Young, naive and too kind for her own good, Rose falls for a young Brigadier with a colourful history. Soon after their fling ends he drops a baby off on her doorstep begging her to raise it for his latest mistress.
Tender hearted Rosie nurtures the baby into a sophisticated young woman called Marmie - alongside two other baby girls dropped off by the Brigadier - Daisy, a natural born dancer, and Tania who aspires to be a mechanic. But raising three growing girls on very little money after the war is an impossible task, so the girls find a way to earn their keep through a life on the stage.
Revealing the toil a dancer goes through backstage and the friendship and love needed to survive it, The Whicharts is an exceptional inter-war novel from Carnegie Medal winning author Noel Streatfeild. Mary Noel Streatfeild was born in Sussex in 1895. She was one of five children born to the Anglican Bishop of Lewes and found vicarage life very restricting. During World War One, Noel and her siblings volunteered in hospital kitchens and put on plays to support war charities, which is where she discovered her talent on stage. She studied at RADA to pursue a career in the theatre and after ten years as an actress turned her attention to writing adult and children's fiction. Her experiences in the arts heavily influenced her writing, most notably her famous children's story Ballet Shoes which won a Carnegie Medal and was awarded an OBE in 1983. Noel Streatfeild died in 1986. Three young girls take to a life on the stage in this exceptional inter-war novel by Noel Streatfeild, the author of Ballet Shoes.
