Eddie Muir wrote:I have read Tom's Midnight Garden several times over the years and I am always left spellbound by the beauty of the narrative and the depth of Philippa Pearce's perception of loneliness (Tom) and loss of youth (Hatty), and her ability to understand and portray the communication between the young and the old. It's a perfect generation gap novel, which is so profound that it makes the hairs on my neck rise. For me, it is probably the best ever children's book.
I agree with you, Eddie - and with John Rowe Townsend (even if the latter did exclude Enid Blyton from his book about children's literature!) If I had to pick one children's book as my favourite,
Tom's Midnight Garden would be it. As I child I found it beautifully written, moving, thought-provoking and haunting, and my opinion hasn't changed on re-reads. The whole atmosphere of it is magical and the story draws me in and holds me spellbound.
Julie2owlsdene wrote:I got halfway through and worked out exactly who Hatty was - the elderly lady living upstairs.
When I first read the book, aged about twelve, I didn't realise the identity of the elderly lady despite the occasional clue and I found the meeting of Tom and Mrs. Bartholomew at the end truly overwhelming. Suddenly everything fell into place and seemed so absolutely right. "Of course!" I thought, reflecting on the events of the narrative. It all made sense, and yet somehow I'd never guessed.
Julie2owlsdene wrote:So then I realized it wasn't a book about a 'ghost'!...for me it was just a book about complex dreams.
Fiona1986 wrote:Is it said in the book that he imagined the whole thing? From watching the film I always got the impression he really experienced his night-times spent in the old garden with the girl, that he really went back in time (which is why she remembered him.)
I'm with Fiona on this. The times Tom and Hatty played and skated together weren't just a dream. Both were terribly lonely, and somehow their loneliness connected them so that time was transcended and each was able to be a much-needed companion to the other. "Time no longer" is an important phrase in the novel, and it seems that their need for one another conquered the constraints of time. Tom's brother Peter was also lonely, ill at home without Tom's company, and he too appeared before Tom and Hatty in Ely at the height of his loneliness. As Hatty grew up and made friends with others, her need of Tom grew less and she commented that he didn't look as solid as he used to.
Daisy wrote:It is one of the few books I recommended to my mother. She read it and while she said she enjoyed it she could see flaws in it, she said. I think she was referring to the hiding of the skates for Tom.
Although it shouldn't be possible for Hatty and Tom to be wearing the "same" pair of skates as they skate together in Hatty's youth, the notion is intriguing and it does demonstrate the strong connection between the two, and stress the concept of "Time no longer".
Daisy wrote:I agree Kate Mary - "Minnow on the Say" is also an excellent book by Phillipa Pearce - one which I have read a few times with great enjoyment each time. Others by her have not grabbed me in the same way.
I only read
Minnow on the Say as an adult and it has a certain poignancy for me. My grandad was in hospital and the doctors knew he didn't have long to live. Wanting to see him, I travelled by train six hours there and six hours back in one day, in order to spend two precious hours at the hospital with him (other relatives were there as well). He was calm and chatty and we talked mainly about nature walks we'd been on in the past - lovely times. He died the next day. Anyway, for part of the outward and return train journeys I read
Minnow on the Say, starting and finishing the whole book on that day. It transported me to a tranquil world, journeying along a river, and the story soothed and lulled me at a time when I was facing loss and sadness (though there was also a feeling of acceptance as my grandad had been living with pain and severe breathing difficulties for some time). So I now associate that book with my grandad, and nature walks my sister and I went on with him when we stayed at my grandparents' house. Sometimes we walked by a stream where we'd all swing out over the water on a piece of rope tied to a tree, my grandad included. So yes,
Minnow on the Say is special to me too even though I didn't read it as a child.
I bet no one's thought of that! How my mind works!! 
