{"id":4393,"date":"2013-08-07T11:35:47","date_gmt":"2013-08-07T11:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/?p=4393"},"modified":"2013-08-08T11:22:32","modified_gmt":"2013-08-08T11:22:32","slug":"as-green-as-grass-by-emma-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/?p=4393","title":{"rendered":"As Green as Grass by Emma Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Growing Up Before, During and After the Second World War<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by Bloomsbury UK 15 August 2013\/Bloomsbury USA 24 September 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

320pp, hardcover, \u00a316.99\/$19.99<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reviewed by Jessica Mann<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0In 1948, aged 25, Emma Smith\u00a0\u00a0won the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial prize for her first book, Maidens\u2019 Trip<\/em>. Her second, The Far Cry<\/em>, came out a year later and was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial prize, which goes to \u2018the year\u2019s best novel in the English language\u2019. This remarkable double should have been the start of a dazzling career. Instead there followed marriage, motherhood and sixty years of obscurity; not silence, for Emma did publish more short stories, another adult novel (The Opportunity of a Lifetime<\/em>) and several books for children. However when Persephone Books\u00a0 republished The Far Cry<\/em> in 2001 she was one of their \u2018forgotten authors\u2019. In the foreword she wrote, \u2019Now my typewriter, that old friend, is back on the shelf. I shall not disturb it again.\u2019 But she did: in\u00a02008, six decades\u00a0after her success with that\u00a0first book, The Great Western Beach<\/em>, made her famous again. \u2019I have rarely come across a more gripping childhood memoir,\u2019 Diana Athill wrote, while most other reviewers proclaimed\u00a0the autobiographical account\u00a0 of\u00a0 a Cornish childhood as a classic. Here is the next episode.<\/p>\n

The Hallsmith family – Emma Smith is a pseudonym for Elspeth Hallsmith – has moved from their seaside home in Newquay to a village in Devon. Emma\/Elspeth\u2019s difficult father has a breakdown and moves away, leaving his family to a life which is much improved by his absence. The war breaks out, big sister Pam joins the WAAF, big brother Jim is at first a pacifist and then a bomber pilot. When Emma comes of age for doing war work, she becomes one of the crew of a pair of narrow-boats on the Grand Union Canal, describing here the hard labour and discomfort, but also the fun of her life as a bargee.<\/p>\n

After the war, already a published author of short stories,\u00a0 she goes to London to work in a company making documentary films. She is taken to the Gargoyle club, Philip Toynbee makes a pass at her, David Tennant insults her, Laurie Lee becomes her neighbour. Then she goes to India with the team to make an educational film about tea.<\/p>\n

Back home in Devon, she writes the half fact, half fiction Maiden\u2019s Trip<\/em>. In Paris she uses her notebooks and diaries to write her novel The Far Cry<\/em>. \u2018Fairly and squarely launched on my chosen career\u2019, Emma expects, and is expected, to produce a third bestseller. Instead she gets married, and this volume of her memoirs ends with her arrival in Devon, \u2018where my darling mother greets her new son-in-law – thank heavens \u2013 with open arms.\u2019<\/p>\n

As Green As Grass<\/em> is just as beguiling and evocative as The Great Western Beach<\/em>. Its publication date is Emma Smith\u2019s ninetieth birthday.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Jessica Mann<\/p>\n

After the war, already a published author of short stories, she goes to London to work in a company making documentary films. She is taken to the Gargoyle club, Philip Toynbee makes a pass at her, David Tennant insults her, Laurie Lee becomes her neighbour. Then she goes to India with the team to make an educational film about tea […] in Reviews<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-fiction-and-non-fiction","category-notable-books","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4393"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4400,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4393\/revisions\/4400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}