When Marnie Was There by Joan G. Robinson

After being away from school for two weeks, suffering from asthma that is likely psychosomatic in nature, Anna is sent by her foster parents, the Prestons, to stay with the Peggs, an endearing, warm couple who live in Little Overton in the fen country. She hates the mother who left her to go off on a holiday with a second husband, only to die along with this man in a car crash, and she also hates the grandmother she was left with for dying soon after. Her characteristic expression is the “ordinary” face: an appearance of indifference and haughty detachment. Unable to connect with the other children at school or bond with the older foster parents she’s lived with for some years, she is profoundly unhappy.

she knew that now-it was something to do with how you were feeling inside yourself.”Īnna is around ten and absolutely friendless. It was nothing to do with there being other people, or whether you were ‘an only’, or one of a large family. She turned and began running back along the dyke, thinking how strange it was-about being ‘inside’ or ‘outside’. I'm still not sure whether it is a ghost story, or a time travel story, or simply a trick of an imaginative memory? See what you think.”It was raining harder now and she was beginning to get wet, but it did not matter. But because she has now had some practice at making friends, Anna is better able to play with the Lindsay children, when she finally meets the new family at The Marsh House. Marnie is Anna's first real friend, so perhaps we can understand how let down she feels when Marnie goes away suddenly.

Anna, you see, does not have any real family of her own, and although Marnie does have a family, she is neglected. There are acres of spreading salt marsh and sand dunes and marram grass, and a whistling wind over all.īoth Anna and Marnie live rather lonely lives, so it is a huge adventure for them both to share a secret friendship. I think it might be easy to feel lonely in the desolate landscape of the quiet Norfolk coast. 'Your hand's sticky,' she said, rubbing her own down the side of her dress. Yes, the girl was real, her dress was made of a light, silky stuff, and her arm, where Anna touched it, was warm and firm.Īpparently the girl, too, had accepted Anna's reality. They laughed and touched each other to make sure. But the strange girl was looking at her in the same way. And she went on staring and staring as if she were looking at a ghost. I'm imagining her, so it doesn't matter if I don't say anything.

Of course, if you meet the ghost on the beach, or among the sand dunes, it might be quite difficult to decide which of you is the real ghost: This is a dream, thought Anna.

And if the playmate comes forward into your own time, that makes her the ghost. A ghost is a kind of time traveller, don't you think? And if you travel back in time and play with someone who you meet there, then that makes you the ghost.

When Marnie Was There by Joan G. Robinson