Time of Trial by Hester Burton
"Time of Trial" by Hester Burton is a historical novel set in early 19th century England, specifically during the year 1801. The story follows seventeen-year-old Margaret Pargeter, who lives with her family in a bookselling shop in London. The narrative begins with the contrasting beauty of the city and the grim fate of condemned criminals, highlighting the social issues of the time. After a tragic tenement collapse attributed to government negligence, Margaret's father, Mr. Pargeter, becomes embroiled in political controversy for his reformist views, ultimately leading to his conviction for sedition.
As the family faces upheaval, Margaret develops feelings for Robert Kerridge, a medical student, while also confronting the societal challenges surrounding them, including class struggles and censorship. The novel explores themes of social justice, the importance of education, and personal resilience in the face of adversity. Burton's work is influenced by significant historical events and reflects her interest in the struggles for reform during a turbulent period in British history. The book was recognized with the Carnegie Medal for its contribution to children's literature, underlining its narrative relevance and emotional depth.
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Subject Terms
Time of Trial by Hester Burton
First published: 1963
Type of work: Historical fiction
Themes: Coming-of-age, family, friendship, love and romance, and social issues
Time of work: 1801
Recommended Ages: 13-15
Locale: London and the Sussex coast of England
Principal Characters:
Margaret Pargeter , an educated and intelligent young woman who loves London and her father’s bookshopMr. Pargeter , a widowed bookseller who advocates social reform to improve the lives of the poor and uneducatedJohn Pargeter , his son, who hates bookselling and his father’s valuesMrs. Neech , the Pargeters’ housekeeperRobert Kerridge , a medical student from Sussex who lives with the Pargeters and falls in love with MargaretDr. Kerridge , Robert’s father and Mr. Pargeter’s godson, a self-confident, self-centered man
The Story
At the beginning of Time of Trial, when Margaret Pargeter awakens with pleasure to the chiming of bells from the city’s various churches, her love of London and her life there becomes immediately apparent. Yet St. Sepulchre’s repeating monotone bell reminds her that on Mondays Newgate criminals hang. With this juxtaposition, author Hester Burton sets the tone—love and beauty coupled with visible poverty and strife. Margaret, seventeen, and her unhappy brother John, nineteen, live behind their widower father’s bookselling shop on Holly Lane. Mrs. Neech, the housekeeper, and Robert Kerridge, a medical student who is the grandson of Mr. Pargeter’s good friend, live with them.
A tenement on Holly Lane collapses, killing its inhabitants, and Mr. Pargeter rushes to write his horrified response to this result of government irresponsibility, in a tract called “New Jerusalem.” He thinks that children should learn literature and mathematics, with no physical labor before the age of fourteen; tenant farmers, instead of wealthy landowners, should own the land they farm; and government should support physicians and provide free medical care to all. The volatile government condemns him. Even though Dr. Kerridge, Robert’s father, comes from Herringsby in Suffolk to defend his godfather (to repay an old debt), the jury convicts Mr. Pargeter of sedition. John departs, deploring the ignominy of his father’s beliefs, before hearing about the six months’ sentence in the Ipswich prison.
A mob of the uneducated and poor whom Mr. Pargeter wants to help rush to destroy his shop. Old Mr. Stone, Mr. Pargeter’s loyal friend, arrives first, however, and helps Margaret save such valuable books as originals of William Shakespeare and John Milton. The mob wrecks the printing press and sets the place on fire. When Mr. Pargeter hears, he regrets that these people have misunderstood his ideas.
Dr. Kerridge offers lodging for Margaret, Mrs. Neech, and Elijah (a young orphaned boy the family had rescued from the tenement) at Herringsby, near the Ipswich jail. Before they leave London, Robert kisses Margaret on the cheek, and she realizes that she loves him. When they arrive in the lonely town, they move in with a widow, whose smuggler husband had been a victim of the dangers of the secret but flourishing coastal trade. When the murder of a soldier searching for smugglers brings the army to infiltrate the area, John, Margaret’s brother, arrives. Not knowing of the family travails until Margaret recounts them, John regrets his desertion and immediately goes to reunite with his father.
Soon Robert’s parents summon Margaret and accuse her of plotting to marry Robert for his money. Unaware of Robert’s letter to them declaring his intentions to marry her, she must protect herself. Confused, but knowing that Robert will arrive within a day, she says that Robert must make the decision about marriage. He requests Mr. Pargeter’s approval, and they are married within three days, with Mrs. Kerridge’s blessing after the ceremony.
When Margaret and Robert visit Mr. Pargeter immediately after the wedding, he tells them that Mr. Stone has negotiated the purchase of a new London bookshop. He explains his plans for teaching children to read with Margaret helping and Robert giving medical attention adjacent to the bookshop.
Context
Hester Burton has said that she searches for a small event in history, tries to find all she can about it, and then places her characters there to see what they can do. Her favorite period is 1790-1805, the time of Lord Horatio Nelson and of England’s lonely fight against Napoleon Bonaparte, which she compares with England’s struggle against Adolf Hitler in 1940. Time of Trial, which won the Carnegie Medal for the best British children’s book in 1963, is set in this period (in 1801). Burton’s childhood in East Anglia also influenced the setting of Time of Trial: She sends Margaret and Mrs. Neech there while Mr. Pargeter serves his prison sentence.
Since the American Revolution of 1776 and the French Revolution of 1789 had just occurred, the British government of 1801 feared that civil war might erupt in England with the peasants following their French model and guillotining the nobility. The government, like the smugglers, had its own secrets which it did not want revealed. Its fears were reasonable, considering the squalid living conditions of the poor, such as those whose tenement collapses in Time of Trial. Government censorship thwarts change and allows corruption to continue; therefore, one can assume that singular voices such as Mr. Pargeter’s or his friend Tom Paine’s (Common Sense, 1776) were often silenced before reforms began.
Burton wrote four other novels, No Beat of Drums (1966), The Rebel (1971), Riders of the Storm (1972), and To Ravensrigg (1976), in which she presented the inherent dangers of advocating social reform. Persons become so quickly adjusted to a better life that they forget the struggles and loss of lives to attain it. Time of Trial reminds the reader that people, even in the face of persecution, must stand up for their beliefs if they hope to improve their lives and those of others.