An Episode of Sparrows

Plot summary

The novel focuses on children in Catford Street, a working-class London street of much stone and asphalt but only few green spots. A difficult young girl named Lovejoy Mason, living with the aspiring restaurateur and his wife with whom her irresponsible mother has left her, finds a packet of cornflower seeds and plants a small garden in a wrecked churchyard, filled with rubble from the Blitz. Although other children dislike her, Tip Malone, the boss of a boys’ gang, takes an interest in Lovejoy and her small project. Ultimately, several adults become involved in the children's lives as a result of Lovejoy's garden, with significant consequences for their future.

Reception

The English children's writer Jacqueline Wilson, commenting on the 2014 reissue of the novel, recalled, "Lovejoy, Tip and Sparkey were so real to me that they have stayed alive in my head for more than 50 years.... An Episode of Sparrows was the first book that made me cry when I was ten. I cried all over again at this recent reading of the story — and I closed the book with the same sense of total satisfaction."

Film adaptation

The British movie Innocent Sinners (1958) directed by Philip Leacock is based on the novel.