Reviews: (by author)

White, T.H. Mistress Masham's Repose. Illus. Franz Eichenberg. New York :Berkeley , 1979 (still in print). ISBN 0-425-04205-7. 234 pp.

Because T.H. White is the famous author of The Once and Future King about King Arthur, this later novel of his is much lesser known. But it is delightful! A serious read for fantasy lovers, it is erudite, full of humor, and must be read slowly to savor White's extraordinary, playful use of language. The premise is that a 10-year-old orphan girl, living, naturally, in a huge old castle with a nasty governess and a dishonest vicar who conspire to steal her fortune (hmmmm.same plot as the Baudelaire children encounter), discovers on an overgrown island a whole culture of little people. But not your everyday, ordinary little people: no, these are the descendants of the Lilliputians brought there by none other than Lemeul Gulliver. The child, Maria, befriends them, but not without some rough patches as she learns to use her size and the impetuousness of her pre-teen age to actually help them, as opposed to amusing herself with the tiny folk. White presents a kind of miniature Utopia in describing the Lilliputians' society. The novel twists and turns in surprising ways as the Lilliputians and Maria protect each other from the governess and vicar, and, indeed, from the entire outside world.

A reader should have knowledge of Swift's masterpiece before reading White's spin-off, and will be well rewarded by both books.

A. Allison, June 2006