Summerhills

Summerhills (1956) begins a few years after the end of Amberwell. Roger, still in the military, returns to the family mansion after the war, where he finds his mother quite senile and his sister Nell in charge of the house and young Stephen, who is now eight years old. Roger has inherited a considerable sum from his late wife and decides to dedicate it to the community. He conceives of founding a school for children and, to that end, buys the enormous house on Stark Place, where his childhood friend, Mary Findlater, lives with her parents. The renovations to the house and the preparations for the school require the assistance of architects and teachers, a new gallery of characters that D. E. Stevenson adds with her characteristic skill to the already familiar Ayrton family. As in the previous novel, the author observes the vicissitudes of a small community with good humor and an idyllic yet believable perspective.