sarah_faichney's review
3.0
A testament to the transformative and healing power of reading and the unifying nature of public libraries.
plathfanclub's review
5.0
'So the child with the white blanket runs across the meadow and the clouds puff and blow, puff and blow, and the child lifts up his arms and sails into the sky'
One of the most extraordinary books I have read. Powerful, moving, unsettling, enchanting, obscure. Navigating your way through the fog of Bayley's life is often challenging - as her mother says, facts are often thin on the ground - but 'Girl with Dove' is so good at capturing the hazy, often confusing world of childhood and the way in which we can make sense of often traumatic experiences through literature. As child Sally discovers, books are a refuge in which we can hide - but they also allow us to fly free, sparrows rising from the ash and dust towards a better world.
One of the most extraordinary books I have read. Powerful, moving, unsettling, enchanting, obscure. Navigating your way through the fog of Bayley's life is often challenging - as her mother says, facts are often thin on the ground - but 'Girl with Dove' is so good at capturing the hazy, often confusing world of childhood and the way in which we can make sense of often traumatic experiences through literature. As child Sally discovers, books are a refuge in which we can hide - but they also allow us to fly free, sparrows rising from the ash and dust towards a better world.
balancinghistorybooks's review
3.0
Sally Bayley's Girl with Dove was recommended to me as a fan of Ali Smith's work, which made me both sceptical and intrigued. At first, I found Bayley's memoir quite a mesmerising one. It is narrated in what one imagines to be a reconstruction of Bayley's childhood voice; in this, memories of rather a dark girlhood are mixed in with books that she has read. Bayley discusses some of her favourite characters - Miss Marple, Milly-Molly-Mandy, Sleeping Beauty, Jane Eyre - and offers quite revealing synopses of particular novels. Whilst this is interesting if one has read the books in question, I feel as though the detailed plot outlines which Bayley gives have made it now unnecessary for me to read a few of the classics I have yet to get to.
Whilst Girl with Dove is quite a thoughtful memoir in some ways, I found the narrative style and lack of chronology within it a little wearing after a while. The structure is rather a loose one; Bayley flits from her own memories to rehashings of stories and detailed literary criticism quite quickly; there is little coherence in places here. I did enjoy Girl with Dove to an extent, but I think perhaps I was expecting a little more from it. For me, Bayley's writing did not come close to Ali Smith's. This memoir is an entertaining one at times, but I felt as though the approach could have been greatly tightened up.
Whilst Girl with Dove is quite a thoughtful memoir in some ways, I found the narrative style and lack of chronology within it a little wearing after a while. The structure is rather a loose one; Bayley flits from her own memories to rehashings of stories and detailed literary criticism quite quickly; there is little coherence in places here. I did enjoy Girl with Dove to an extent, but I think perhaps I was expecting a little more from it. For me, Bayley's writing did not come close to Ali Smith's. This memoir is an entertaining one at times, but I felt as though the approach could have been greatly tightened up.
mason_lloyd's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
lnatal's review
2.0
From BBC radio 4 - Book of the week:
Sally Bayley recalls how a strange home life made her bond with characters from books, abridged in five parts by Katrin Williams:
We are introduced to the household in a village in Sussex, mother, grandmother and some brothers. One day baby David goes missing and mummy retires to her bedroom for "two hundred sleeps". At this point the author turns to Miss Marple to make sense of things..
Reader Lydia Leonard
Producer Duncan Minshull
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00020s7
Sally Bayley recalls how a strange home life made her bond with characters from books, abridged in five parts by Katrin Williams:
We are introduced to the household in a village in Sussex, mother, grandmother and some brothers. One day baby David goes missing and mummy retires to her bedroom for "two hundred sleeps". At this point the author turns to Miss Marple to make sense of things..
Reader Lydia Leonard
Producer Duncan Minshull
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00020s7
halfmanhalfbook's review
3.0
When Sally Bayley was around the age of four, her baby brother, who had been put in the garden in his pram near the roses, suddenly vanishes. This single incident was pivotal in changing Sally's life; her mother went to bed 'for a very long time'. This was just one of a series of events that Sally had; to say she had an unconventional upbringing would be an understatement. The house close to the sea where she lived with her mother and other siblings was dilapidated and filthy, they shared it with Aunt Di, a hippy with plenty of charisma and influence, her grandmother and what seemed to be a never-ending stream of people. No men were allowed to live in the house, though on rare occasions, one might be permitted to visit, including her father once, though that was marred with peculiarities.
To cope with this Sally lost herself in a world of books. On discovering Agatha Christie she turns detective to try and discover what had happened to her brother. Reading Jane Eyre is the beginning of a journey into the rich landscape of Victorian literature. These characters that she discovers in the covers of the books offer comfort and friendship, something that is lacking in her chaotic home life. She takes a look at herself in the mirror one day and all of a sudden she realises that the pale apparition staring back is her. This sliver of a girl takes herself to the doctor; something that never happened as visiting the doctor was forbidden in her family. Realising that things are really not right, she seeks further help and hands herself into care.
The first two parts of the book have a vague narrative as she weaves between fictional characters and the reality of her life as a child in that messed up house. It is not particularly easy to follow, it was almost like reading the story through a fogged up mirror at times. I fully understand why she has written it this way, it reflects just what she was experiencing when living in that household. The final part of the book is the most visceral though, as Sally realises that this is not normal and the act of involving outside parties to help provokes the ire of the matriarchs of the household. It did make me wonder just how these children were under the radar of the authorities for so long. There are elements that Bayley does not revisit in the final part and that left me wondering what had happened. These blurry memories are her recollection of a childhood that many others would have preferred to have forgotten.
To cope with this Sally lost herself in a world of books. On discovering Agatha Christie she turns detective to try and discover what had happened to her brother. Reading Jane Eyre is the beginning of a journey into the rich landscape of Victorian literature. These characters that she discovers in the covers of the books offer comfort and friendship, something that is lacking in her chaotic home life. She takes a look at herself in the mirror one day and all of a sudden she realises that the pale apparition staring back is her. This sliver of a girl takes herself to the doctor; something that never happened as visiting the doctor was forbidden in her family. Realising that things are really not right, she seeks further help and hands herself into care.
The first two parts of the book have a vague narrative as she weaves between fictional characters and the reality of her life as a child in that messed up house. It is not particularly easy to follow, it was almost like reading the story through a fogged up mirror at times. I fully understand why she has written it this way, it reflects just what she was experiencing when living in that household. The final part of the book is the most visceral though, as Sally realises that this is not normal and the act of involving outside parties to help provokes the ire of the matriarchs of the household. It did make me wonder just how these children were under the radar of the authorities for so long. There are elements that Bayley does not revisit in the final part and that left me wondering what had happened. These blurry memories are her recollection of a childhood that many others would have preferred to have forgotten.
More...