Embedded Files
Helen Cresswell
Up The Pier is a story of not being sure if you will be able to go home or if you should make the best of a new home. It starts, in a way which reminded me of some great children's books (Goldengrove, The Children of Green Knowe) with a train journey. A leap into the uncertain that whisks Carrie away to a seaside town and separates her from her father. She begins the book desolate and lonely but her loneliness feels like it comes from being in a strange place more than it does from missing her father. It is a loneliness born of not being sure if you are staying somewhere so having no incentive to go beyond your comfort zone and meet new people. It is loneliness of being neither one thing nor another.
This loneliness and isolation is mirrored in the Pontifexes, a family from 50 years ago who have magically found themselves in the future and are struggling to return home. They live in a small hut on the end of the pier and a pier’s sense of being neither part of the sea or part of the land mirrors the ‘neither one thing nor the other’ position of the characters. This is particularly hard on Ellen who, with Carrie’s help to get the things she needs, tries to make the hut feel as much of a home as possible.
For Sam’el the guardian of the pier his sense of home is the people from his family past having appeared and sought sanctuary. This breaks up his loneliness, and he wants to protect the secret of their presence. They in turn feel tied to him, partly by bonds of family and place but more by necessity – like The 1000 Year Old Boy by Ross Welford - On The Pier recognises the difficulty of living in the modern world without paperwork.
The other key character is The Last of the Magician’s, the grandfather of the Pontifex family. In a hut further down the pier he tries to get his family home. I really enjoyed the feel of magic in this book, it felt imperious, capricious and wild – more to be coaxed than commanded. Powerful spells swirl in glass jars with an energy and sentience of their own in a way that reminded me of the dreams in The BFG. The sea gives a feeling of the same kind of magic and unknowable power, the clamour of seagulls and the swirl and crash of water create an environment that seems to respond to the inner turmoil of the characters. We later get more of a sense of The Last of the Magician’s who initially generates a distant awe, partly with lovely light touches, on Carrie’s first meeting with him he simply closes his eyes as an act of dismissal. Something she is very impressed with. As we get more sense of who he is we get an abstract sense of the home he would like to get back to.
It is beautifully written and the small cast of characters feel like they have real emotional challenges and struggles. The conflicted nature of Carrie’s support of the Pontifraxs knowing they will leave her if they succeed is particularly well done. Reflecting on it afterwards there are subtle touches like the name Pontifex – bridges could almost be the theme of the book. The line drawings by Gareth Floyd really capture the feel of the wildness of the sea, the magic and the disquiet that propels the characters. Next year will be 50 years since the publication so there is a delightful symmetry. We are now nearly 50 years into the future for Carrie, the same as the jump made by the Pontifraxs 50 years before. You could do a lovely term at school tying in to local history and what makes a home for the children in your class.
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