'A charming & brilliantly entertaining novel shot through with the light-hearted Nesbit touch' Penelope Lively from the introduction When did two girls of our age have such a chance as we've got
- to have a lark entirely on our own? No chaperone no rules no No present income or future prospects said Lucilla It's 1919 & Jane & her cousin Lucilla leave school to find that their guardian has gambled away their money leaving them with only a small cottage in the English countryside In an attempt to earn their living the orphaned cousins embark on a series of misadventures
- cutting flowers from their front garden & selling them to passers-by inviting paying guests who disappear without paying
- all the while endeavouring to stave off the attentions of male admirers in a bid to secure their independence' To come upon any Nesbit today hitherto unread is like receiving a letter from a friend whom you have believed dead' New York Times