Tom Playfair and Percy Wynn - Books 11 & 12

Inspired by Willa at Take Up and Read,* I downloaded Tom Playfair on my Kindle a couple weeks ago.  Long time ago, probably ten years maybe, I had somehow gotten ahold of an audio recording of Tom Playfair and the kids and I listened to it maybe about half-way through the book.  The kids lost interest, I think because it was not a professional type of recording.  While the woman reading tried her best, it didn't have the smooth sound that professionally produced books do.  That irritated the kids.

Anyway, Tom Playfair is by Father Francis Finn, S.J. and was published back in 1891.  Tom is a lively young man who is growing a bit wild because his indulgent, soft-hearted aunt lets him get away with too much, plus he's great at getting out of trouble.  His father, worried about Tom's character and future, decides to send him to a Catholic all boys boarding 'college' called St. Maure's.  Tom goes off to make wonderful friends and have some quite dramatic adventures.  The book reminds me a little of Louisa May Alcott novels in their concern for the moral development of the characters.

I found Tom, St. Maure's and the story line delightful.  The minute Tom Playfair ended, I immediately downloaded Percy Wynn.  This book details the adventures of Percy, another boy at the school and good friend of Tom's.  One thing I loved about this book was how much we learned about a good Catholic education at the time.  The book goes into detail about the boys' Latin lessons especially.   Tom is a boy after my own heart, for he loves to learn Latin.

I am now in the middle of reading the third book in the trilogy, Harry Dee, which is a little different in that it is told in the first person as a reminiscence of his time at St. Maure's with his good friends Tom and Percy.

Anyway, I've completed the first two of the trilogy and found them utterly engrossing.  Children seemed to have been given much freedom and adults had very high expectations of them back then.  These are deeply Catholic books with a lot of food for thought and theology woven into the storyline.

Two thumbs up!  For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

*This link is to a post by Willa about the Harry Dee book.  I can't find where I saw the reference to the actual Tom Playfair book. They talk about Latin lessons in Percy Wynn (not just Harry Dee) too because Tom tutors Percy in Latin when he is laid up at the school infirmary.