The Story of Holly and Ivy

 

The Story of Holly and Ivy / Rumer Godden
NY: MacMillan, 2005, c1958.
64 p.

My favourite of all of Rumer Godden's stories about dolls, this small Christmas story follows Holly, a 6 yr old orphan being sent to a country home for the Christmas holiday as everyone else in her orphanage has been spoken for by local families. She tells herself that she's going to visit her grandmother in the country, and gets off the train randomly in a small town with the name that she has made up for her grandmother's village. 

She enjoys herself in the afternoon, walking the Christmas market and gazing into the window of the toy store, but as night falls she knows she can't be found by the policeman making his rounds. She scurries into an alleyway and finds a warm shed on the back of a bakery to curl up in. 

She can't help going back to the toy store in the night, though, to gaze at the doll she wants more than anything, and there she finds a key on the ground that she puts into her pocket. 

In the early morning, she is found by a policeman outside the shop, along with the shop boy who is anxious to find the key he dropped. And this coincidence leads to a surprising and heartwarming conclusion in which everyone gets everything they had wanted, with no bureaucratic claptrap to interfere with it all. Simpler times! 

This is a story that feels heavy with Christmas magic to me, though, and it's one I love. The picture book edition, illustrated by Barbara Cooney, is especially delightful if you can find it. The illustrations are just so perfect. 

That concludes my Christmas reading; on to other books and reviews shortly.