Jessamy facts for kids
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First edition cover
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| Author | Barbara Sleigh |
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| Illustrator | Philip Gough |
| Country | United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's novel; Time travel |
| Publisher | Collins, Bobbs Merrill |
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Publication date
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1967 |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 159 pp |
Jessamy is a children's book written by Barbara Sleigh in 1967. She also wrote the Carbonel series. This story gives us a look into English life and childhood during the First World War. It follows a kind and realistic young girl named Jessamy. The book features an exciting time-slip adventure.
Contents
Meet Jessamy and Her World
The story is about an orphaned girl named Jessamy. She is around nine to eleven years old. Jessamy lives with one aunt during school and another during holidays. Both aunts seem nice, but they do not really pay attention to her feelings.
The book starts with Jessamy arriving alone by train. She finds out her holiday aunt's children have whooping cough. So, Jessamy has to spend the summer with Miss Brindle. Miss Brindle is the caretaker of an empty old house called Posset Place.
Exploring Posset Place
Jessamy is surprised by Miss Brindle, who is not used to children. Miss Brindle tells Jessamy, "I daresay you won't mind being treated like a grown-up person. I don't know any other way." Jessamy quickly reassures her, saying, "I'll try not to be a menace."
After this, Jessamy is allowed to explore the big house. She finds an old schoolroom. Inside, she opens a large empty cupboard. On the door, she sees three sets of old pencil marks. These marks show the heights of four children. One of the names, only in the first set, is Jessamy, just like her!
That night, Jessamy is very tired and goes to bed. Moonlight wakes her up later. She puts on her dressing gown and goes back to the schoolroom. She uses an electric torch to see. It felt like her feet knew the way on their own.
This time, she finds clothes hanging in the cupboard. Only the first set of pencil marks is on the door. Next to them is a date: "July 23rd, 1914." This is exactly 53 years before her time. It is also two weeks before Britain declares war on Germany. Suddenly, hot wax drips on her hand. Her torch has turned into a candle!
A Journey Through Time
The author, Barbara Sleigh, carefully connects the two parts of the story. Jessamy herself is confused. She thinks, "'This is a dream, it must be!' she said. 'I'm sound asleep in the camp bed really.'"
Jessamy had been reading The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett on the train. There is a secret feeling as she steps from a modern street into the old garden. The house looks "half like a church, and half like a castle." It has battlements and stained glass windows.
Life in 1914
Back in 1914, Jessamy learns she fell from a tree the day before. She is supposed to be resting from a concussion. Everyone thinks she has lost some memory. This helps explain her strange questions. A maid named Matchett finds her. Matchett is up late in her street clothes. She asks Jessamy what she was doing in the cupboard. Jessamy replies, "'I don't quite remember,' Jessamy heard herself say slowly. 'I think I was looking for something.'"
The time slip brings wonderful changes to Jessamy's life. In her own time, she is brave and smart. But she feels alone and wishes she could go to boarding school. In 1914, many of these wishes come true. She finds an aunt, Mrs. Rumbold, who is the cook-housekeeper. Mrs. Rumbold loves her and gives her things to do.
Jessamy also gains a true friend in a younger boy named Kitto. She meets his sister, Fanny, who is not as kind. Jessamy can move between two worlds in the house. She spends time with the staff downstairs. She also spends time with the family's children upstairs. These children are also orphans. They are raised by an older sister and a rich grandfather. He owns a medicine factory, which is why the house is called Posset Place.
Jessamy often thinks about her two lives. She realizes that some things are the same. "Quite suddenly Jessamy realised that she was very hungry. The faint rumble of her inside was reassuring. It belonged to the Jessamy of both worlds."
The Missing Book Mystery
In this new, happy life, Jessamy proves her worth. Mr. Parkinson, the grandfather and owner of Posset Place, takes Jessamy, Kitto, and the groom William Stubbins to an auction. He buys a very old book of hours for a lot of money (£300).
The oldest boy, Harry, returns from Oxford. He wants to join the army instead of finishing college. He also has many debts. After a big fight, Harry leaves in the night. Then, the book of hours is found to be missing. Mr. Parkinson thinks Harry stole it. But Jessamy, Kitto, and others do not believe this. However, the maid Matchett and her boyfriend, William the groom, do suspect Harry.
Trust and Secrets
Trust is an important idea in the book. When Jessamy first arrives in 1914, she promises Matchett not to tell about her secret love affair. Later, Fanny thanks Jessamy for not telling that Fanny pushed her from the mulberry tree.
Now, Jessamy helps Fanny again. Fanny borrowed her older sister's mother-of-pearl penknife without asking. She left it in the tree house when Jessamy fell. Mr. Parkinson told the children never to climb the tree again. But Jessamy climbs it to get the knife. She gets caught! There is another argument. It looks like Jessamy's actions might cost Mrs. Rumbold her job.
But Jessamy secretly gives the penknife to Kitto. Mrs. Rumbold is safe when Fanny admits why Jessamy was in the forbidden tree. Later, Jessamy goes back to the schoolroom. She checks the cupboard to see if Fanny's hat is there. The cupboard door shuts behind Jessamy. She finds herself back in the present. She is wearing her dressing gown and holding her torch, not a candle.
Back to the Present and Discoveries
Back in her own time, Jessamy falls again. The paper boy, Billy, opens the gate suddenly and knocks her over. But Jessamy's life in the present also gets better. She becomes friends with Billy. She tells him her story, pretending she is making it up. She also grows fond of Miss Brindle, the caretaker, and helps her with the house. She even enjoys a seaside holiday with her aunt, despite her cousins.
Jessamy looks at the second set of marks in the cupboard, dated 1915. She believes if she wants to go back to Posset Place, it must be on August 14. She succeeds! She picks up her old life there. She becomes good at calming Billy, Matchett's baby boy. Matchett is now Mrs. Stubbins, and her husband is away in the army.
The Truth About the Book
One day, Jessamy and Kitto take the baby in his pram to deliver magazines to a military hospital. There, Jessamy finds Harry in a ward. His arm has been amputated. Jessamy and Kitto quickly realize Harry does not know about the stolen book. They help Harry and his grandfather make up. But the book is still missing.
The children start to suspect the Stubbinses. Jessamy gets Mrs. Stubbins to admit that her husband stole the book. Mrs. Stubbins does not know where he hid it. He is away at war. He wrote a note about where it was hidden. This note is with his will, in an envelope. Mrs. Stubbins promised not to open it unless her husband died.
Jessamy finds the envelope in the pram. She opens it and takes out the note. Mrs. Stubbins sees her and chases her. Jessamy cannot read the note. She crumples it and hides it in the mouth of a tiger rug in the drawing room. Mrs. Stubbins chases her to the schoolroom. Jessamy hides in the cupboard and returns to the present.
The Final Clues
Back in the present, Jessamy learns that Billy, the paper boy, is the grandson of Stubbins the groom. Stubbins died in the war. Jessamy's holiday aunt also mentions that Jessamy's ancestor, also named Jessamy, lived at Posset Place as a child. Her aunt worked there.
There is one more set of marks in the cupboard, dated September 10, 1916. But Jessamy cannot go back in time on that day. Later, Billy and Jessamy put a swing on an old branch of the mulberry tree. The branch breaks off. Inside a crack, they find the book of hours! It is damp and discolored.
Miss Brindle shows the book to the house agent. He shows it to the current owner of Posset Place. The owner is very happy to have it. When Jessamy visits him, she finds out he is the now-grown Kitto! He says, "'You must forgive me, my dear,' he said, 'I'm afraid I may have been talking nonsense.... I almost thought I was talking to the other Jessamy, the one I used to know. You were so like her in the half dark.'" Not long after, Kitto writes to Jessamy. He offers to pay for her to go to boarding school, which she really wants.
