The Dragonfly Pool

By Eva Ibbotson (Country: Austria)

Published by Macmillan UK, 2009; pages 398

Spent a good part of yesterday in Devon and Bergania, was very disappointed to see it come to an end.

London is bracing itself for the war (WW II), James Hamilton decides to send his daughter to a boarding school in the country so that she’d be safe. Talitha (Tally) Hamilton is a very good natured eleven-year old and isn’t happy about parting from her dad, her two aunts and the familiar neighborhood but she comes to terms with it as she has to.

Delderton and its students turn out to be very different from the posh prep schools that Tally had read about to know what to expect. Students are free to do and learn as they want to. Tally is very empathetic girl, makes friends quickly and very soon to her own surprise starts loving the place. Delderton gets an invite to participate in a folk dance festival in fictitious Bergania. And Tally having only recently seen a travelogue on Bergania and being extremely taken by the country and its king –who refused to let Hitler’s troops to march through his country– convinces the Principal to let them participate. 

Tally and her friends come up with the Flurry Dance which gets them to Bergania, they meet children from different European countries, visit around the city. Tally incidentally meets the crown prince Karil and they become friends by the Dragonfly Pool. However things fall apart, the German children are sent back on orders from Gestapo. Tragedy befalls Bergania when Nazis assassinate their King, and the crown prince disappears. The Deldertonians with help from the other children manage to get Karil outside Bergania. But the adventure has only just started... 

Eva Ibbotson mentions that Delderton Hall is based on a school she was sent to when her family fled to England (from Vienna when Hitler took power). But to me Delderton is as much a fantasy as Hogwarts. It’s a progressive school where children get to be themselves and do as they please; where they learn drama, biology, art, life in radical ways with the countryside providing a perfect setting to their daily adventures. Children see adults for what they are – just older beings with their own weaknesses, talents and not as controlling know-alls.  

The author portrays characters by choosing just the right incidents to put forth. Like, you see how involved Tally’s aunts are with her life – when as a kid they take her to see lambs in the Park just so she’d know how to act like one in Baby Jesus’s manger. And, when they go all about London to trace works that Clemmy, Tally’s art teacher cum Delderton chef had modeled for. Ibbotson’s characters are simply delightful - all the children, the eccentric teachers, Pom Pom the last Outer Mongolian pedestal dog .. even the villains and the cruel Duke leave a mark. 
The Dragonfly Pool was an endearing tale filled with drama and adventure and though it is categorized as Historical Fiction for children (that way, it would be best suited for little girls, Tally would make the perfect role model), it would be a comforting read for all ages. Overall, this was one happy story set in the war time and a very welcome break from the war time tales I’ve read recently.