Abroad

About this book

At Folkestone, May looks back anxiously to check that her father is there as the children board with their dolls and rugs. After a calm Channel crossing, they inspect the ship’s kitchen and wonder whether the French dishes contain frogs or snails. By the river Orne, the children watch washerwomen soak and beat clothes clean with mallets. The rhyming verses keep these scenes light, with the children’s curiosity often shading into comic suspicion.