From Amazon
Lyn Cook was one of Canada's first internationally successful children's writers. Best known for
The Bells on Finland Street, she published numerous works of young-adult fiction throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including this long-overlooked gem of a novel set in Stratford, Ontario.
Pegeen and the Pilgrim tells the story of 13-year-old Pegeen, an aspiring actress who witnesses the beginnings of Canada's famous Shakespeare festival at Stratford. Pegeen's father is dead and, with her brother away at university, money is tight. After school she must help her mother clean and prepare meals for the boarders who provide their only source of income, including mean Mr. Pudd. As this leisurely paced novel opens, Pegeen is anxious about beginning high school and wistful about the end of the backyard theatricals she used to put on as a child. By the end, she has new confidence in her abilities and her future, and has even played a small part in the founding of the Stratford Festival.
Pegeen's love of the theatre is nourished by her mother's newest boarder, the slightly mysterious "Mr. B.," a Shakespeare expert who has come from England to help build the festival stage. (He is the "pilgrim" of the title.) While a friendship between a preteen girl and a man in his 40s might seem inappropriate in a young adult novel written today, one of the refreshing things about Pegeen and the Pilgrim is its spirit of innocent enthusiasm. As Jane Urquhart suggests in her foreword to this handsome new edition (which features the original 1957 illustrations), the way Cook brings Pegeen and her sleepy hometown "into vibrant being" is nothing short of masterful. (Ages 10 and older) --Lisa Alward
Book Description
Twelve-year-old Pegeen lives in the sleepy town of Stratford. Money is tight since her father’s death, and she must help her mother run a boardinghouse. She even has to share a room with old Mrs. Leonard. Pegeen’s dreams of becoming an actress seem hopeless. Then an extraordinary thing happens – a Shakespearean festival is planned for Stratford. As the festival develops, so does Pegeen. She learns a great deal about Shakespeare, the boarders at home, and her circle of friends, including the mysterious pilgrim, Mr. Brimblecombe.
