A Garden of Lilies: Improving Tales for Young Minds (From the World of Stella Montgomery)

By Judith Rossell

In Wormwood Mire, award-winning author Judith Rossell introduced us to the lessons of fictitious Victorian writer Prudence A Goodchild ... Now the book comes to life as the perfect gift for any Stella Montgomery fan.

Children,listen and take heed,
As this little book you read.
All your evil ways amend,
Or you will meet a dreadful end.

From the bestselling world of Stella Montgomery comes an illustrated alphabet of startling cautionary tales for the discerning young reader.

Filled with uncommon facts for the novice conversationalist, prudent advice for house and garden, and rigorous lessons in etiquette and manners, A Garden of Lilies will transform any wayward child into the very picture of Victorian decorum and grace.

PRAISE FOR A GARDEN OF LILIES

'From the black hardcover with the title debossed in gold, surrounded by a bouquet of lilies to the marbled endpapers and detailed sketches of Victorian life, this is a visual delight' -- ReadPlus.com

ACCLAIM FOR WITHERING-BY-SEA AND WORMWOOD MIRE

Indie Awards -- Winner 2015, Shortlisted 2017
Australian Book Industry Awards -- Winner 2015, Shortlisted 2017
CBCA Awards -- Honour Book 2015, Notable Book 2017
Davitt Awards -- Winner 2015, Shortlisted 2017
Prime Minister's Literary Awards -- Shortlisted 2015
ABA Booksellers' Choice Awards -- Shortlisted 2017
Australian Book Design Awards -- Shortlisted 2017
Aurealis Awards -- Shortlisted 2015

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Australia
• Release date: Dec 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781460708194

Judith Rossell

Judith Rossell is the multi-award-winning author-illustrator of the bestselling Stella Montgomery series (Withering-by-Sea, Wormwood Mire, Wakestone Hall and A Garden of Lilies: Improving Tales for Young Minds). Before beginning her career in children's books, Judith worked as a government scientist (not a mad scientist, a normal kind of scientist) and also for a cotton-spinning company (that made threads for T-shirts and denim jeans and mops and teabag strings). Judith has written thirteen books and illustrated more than eighty. Her work has been published in the US and UK, and translated into more than twenty languages. Judith lives in Melbourne, Australia with a cat the size of a walrus. www.judithrossell.com

Book preview

Darning of Stockings

Girls these days are too inclined to frivolous pursuits, such as visiting fairs or reading novels, when they would far better spend their time darning their stockings, or those of their brothers.

Before commencing, the worn or torn part of the stocking should be trimmed neatly. Select a wool thread somewhat finer than that of the stocking itself.

The vertical threads are sewn very closely together with no interval between them (see Figure 1).

Next, the crosswise threads are executed, the needle always taking up the thread that was previously left below (see Figure 2).

A well-executed darn is an indication of good character. A loose, careless or faulty darn shows extremely poor character indeed.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Beatrice

eatrice was a greedy child. One day, she refused to eat her good, wholesome dinner of boiled tripe and cabbage and mutton-fat pudding, and instead she asked for bread and jam, apples, currant cakes and treacle. Nurse spanked her with a slipper and sent her to bed with no dinner at all.

That afternoon, greedy Beatrice lay in bed thinking about how hungry she was. At last, when she could bear it no more, she got up and tiptoed down the back stairs into the kitchen. She crept silently behind Cook to the larder and clambered up onto a stool, stealing a preserved damson from the big jar on the shelf. She gobbled it up and licked her