, is utterly charming. Every chapter is scented with the perfumes of a upper-crust English gentility that is no more—and probably never was, save in literature. While not as completely winning as the adventures of the Mortmain family in Smith's first novel, its successor shines, and has charisma to spare.
Despite being written just as the Beatles were reaching their ascendancy in their native land, The New Moon with the Old is very much an old-fashioned yarn in which four siblings set out into the world to seek their individual fortunes. With its lightness of tone, its shifting points of view, and the picaresque adventures of the likable four young protagonists, the novel very much reads like contemporary young adult literature. That said, its themes can be quite adult in content, though are never, ever explicit. (No actual sex, please. They're British.)
Like all of Dodie Smith's novels, The New Moon with the Old is never deep or especially challenging. What it is, however, is utterly charming. Every chapter is scented with the perfumes of a upper-crust English gentility that is no more—and probably never was, save in literature. While not as completely winning as the adventures of the Mortmain family in Smith's first novel, its successor shines, and has charisma to spare.
February 26, 2013
This used to be a favorite, and I've read it several times, but not for many years. It seems to lack some depth for me now, although the story is well, if briefly, told. In the decades since it was written books have gotten much longer, and I would have enjoyed more details about some of the situations. When I read this as a teenager I was entranced by the actions of the youngest girl, running away to go on the stage. That story now seems embarassingly trite, and I can share the adults feeling of enormous relief that nothing worse happened to her. The story of the middle son running away to be an old lady's companion, and finding that he quite liked it, has a great deal more to say to me now, and a whole book with that story would be entertaining. There did seem to be a lot of luck involved in their choices, but that's what made it a "romance" rather than something from the nitty-gritty nineties. If you go into this expecting something from the era of Mary Stewart you'll enjoy the story.
July 22, 2016
A London financier hires a new secretary to work weekends at his country home. He then flees to the Continent, leaving his four nearly grown children to make their own ways in life (with some aid from his former secretary). One is a budding actress, one wants to be a writer, one a composer, and one doesn't want to be anything. The story follows each of them on their respective adventures. This makes for a lightly humorous fantasia with some grounding in the real world. However, either I wasn't in the mood for this type of story or it just wasn't to my taste. I had a hard time caring about most of the characters, since they were quickly introduced and not really developed in the course of the story.
"People who act, or perform in any way, can count on already created work to learn their job on. But creators have nothing but themselves, they just have to be -- and surely it's very hard to be without doing a bit of living first?"
"People who act, or perform in any way, can count on already created work to learn their job on. But creators have nothing but themselves, they just have to be -- and surely it's very hard to be without doing a bit of living first?"
May 27, 2014
a string of sweet but problematic stories following a group of siblings and their brand-new housekeeper
dodie smith's charming characterizations and inviting prose are often shown off to great effect, but, as with too many of her novels, her dated character mores blight my enjoyment of the whole thing.
i'm, frankly, too lazy to look up the most jaw-dropping(-making?) passages, but suffice it to say that there's quite a bit of appreciation for Women Who Are Made Solely to Be Admired by Men. gah. shivers. so gross. and what's often set up to be romantic and sweet (housekeeper lives in chaste devotion to distracted and sometimes criminal employer) comes off as creepy and sad.
so, you know, if you are a misogynist with a big vocabulary and a love of pastoral england, you will LOVE this book! the rest of you will largely tolerate it.
dodie smith's charming characterizations and inviting prose are often shown off to great effect, but, as with too many of her novels, her dated character mores blight my enjoyment of the whole thing.
i'm, frankly, too lazy to look up the most jaw-dropping(-making?) passages, but suffice it to say that there's quite a bit of appreciation for Women Who Are Made Solely to Be Admired by Men. gah. shivers. so gross. and what's often set up to be romantic and sweet (housekeeper lives in chaste devotion to distracted and sometimes criminal employer) comes off as creepy and sad.
so, you know, if you are a misogynist with a big vocabulary and a love of pastoral england, you will LOVE this book! the rest of you will largely tolerate it.
February 14, 2022
I absolutely loved this book. I wish there were more Dodie Smith books out there. I’d read ‘I capture the castle’ around a year ago today and immediately ordered a second hand copy of this book. I was daunted by the small writing and its thickness (although my copy wasn’t large in length and width) and only got around to reading it now. I wish this was a yearly tradition! A Dodie Smith book every January/February.
I really like the backdrop of her stories, houses and families finding themselves in decadence, the social change for the old upper and middle classes in England which forces them to become people of a new world.
The characters are at once flawed, perhaps some of them a little silly, as we all are as people, and ultimately endearing.
I won’t give much more away, but I would recommend it.
I really like the backdrop of her stories, houses and families finding themselves in decadence, the social change for the old upper and middle classes in England which forces them to become people of a new world.
The characters are at once flawed, perhaps some of them a little silly, as we all are as people, and ultimately endearing.
I won’t give much more away, but I would recommend it.
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