Peter Pan in Scarlet
by Geraldine McCaughrean
When one of the greatest living childrens writers produces a sequel to one of the classics of childrens fiction, the reviewer has an almost impossible task. I hope Armadillo readers will forgive me for a rather longer review than the standard Armadillo format in endeavouring to give this book the consideration I felt it deserved.
I'll begin with some personal background. I was always a fan of Peter Pan. I have four or five different editions arrayed on my shelves, as well as Gilbert Adairs Peter Pan and the Only Children (an earlier sequel), Wendy, the tie-in novel by Karen Wallace I reviewed in Armadillo 6.1, the prequel Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson and Hook, Terry Brookes novelisation of the Stephen Spielburg film. These are not the only prequels, sequels and related fiction out there but its a fairly wide selection. And, despite reading them all with great interest, I have to admit that none have captured for me the compelling mythos of Neverland and the boy who wouldnt grow up.
Geraldine McCaughrean is also prominently represented on those same shelves. Ever since I read A Pack of Lies, Ive held her in considerable admiration. Stop the Train and A Little Lower than the angels are also childrens books I continue to reread for pleasure as an adult. When I heard shed won the Great Ormond Street Competition to find an author to write an official sequel my reaction was to wonder 'if she was willing to do it why didnt they just ask her in the first place? I have heard it rumoured that they did ask Philip Pullman and JK Rowing ¨ both of whom would have been unsuitable, to my mind.
So it was with both anticipation and trepidation that I picked up my copy of Peter Pan in Scarlet. I wanted to love it, I was worried Id hate it. It was a queer sensation with which to begin reading and perhaps not the best way to begin. As I read I wondered if McCaughrean had felt the pressure of similar sensations: wanting to do justice to the original, knowing that she would need to find her own way through the maze ahead. Barries ghost seems to hover over the first chapter, the authorial voice is not recognisable as McCaughrean but a creditable attempt at Barrie pastiche.
John is the lead character at the beginning of the book, grown up into a man rather like his father, married, with children of his own. All the lost boys are grown up and meet in male splendour at a Gentlemans Club to debate the incontrovertible evidence that Neverland seems to be calling them back. Theres something a little odd about beginning a childrens book with the affairs of adults and from the first this book is clearly a sequel rather than a standalone work. To understand it the reader is expected to be familiar with Peter Pan and his history. I felt that because of this the story is rather a slow starter. Knowing that in Neverland the action would begin I was impatient to get there and I found the adult attempts to catch fairies (for the flying powers of fairy dust) a little tedious here. However the fairy they do catch, the aptly-named Fireflyer, is a sparky addition to the group. As for the device that enables them to become children again, I was frankly a little creeped out by it. Theres something not entirely savoury about the idea of a set of adults dressing up in their childrens clothes in order to play make-believe games. Add in the cross-dressing Tootles, who has only daughters and therefore becomes a girl, and my credulity was frankly strained.
But in Neverland the action really does speed up and by this point I felt the Barrie echoes were coming more naturally in the text, under the rein of McCaughreans own powerful writing talent. Autumn has come to the kingdom of the imagination and Peter Pan is now clothed in a tunic of fallen leaves. But he is the same Peter, arrogant, immortal and unchanged ¨ ready to begin a new set of make-believe adventures with his erstwhile companions and Fireflyer.
The action moves swiftly through familiar scenes: the Wendy House, the underground den and the lagoon. Wendy and the Lost Boys seem to forget the danger that called them here and the adult selves they left behind. But there is at least one adult in Neverland. Ravello, the Travelling Ravelling Man, ring master of a circus of lions, tigers and bears. Once Ravello has inveigled himself into the group as Peters valet, they set sail to seek Captain Hooks treasure.
The action continues to move quickly but some of the individual scenes are confusing. The appearances and disappearances of Ravellos animals seem rather haphazard and not massively plot-relevant. There is also the rather vexed question of the red Indians who appear here as the adolescent crew of an enemy ship captained by one of Hooks officers but are pretty quickly dismissed from the scene without an attempt to modernise Barries ethnic stereotyping.
As we progress through the final stages of the plot the tension builds as McCaughrean concentrates on the oddly symbiotic relationship that has developed between Peter, now wearing the scarlet coat of Captain Hook, and the increasingly sinister Ravello who assiduously performs his services as valet and at intervals asks all the Lost Boys (and girls Wendy and Tootles) the question: øwhat do you want to be when you grow up?Ó
There are some really lovely touches. The sexual ambiguity of Slightly who comes into his own in this book is deftly handled. The large appetites and personality of the tiny Fireflyer brings an original character into the mix and the text is peppered with leading thoughts and catchy phrases that give it depth and compassion.
But the relationship between Peter and Wendy with all its romantic undertones and the powerful charge of what it means to grow up and claim an adult sexual identity - that is territory McCaughrean doesnt cover and Wendy is just one of the gang in this book. I can see why the kisses and thimbles would be difficult ground for a Wendy who is technically a married woman and a mother of children, but I felt the whole issue was ignored and with that omission the great central theme of the classic is lost.
I found the twists of the ending fairly obviously telegraphed, but it is powerful and emotive and, mostly, satisfying. The book concludes quite slowly since there are a lot of loose ends to be ravelled up and the metaphysic creaks a little as everyone is packed neatly back into their boxes ¨ the same boxes that Barrie defined at the end of the original.
In the end, this was always bound to be a difficult book to write. Great Ormond Streets brief required that the sequel included all the original characters ¨ even those were definitively dead. Despite the hospitals insistence that they didnt wish to stifle creativity I think the authors hands are rather tied with such a proviso. It also sits rather oddly with another element of the brief - the suggestion that the setting could be contemporary and involve issues that affect todays children. McCaughrean has taken the first option and has produced a book that will surely fascinate and intrigue Peter Pan enthusiasts. But I didnt feel that the sequel would speak to a modern child with the deep resonance of the classic, or answer their questions about the complicated process of growing up.
Barrie taught us that we are all mortal and that to live and love is to age and die. McCaughreans sequel is an adventurous romping treasure hunt through Barries world, but the fairy gold of Neverland is not easily found and can wither to dead leaves even as you grasp it. Perhaps too much time has passed for us to truly return to Neverland?
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