Notes on Twopence Coloured

This week, I started rereading Twopence Coloured, the second book in the Penny series. Some notes:

1. This is Jane Shaw's third book set in Binic. As in the other stories set in the Breton seaside resort, the town is not given its proper name. In Twopence Coloured, it is called Kerdic. The name is explained as meaning the House on the Ic. However, the real name is given in the dedication, "For KATHERINE, remembering Binic". The name Binic means Head of the Ic.

2. In the other three books, the protagonists stay in a chateau. In this book, Penny and her family are guests at the Hôtel de la Plage.

3. It is in this story that Penny and Jill become friends with Laura and John Mallory, who will feature in all the subsequent books (Threepenny Bit, Fourpenny Fair, Fivepenny Mystery and Crooked Sixpence).

4. The book is available in three editions: the original Nelson edition with colour frontispiece; the Brittanic Series with colour frontispiece; and the Triumph, with the same frontispiece but in black and white.

5. All three editions are lavishly illustrated. In addition to the frontis, there are seven illustrations.

Places in Jane Shaw: Binic Harbour

Binic Harbour at low tide. This harbour will be a familiar sight to Jane Shaw readers because it features on the cover of Breton Adventure and is the frontispiece of The Moochers Abroad. The southern quay is called the Quai de Pordic. The northern one, with the lighthouse at the end, is the Jetée de Penthièvre.

Binic at Low Tide

A recurring theme in the books set in Brittany is that it is impossible to go bathing at low tide because the sea simply disappears. In Breton Adventure, Sara decides to test whether this is actually the case, as she finds it a little hard to believe. In Chapter 2, They Meet Artichokes, Ajax - and Raymond, it is stated that:

"Sara, who liked to prove things for herself, declared that they ought to put this to the test: Caroline thought it was probably a waste of time, but wanted a bathe anyway, so they put on their bathing dresses at the grève, although the sea was not actually in sight. They walked hopefully over wet sand for what seemed about a mile, and less hopefully over sand and sea-weed for another: they did finally reach the sea, all right, but as it obstinately refused to  become any deeper than knee-high, they gave up in disgust, before they reached home and mother, Caroline said. And Sara thereafter was more ready to believe that when Madame said there was no bathing, there was no bathing."

However, at low tide, the Roches de Saint Quay islands appear, allowing the characters to go on la pêche, or shrimping.

Places in Jane Shaw: Binic

Jane Shaw's most beloved location, visited by Caroline and Sara (as St. Brioc), the Moochers (also as St. Brioc), Penny (as Kerdic) and Susan and the Carmichael girls (as St. Clos), Binic in Brittany.

Binic

At the moment I'm rereading The Moochers Abroad, most of which is set in Binic, Brittany, although the little town is called St. Brioc in this book. This is the bay of Binic today, a little bit more crowded than in Jane Shaw's books. You can see more pictures of this picturesque location by clicking here at the Trip Advisor site. 

Places in Jane Shaw: Binic and Northmead

Jane Shaw had a habit of changing the names of places that her characters visited. Binic in Brittany was renamed St. Clos (Susan's Kind Heart), St. Brioc (Breton Adventure & The Moochers Abroad) and Kerdic (Twopence Coloured). However, after looking up the atlas and being unable to find these places, the sharp-eyed reader could identify it in the dedication to Twopence Coloured (For Katherine, Remembering Binic). In New House at Northmead, set in Kent, the girls visit two stately homes: Claire and Falconhurst. These are not real names, but the places are not so hard to identify. Claire (pictured above) is really Knole, a huge 16th century palace not far from Sevenoaks. Falconhurst (below) is really Penshurst Place, which is near Tunbridge Wells. It is not difficult to understand how Lynette became an English history enthusiast so quickly.