A review by mary_soon_lee
The Enchanted Places by Ernest H. Shepard, Christopher Milne

5.0

Excellent, interesting, moving book by the son after whom A. A. Milne named Christopher Robin. The happiness of his early childhood is clear, but strange to a modern reader as the person he loved devotedly was his nanny and his father (at that point) was a very secondary character in his life. After his nanny left, when he was 9 or 10, Christopher became strongly attached to his father, but also much less happy, partly because he was sent to boarding school, partly because being the model for Christopher Robin became burdensome, partly because he was very shy. The insight into A.A. Milne is fascinating. The sections about their country house, the gardens and woods, moved me because it was clear how much Christopher loved them. In a short epilogue, Christopher summarized his adult life, including a period of considerable unhappiness, dogged by the fame of Pooh and Christopher Robin, but ending with contentment owning a bookshop with his wife. It was striking to me that Christopher felt no sentimental attachment to his Pooh bear toy after he grew up, though he remembered his childhood love for it; that short section was particularly moving.