Tensy Farlow and the Home for Mislaid Children, Jen Storer. Book 4

So, some author background first up: Jen Storer. Jen is an Australian author with a couple other titles for young ‘uns under her belt. There isn’t too much information around the net on her unfortunately. BUT she is rather lucky to have a writer’s residence at the Abbotsford Convent http://www.abbotsfordconvent.com.au/. A massive old gothic building full of the ghosts of catholic nuns. It’s gorgeous and I’m filled with jealous rage whenever I think of the lucky few who get to use it as their muse. Plus, the added bonus of the Collingwood Children’s Farm a stone’s throw away down the lane. http://www.farm.org.au/ Both are equally picturesque and vital to Melbourne’s cultural lifeblood.

This is an ingenious and entertaining little story that is getting in early on the latest angels craze that is apparently sweeping the planet. I really haven’t explored the world of angels in much of my reading and frankly, they sound boring as all get out. But Tensy definitely isn’t a boring book – it’s action packed and fast-paced. The cover and page design is gorgeous and lends an aura of shadows to it. The book and it’s design have done quite well in terms of award nominations in Australia.
BUT, I have one big problem with this book – there isn’t going to be a sequel. Tensy is a fantastic character and so are the other kids. They are screaming out for more adventures – although Tensy is now situated far and away from the miserable lot that is ours, contentedly living the life of an Archangel. This ending was a tiny bit twee in my opinion, but I guess it’s what the kiddies like. Actually it was literally a Deus Ex Machina – an Angelus Ex Machina, perhaps??

The main characters – or at least the majority of the ‘good’ characters are interesting and full of potential, but Jen rarely lets them reach their full potential. Albie possibly does, but the rest are kind of sidelined by Tensy’s angelic glory at the end. This is a pity, because whenever there is a chance to bring one of them to the fore, Tensy comes in and pushes the story ahead on her own. However, her arch-enemy, Matron Pluckrose does also push the action ahead, but that’s nearly it.
For a medium sized kid’s book with a prime audience range of children to young adult there are actually a lot of mainish characters to have to keep track of. It’s nearly a mini War and Peace! It was tough even for me keeping track of everyone. I do think it’s to Jen’s credit that she does a great job of keeping them sufficiently unique so that I knew who was who by the end. But I wonder if it would be easier for young kids to do the same. Off the top of my head, I can think of 15 characters moving around that participate in the primary action. That’s a lot.
So Tensy is found by Albie (he is a gorgeously innocent and tenacious character – I completely fell in love with him) in the river Charon. She is on the verge (or SO we think) of being taken by a dark creature lurking in the reeds nearby. Albie takes her home and falls in love with her immediately but his mum makes him take her to the Home for Mislaid Children. Ten years or so later, the action begins. Tensy is returned to the home, Albie soon finds out she is alive, we discover everyone has a guardian angel who operate in heaven in a similar manner to the movie ‘A Life Less Ordinary’. The home is run by the dread Matron Pluckrose who makes a deal with the river creature who turns out to be Lythia – a guardian angel gone bad who is trying to steal the souls of the orphanage children so she can enter the world and wreak havoc.
Tensy mysteriously doesn’t have a guardian angel, yet she radiates kindness and compassion. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a gorgeous little charmer and you really do fall in love with her along with everyone else. How can you go wrong with a name like Tensy Farlow? We don’t know why she’s missing a GA either until the very end when it turns out all she needed to do was touch Lythia and she transforms into an Archangel, destroying Lythia in one go. No one else need have bothered. If Albie had just left her in the river all those years ago, would Lythia have been destroyed the moment she touched Tensy?? Who knows… Anyway after Lythia is gone, everyone’s happy and Tensy goes to live in the ether with the other Archangels.
When it became clear that this means there ain’t gonna be no sequel, I found myself feeling a bit cheated by the book. So many little other kids with potential and nowhere to go.
So I say, drag Tensy back from happyland, make the kids unhappy and give us some more adventures at the Home for Mislaid Children!